Key Takeaways from Impact Austin's 2025 Town Hall Meeting
- Impact Austin
- 1 day ago
- 7 min read
Town Hall is an Impact Austin tradition!
This signature event was first held in March, 2009. Until 2017, our Town Hall Meetings were focused on our organization's internal matters - how to engage as a volunteer, how to get involved with grant review, how to join the Board of Directors, how to be a financially viable nonprofit, etc. But the 2017 Town Hall changed that pattern, bringing inspiration and philanthropy education to this Signature Event. Here's a sampling:
2017 - Caroline Miller, author of Getting Grit: The Evidence-Based Approach to Cultivating Passion, Perseverance, and Purpose
2018 - Jessica Honegger, founder of Noonday Collection and author of Imperfect Courage: Live a Life of Purpose by Leaving Comfort and Going Scared
2019 - "The Changing Face of Philanthropy" featured nationally-renowned experts on women's giving, Dianne Chips Bailey (Bank of America) and Andrea Pactor (Women's Philanthropy Institute)
2020 virtual Town Hall included nationally-recognized leaders in Trust-Based Philanthropy, Pia Infante and Dimple Abichandani
2023 - Sara Lomelin, founding Executive Director of Philanthropy Together, named the ways circles are Igniting the Power of Philanthropy
Welcome and Organizational Update
Board President Claudia Barlow welcomed the members, guests, and Community Partners and thanked event sponsors H-E-B and Erin McCord Consulting. Claudia also recognized event volunteers and our Philanthropy Operations Manager Alyssa Reyna, whose children were also on hand to stuff nametags! Claudia shared important financial reports:
Funds currently available for 2026 grants are $177,600. As Impact Austin intends to award six total grants, we hope to grow this amount significantly. That means bringing more members to Impact Austin's collective giving. Claudia's calls to action include:
Renew by December 31 to build 2026 grant funds
Invite new women to Impact Austin. Share these events to learn more about us and our membership model.
Bring back previous members who have slipped away from Impact Austin while "life happened."
In closing, Claudia acknowledged Central Texas neighbors impacted by the freeze on federal food assistance and SNAP benefits. At least 140,000 people - half of them children - have been impacted locally. Claudia urged members to support local nonprofits addressing food insecurity with donations of cash, food, and volunteer assistance.
Impact Austin Grants in Action
We premiered four Grant Outcomes Videos that will soon be uploaded to our YouTube Channel and to See Our Impact pages for Friends of the Children Austin; Latinitas; Literacy Coalition of Central Texas; and Magdalene House of Austin.
2026 Grant Cycle
Grants Co-Chair Karen McLinden announced key aspects of the upcoming grant cycle. Awards. Categories will again be Community, Education, and Health & Well-Being with primary and secondary grants in each. All 2026 grants will be unrestricted. Registration is now open for Grant Review Committees (GRCs) with a total of 75-80 volunteers needed.
Key features of GRCs this year:
Community and Health & Well-Being GRCs will meet in person. The Education GRC will meet virtually.
We are piloting a mentor program to guide new GRC members through the process by pairing with an experienced member. If you have been a GRC member and want to serve in this important role, please check the option to be a mentor when you register.
If you have a financial background, consider serving as a Grants Finance Committee (GFC) member. You can do that with or without being a GRC member.
We have an opening on the Grants team for a Grants Technology Coordinator. Join the team now as a 2026 Shadow and learn our systems as you prepare to take on a larger role for the 2027 cycle.
If you have any questions, email grants@impactaustin.org.
Girls Giving Grants Honored with RecognizeGood Lighthouse Award
Rebecca Birch and g3 Education Chair Avery introduced Joel Coffman, Executive Director of RecognizeGood, which recently selected Girls Giving Grants as a recipient of their Lighthouse Award. Joel Coffman first announced the award and presented a $1,000 check to g3 at their recent meeting, and did so again at our Town Hall event. g3 will add this $1,000 award to their 2026 grant pool. RecognizeGood also profiled Girls Giving Grants on their website blog!
From their website: "The RecognizeGood Lighthouse award program was designed to recognize groups of people who serve their communities together – traditional service clubs like Rotary and Lions, not to mention more non-traditional service clubs like National Charity League or community gardens, often went un-thanked for years (often decades) of service to others."
Community Partner Panel: Why Impact Austin Matters
Jerrica Deloney Witte moderated a panel that included recent Community Partners.
Gabi Kane Guardia - Latinitas
Marilyn Manzo-Dawson - Friends of the Children-Austin
Toni McKinley - Magdalene House Austin
What do you wish funders knew about nonprofits?
(Panelists' talking points follow, not verbatim quotes unless indicated as such.)
Toni McKinley (TM) – Community and awareness are so important. The women we serve need EVERYTHING - and so much healing.
Gabi Kane Guardia (GKG) - Social change can happen for government and others, but only through policy change and advocacy.
Marilyn Manzo-Dawson (MMD) - Nonprofits have to stay focused and be careful not to stretch too far because the services are intensive.
How important is unrestricted funding?
TM – Things happen. "Life Keeps Lifing.” They dealt with flooding recently, and unrestricted funds allowed the flexibility needed to make repairs. They want their work to go forward in healing and not so much in paperwork; unrestricted funds help with this.
GKG – Trust-based philanthropy is crucial. We live the vision from within, and unrestricted funds allow us to invest in our staff (who are often returning clients), as well.
How impacted has your organization been by political tumult?
MMD – No one is unimpacted by these changes. Even if your nonprofit does not rely on federal funding, your partners and collaborators may.
TM – Other providers are shutting down, and we receive call after call from clients who are now looking for beds at Magdalene House.
GKG – Latinitas fight the incorrect perception that they are exclusionary by focusing on Latinas. The families of immigrants are being impacted and that is very important to this population.
What do nonprofits need from funders?
All- More Funding!
MMD – Amplification of the mission and programs to others who may be inspired.
TM – Volunteers and more community involvement and concern.
GKG – Bring your talents and brainpower to our organization!
Member Panel: Why our New Membership Model Matters
DEIB Co-Chair Lisa David moderated a panel that included three Impact Austin members of various tenures. Each spoke to an aspect of our new membership model while also considering Impact Austin membership in general and what makes Impact Austin special.
Bailey Barlow, Class of 2025
Kiyomi Beach, board member and Class of 2024
Libby Doggett - Class of 2009
Panelists' main talking points follow, not verbatim quotes unless indicated as such.
Bailey Barlow – Impact Austin represents every stage of a woman’s life. I like the flexibility it has given women to change their memberships as their circumstances change. The freedom of the tiered model is in that decision. Bailey also complimented our practice that opportunities for involvement are varied and not prescriptive.
Kiyomi Beach finds it really meaningful that Impact Austin is making membership more accessible. She feels that our new membership model was a natural outcome of the DEIB work Impact Austin has done as well as research into other giving circles that are evolving toward similar models. "This new chapter opens the door for more women to participate when this would have been inaccessible before."
Libby Doggett – As a long-time member, Libby is very positive about several aspects of Impact Austin: the size of our grants, diversity of membership, and the rigorous review process as part of IA’s “challenge to fund well.” Libby also admires the mentoring aspect of Girls Giving Grants. She sees our new membership model as a powerful tool to bring in more and diverse members. She summed up her Impact Austin experience with, “I joined for the mission, but stayed because of each of you!”
Report from the Advancement Committee
Advancement Committee Chair Ami Kane again thanked and invited applause for Town Hall Sponsors Erin McCord Consulting and everyone's H-E-B.
As calls to action, Ami announced that Impact Austin needs both new members of the Advancement Committee as well as returning and new organizational sponsors that we will highlight within our membership all year long. "If you are truly passionate about our shared mission and you have an hour or two a month you could donate, the Advancement team needs bold women to build bridges with new sponsors and open doors for our mission’s funding.
"Did you know…? Your annual operational contributions as a member cover about 50% of our non-grant necessary operational expenses. This includes things like our technology and software, which empower our grant committees as well as the costs of events like this.
"In the Advancement committee, we never lose sight of WHY we do this work. Together, we [Impact Austin] have made huge things possible for our community that may otherwise not exist—things like a mobile eye clinic with Half Helen, more mentors for Seedling Foundation, a nurse practitioner for Lirios Pediatrics, or putting school supplies diverted from landfills into educators’ hands so they can be used by those who need them with Austin Creative Reuse."
Get Back Campaign: Get back to giving, together.
Board members Jerrica Deloney Witte and Erin McCord encouraged each of us to consider past members whom we've enjoyed giving, learning, and socializing alongside. Over time, life happens, and some of our members have stepped away. Let’s remind our past members that Impact Austin is still the place where women come together, learn together, and give together — and that we want them back at the table. Our collective giving community is stronger when we’re all here, giving together.
Jerrica
This fall, we'd like to welcome them back. The Get Back Campaign is all about reconnecting with those past members — women who already know the magic of Impact Austin — and inviting them to return. It’s not a hard sell; it’s about a personal invitation. A reminder that they’re still part of this story and that our community is stronger when they’re with us.
Erin
Think about a woman who used to be a member. Maybe she joined the same year you did.
Maybe you served on a grant review committee together. Maybe she was the first person who welcomed you to an event. Got someone in mind?
We’ll share a toolkit of resources, including email, text, and phone call templates you can use in your outreach. [This information emailed to members on Nov 11.]
As an extra incentive, we’re awarding the member who is able to bring back the most Impact Austin women with a $100 gift card to El Raval or Siti restaurants, thanks to our very own Laura Freedman. Siti is a beautiful Southeast Asian restaurant that was was recently recommended in the Michelin Guide.
No event recap would be complete without a reminder of what we've accomplished collectively as Impact Austin members.
As true today as when Impact Austin launched in 2003:
we're stronger together.
