Making a Difference – The Power of 100 Twin Cities

Published in North Oaks Living magazine – March, 2017

Edited by Tara Myers

North Oaks resident Lisa Mattson loves spreading the word about The Power of 100 – Twin Cities, an organization she founded with several women from North Oaks and the Shoreview area in 2012. Lisa explains, “The Power of 100 is a giving circle for women who are interested in collectively giving to charities in our local communities. Any charity that is a 501(c)3 is eligible to benefit from donations given by members of The Power of 100 – Twin Cities.”

So how did The Power of 100 get started?

“This group of women had volunteered together for years at our children’s schools and sports associations,” Lisa says. “As our children got older, we were looking for new ways to support our local community.” A group got together and started brainstorming about ways to collectively give back. Through a quick Google search, the ladies learned about a group in Ohio called 100+ Women Who Care that was bringing women together to help address the financial needs of charities in their area. Lisa and her group used their model to create The Power of 100 – Twin Cities in 2012. “I am delighted to be a founding member of an organization that has such a simple, powerful, and effective concept!” Lisa shares. Since then, The Power of 100 has fostered the development of three new chapters in the Twin Cities; in addition to their group in the east metro, there are now chapters in Eden Prairie, Lake Minnetonka, and Maple Grove.

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Ampersand Families

Amount Awarded: $27,746 ($17,582 member donations + $10,164 Schulze matching donation)

Ampersand Families is Minnesota’s only nonprofit agency focused solely on meeting the permanency needs of older youth (age 10 years and older) and sibling groups in the child welfare system. We are a resource for youth, families and professionals seeking to promote permanent relationships between teens who have experienced trauma and committed adults who will help them heal. One of five private agencies under contract with Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) to provide adoption services to youth under guardianship of the Commissioner or a Minnesota tribe (often referred to as “state wards”), Ampersand Families provides permanency services at no cost to counties or families planning to adopt a Minnesota youth.

Learn more about this organization at ampersandfamilies.org.

Ampersand Families was the selected charity for December, 2016.

Hope 4 Youth

Amount Awarded: $26,556 ($17,452 member donations + $9,104 Schulze matching donation)

hope-4-youth

HOPE 4 Youth meets the basic needs of young people (ages 23 and under) experiencing homelessness and those at-risk of becoming homeless in the north metro Twin Cities including all of Anoka County and parts of Hennepin County.

On any given night, more than 4,000 homeless young people in Minnesota. We work hard to change the life trajectories of the youth who walk through our Drop-In Center door. Whether they need basic necessities – food from the food pantry, clothes from the clothing closets, a hot shower, a hot, nutritious meal or personal hygiene items – or help finding housing, securing employment, finishing their education or assistance with health referrals, we help put them on a path that allows them to leave their title of “homeless” in the past.

Learn more about this organization at www.hope4youth.org

Hope 4 Youth was the selected charity for September, 2016.

Second Stork

Amount Awarded: $25,721 ($17,107 member donations + $8,614 Schulze matching donation)

second stork

Each year, thousands of new parents across the Twin Cities are stretched to bring their baby home from the hospital with even the most basic supplies such as diapers, cribs, clothing, receiving blankets and other essential items.

Founded in 2009, Second Stork is a Minnesota nonprofit that fulfills this real, immediate need by providing those critical items free of charge with no strings attached. Second Stork is not religious or political in its mission or operations, and works in ways to always respect the dignity of people in need.

Learn more about this organization at www.secondstork.org

Second Stork was the selected charity for June, 2016.

MAP for Nonprofits – Rape Survivors Memorial Fund

Amount Awarded: $28,241.00 ($17,747 member donations + $10,494 Schulze matching donation)

Since 1979, MAP has worked to strengthen the Minnesota nonprofit community by connecting organizations to sound governance, strategy, and finance and accounting practices.  The Memorial for Rape Survivors project calls attention to the reality of sexual violence that exists within communities, honors the strength and courage of survivors, and creates a space to break the silence. 100% of the funds raised through The Power of 100 – Twin Cities and the Schulze Family Foundation will go to the materials, construction, and preservation of this memorial which will be located within the Minneapolis Parks system.

Learn more about this organization at www.mapfornonprofits.org

MAP for Nonprofits – Rape Survivors Memorial Fund was the selected charity for March, 2016.

Local women pool their cash to power philanthropy

This article from PioneerPress.com

Maja Beckstrom, Pioneer Press

Four times a year, a group of women gather in Shoreview and get to feel like big-time philanthropists.

They use a fishbowl.

The women are members of The Power of 100 Twin Cities Women Who Care.

It’s a nonexclusive club. You simply show up, learn about organizations in the community, vote and write a check for $100.

On a Monday evening in early December, dozens of women sat around tables in a hotel banquet room. A few women in the corner holding glasses of white wine playfully pounded a table in a spontaneous drum roll as the names of three nonprofits were pulled from a glass bowl.

The name on the first slip was Alexandra House, a battered-women’s shelter in Blaine. The second was Theresa Listening Center, a program for homeless women in St. Paul. The third was Second Stork, a volunteer effort to give free diapers to needy new moms.

At the end of the hour, one would be selected to receive the total of all those $100 donations, plus a matching grant from Best Buy founder Richard Schulze.

“When you multiply your money, the impact is so much greater,” said member Lisa Mattson of Shoreview. “And there is this wonderful synergy in the room of women who all have an interest in doing something for someone besides themselves.”

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Alexandra House

Amount Awarded: $25,089.00 ($16,963 member donations + $8,126 Schulze matching donation)

 Alexandra House

Alexandra House was established in 1977, when a group of concerned citizens formed the Anoka County Task Force for Battered Women. Within a year the Task Force established a 24-hour crisis line, with the first emergency shelter opening in 1980.  As the needs of the community evolved, Alexandra House has expanded on its services – adding legal advocacy, therapy and support services, violence prevention programs, elder abuse resources, and community education and professional training.

Learn more about this organization at alexandrahouse.org

Alexandra House is the selected charity for December, 2015.

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