Our Mission

Impact100 DC is an all-volunteer women’s philanthropic community dedicated to improving lives in the Greater Washington, DC area by collectively funding transformational grants to local nonprofit organizations.

Our Vision
  • To address unmet needs in our community, prioritizing those that result from systemic racism and structural inequity;
  • To create and sustain a diverse community of dynamic women committed to building bridges across the wide demographic divides in the Washington DC area; and
  • To empower women as philanthropists and leaders.
From the Impact100 DC president

A look back to the beginning….
Ann Vaughn, Founding President of Impact100 DC

There was one moment in the early fall of 2019 when I knew the idea Impact100 DC was going to become a reality. It was at the Tenley-Friendship Library and a meeting with five other women – Iris Morton, Brenda Ewing, Janelle Haskell, Sharon Dennis, Ellen Sivon, and Susan Nussbaum, many of whom had just met one another, to discuss the order of steps needed to create a greater Washington chapter of Impact100. Every individual agreed that the starting point HAD to be the creation of a mission and vision. 

The statements we drew up reflect our conversations about the fact that the success of the organization would rest on the nature of the community we created – that in order to identify proposals with the greatest potential to create change, in order to partner effectively with nonprofit organizations working to effect that change, in order to enable the most effective stewardship of each $1,000 membership contribution – we needed to build a community diverse in age, race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, economic resources, and area of residence in sprawling metropolitan DC: a community with the potential to build bridges across divides and differences in the interest of  common goals. 

Fast forward to June of 2023. At our third Annual Grant Awards Celebration we awarded a $162,000 in grants to four incredible nonprofit organizations. We have a fabulous membership community of 164 members and anticipate a hearty increase in those numbers for 2024.  

The Impact100 model was created by visionary Wendy Steele, who formed the first chapter in Cincinnati in 2001. There are now over 50 chapters in the US and beyond. We are the beneficiaries of the Impact100 Council’s resources (the umbrella organization led by Wendy), as well as the advice of Impact leaders and examples of best practices from many other chapters.

Some of the women who created that initial vision for Impact DC have moved from the board to supporting the organization in other ways, and others have remained on the leadership team. The common thread is the mission and vision, and it will continue to tie us all together. We have come a long way but we will always be a work in progress, with, as past board member Vivian Aguayo has so eloquently put it, a north star to guide us. 

 

The Impact100 Model

The Impact100 model is readily available to all communities who wish to implement it. The model is designed to empower women to see themselves as philanthropists and overcome the barriers women have historically faced in this arena. The model is designed for transformational grant-making within local communities, with a minimum grant size of $100,000.

At Least 100 Women
Come Together

Each Woman
Donates $1,000

$100,000
is donated to a
Local Charity

Focus Areas

We provide non-profit organizations with grants in increments of at least $100,000 across five broad Focus Areas:

Arts & Culture

Cultural programs, participation in the arts, arts education

Education

Educational opportunities for children and/or adults, especially those that address lingering educational disparities affecting our community

Family

Strengthening and enhancing the lives of children and families, including seniors

Health & Wellness

Improvement of people’s mental and/or physical well-being.

Environment

Conservation and preservation of natural resources; environmental justice; parks and recreation; agricultural sustainability; environmental education and climate action.

Impact100 DC accepts applications from nonprofits in the District of Columbia, Montgomery, Prince Georges, Fairfax, and Arlington Counties, and the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, and Falls Church. All 501(c)(3) nonprofits, except those organizations whose primary purpose and use of grant funds is for religious or political activities, are eligible to apply.

How it Works
  • Impact100 DC operates on a yearly cycle, beginning with Membership Recruitment. After the membership recruitment period ends, Impact DC announces the size of the grant and nonprofits are invited to submit Letters of Intent in one of the five focus areas. You will be notified by email if you are chosen to submit a full grant proposal. Impact DC members volunteer to serve on a grant committee to study proposals, perform site visits, and select the strongest applicant. Finalists from each of the focus areas present their projects at the Annual Meeting of Impact100 DC. The entire membership of Impact DC votes to select the winner(s). SEE TIMELINE
  • The annual $1,000 donation of each Impact100 DC member goes exclusively to funding the grants. We rely on “Member Plus” 110% contributions as well as Friends of Impact100 DC to pay for operating costs.
  • Membership is open to all women over the age of 21 and renewable annually.
  • Impact100 is inclusive and egalitarian. Each member casts one vote.
  • Impact100 DC is an all-volunteer organization. We rely exclusively on the expertise, time and talent of our members. That said, members may do as much or as little as time and circumstance allow. Members can be directly involved in the grant review process, learning more about area needs and the nonprofits working to address them. They can serve on a committee and be directly involved in the myriad operational aspects of Impact. Or, they can simply cast their vote at the annual meeting.

Executive Board

Ann Vaughn
President
Ann Vaughn began teaching music at Holton-Arms School, an independent school for girls in Bethesda, Maryland, in 1992. During her tenure there, she taught general and choral music to girls in grades 3 though 8. As Chair of the Music...
Ann Vaughn
President

Ann Vaughn began teaching music at Holton-Arms School, an independent school for girls in Bethesda, Maryland, in 1992. During her tenure there, she taught general and choral music to girls in grades 3 though 8. As Chair of the Music Department, she supervised music faculty in all three school divisions. She led curricular review and development for the department, as well as departmental participation in school-wide strategic initiatives. Ms Vaughn served for three years on the Holton-Arms Board of Trustees as the Faculty Trustee.

Ms Vaughn was active throughout her career in the Maryland Music Educators Association, the State’s professional association for music teachers, serving as President from 2003-2005. She presented over the years at state, regional and national music conferences on a wide range of topics in general and choral music education. Of particular interest throughout her career was global music education. She travelled twice to Ghana to study traditional music in a small village in the Volta region, and she became known as a area resource for incorporating Ghanaian music into school programs. She was a strong advocate for Holton’s now well-established Global Education Program and served as a trip leader to Senegal for the first group of Upper School students to participate in the Junior Journeys program.

During her last several years of teaching, Ms Vaughn became immersed in community outreach efforts on behalf of the School. She was instrumental in establishing a partnership around arts education projects with the Washington School for Girls, a Catholic school for girls in Anacostia. She continued to volunteer as a music teacher at WSG after her retirement from Holton and tutored at-risk students through a program to help with mastery of basic reading skills. 

Ms Vaughn received a B.A. In English from Ohio Wesleyan University and earned her Master of Music degree from the Catholic University of America.

“For me the most compelling idea in the Impact 100 model is that individual women – who join together, who pool intellectual and financial resources, and who educate themselves about the greatest unmet needs and inequities in their community – can become significant agents of change.”

Latina Fauconier
Vice President & Chair, Finance Committee
Latina Fauconier, CPA, is currently a Professional Accounting Fellow in the Office of the Chief Accountant at the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington DC. Prior to joining the SEC, Latina spent 17 years in public accounting at PwC and...
Latina Fauconier
Vice President & Chair, Finance Committee

Latina Fauconier, CPA, is currently a Professional Accounting Fellow in the Office of the Chief Accountant at the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington DC. Prior to joining the SEC, Latina spent 17 years in public accounting at PwC and most recently led PwC’s Capital Market Accounting Advisory Services Deals practice in Detroit Michigan. Latina holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Xavier University of Louisiana.

Latina is passionate about community service, having served on the executive board of the Detroit Chapter of the National Association of Black Accountants (“NABA”) for over 8 years, mentoring college students at Wayne State University’s Mike Illitch School of Business through PwC’s Multicultural Professional Readiness Education Program (“MPREP”) Scholars program, teaching financial literacy to high school students through the Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program (“DAPCEP”) in partnership with Wayne State University. Latina has also been a regular leader and advocate for diversity and inclusion initiatives within PwC and Michigan’s Association of Certified Public Accountants (“MICPA”). 

Latina now resides in Maryland with her husband and two young daughters. 

“Impact 100 is an organization of amazing women working together as a collective to provide high impact grants to nonprofit organizations making a difference in the local community where we live, work and play.” 

Dorothy Durden
Chair, Education Focus Area Committee
Dorothy began her professional career at IBM in New York City, in its stockholder relations department.  She advanced to a career in marketing and management where she worked with IBM marketing representatives to educate new customers on the values and...
Dorothy Durden
Chair, Education Focus Area Committee

Dorothy began her professional career at IBM in New York City, in its stockholder relations department.  She advanced to a career in marketing and management where she worked with IBM marketing representatives to educate new customers on the values and benefits of moving to automated office systems. 

Her IBM management and marketing positions led her to transition to the Human Resources field, where she worked as the Director of Human Resources for Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, Maryland until December 2017.  She is currently working part-time as the Human Resources Manager for a small minority-owned business. In both roles her responsibilities have encompassed employee relations, recruitment, health and retirement benefits, and payroll. 

Dorothy is passionate about helping others and has served on the board of the Organization for Training Others in Need (OF/TON), where she facilitated classes in an underserved community. She also served on the Board of Trustees and various board committees at Holton-Arms.

Dorothy has a BS in Business from Marymount College of Fordham University and a Masters in Human Resource Management from American University. 

“I have always made it a priority to contribute to my community. Once I learned about Impact100 DC I could not pass up the opportunity to join a diverse group of women across the DC Metro area to make a truly meaningful impact by providing significant support to our community. I am particularly inspired by Impact100 DC’s vision to address the needs of our community prioritizing those that result from systemic racism and structural inequity.”

Betty Dziura
Treasurer
Betty currently serves as Vice President-Controller at Hines, a global real estate investment, development and management firm.  Over the past 25 years, she has gained experience in all aspects of real estate accounting and financial reporting for office, apartment, condominium,...
Betty Dziura
Treasurer

Betty currently serves as Vice President-Controller at Hines, a global real estate investment, development and management firm.  Over the past 25 years, she has gained experience in all aspects of real estate accounting and financial reporting for office, apartment, condominium, and multi-use developments.

Since 2012, Betty has had responsibility for the Hines East Region Accounting Group, comprised of over 50 real estate accounting professionals in Boston, New York and D.C.  In this role she provides oversight and supervision of 9 controllers responsible for the financial management and reporting for projects in the region. Betty also oversees compliance with internal controls at Hines and coordinates with external audit and tax firms to ensure timely completion of annual audit reports and periodic tax filings.

Betty received her B.A. in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.