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Wendy Steele by any standard is an innovator, a leader and she is clearly unstoppable. She was born in Connecticut and, even from an early age, she was taught the value of giving back. For a while she didn’t really buy into the concept, but then her mother died. She realized at some point that the community around her selflessly helped her and the rest of the family with food and other support. She will tell us how one day a neighbor lady took her to the mall to buy her a dress for her first dance. As she tells the story, her father thought that all he needed to do was to take Wendy to Sears to buy something. Wendy’s neighbor set her father straight which was one of those learning moments for Wendy when she realized just how unselfish her neighbor was and how so many people worked to help her and the family. Wendy went to college where she majored in economics and then went to work in the banking industry. Unlike many, Wendy always used her job to help ensure that the banks for which she worked truly adopted an attitude of helping the community rather than just working to maximize profits. While continuing to work for banks, in 2004 while then having moved to Cincinnati, Wendy decided to start Impact100, an organization designed to really give back to the local community. I leave it to Wendy to describe the organization, its founding and its major success over the years. The story shows us all what one person can do if they are committed and if they want to help others. Suffice it to say that today, Impact100 is in several countries and has given over $140,000,000 to local community organizations and projects. About the Guest: Wendy H. Steele, Founder and Chief Executive, Impact100 A dedicated philanthropist, passionate entrepreneur, and inspiring speaker, Wendy Steele is the founder of Impact100, a grassroots global movement that has given away more than $140 million since its inception in 2001. From a young age, her family instilled in her the value of giving back with the intention of leaving the world a little better than she found it, leading Steele to dedicate much of her adult life encouraging generosity in all its forms. She believes that each of us has something important to give. In 2023, Wendy released her bestselling book, Invitation to Impact: Lighting the Path to Community Transformation. Filled with personal stories and expert guidance, she shares the history of Impact100 and why she was compelled to pivot from a successful banking career into full-time work at Impact100 Global. Wendy has received several awards for her work in philanthropy, including the 2024 USA TODAY Woman of the Year. Also in 2024, Steele received an Anthem Award for Humanitarian Action & Services, Best Local Community Engagement for her work with Impact100 Global. In 2021, she was named by Forbes as one of fifty women over fifty who are leading the world in impact. Her work in philanthropy has been featured in several books, including The Transformative Power of Women’s Philanthropy; Women, Wealth and Giving; Creating a Women’s Giving Circle; and The Right Sisters—Women Inventors Tell Their Stories. Steele believes wholeheartedly in giving back to her community. She observes that there are two kinds of people: those who see the problems in the world and realize they can be a part of the solution and those who still need to be invited to the party. Ways to connect with Wendy: Impact100 Global website: https://impact100global.org/ Wendy H Steele website: https://wendyhsteele.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wendy.h.steele/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendysteele/ Book: Invitation to Impact: Lighting the Path to Community Transformation Available at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Invitation-Impact-LightingCommunity-Transformation/dp/B0C16GVSBP EMAIL: wendy@impact100Global.org About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children’s Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association’s 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us. Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Well, hi, and here we are once again with another episode of unstoppable mindset where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. We get to do lots of unexpected, although, you know, we'll see if inclusion or diversity come into it. Our guest today, the person we get to chat with, is Wendy Steele. And Wendy is the founder of an organization called Impact 100 she's going to talk about that. I know she'll talk a lot about that because she's had a lot of involvement in that since 2000 I believe. Well anyway, Wendy, welcome to unstoppable mindset. We're really glad you're here. Thank Wendy Steele ** 02:00 you so much, Michael. I'm happy to be with you today. Michael Hingson ** 02:03 Well, tell us a little bit about kind of the early Wendy, it's always fun to start with things at the beginning. You know, so growing up and all that, I'd love to learn a little bit about you. Growing up, Wendy Steele ** 02:15 absolutely I grew up. I was born in Connecticut, and then moved to St Louis, Missouri, or my family did when I was young. I'm the middle of three daughters, and I grew up in a family that really instilled the value of giving back, that each of us had a responsibility to leave the world a little bit better than we found it, and that was something that I took very much to heart as a young girl. But it wasn't too long. In fact, I hadn't even entered high school yet when we lost my mother, and at that point, the tables turned a little bit, and I went from seeing myself as someone who could help others to understanding that I needed help. My sisters needed help. My dad needed help, and we got it from a lot of local women who really never even knew my mom, but knew what three young girls and a single father would need during times like this, and it it really changed my whole perspective to understand what a difference it can make when somebody steps in to help you when you really need it most. Michael Hingson ** 03:34 So kind of all that help that you got from women where you were and all that, I guess, sort of enhanced or justified what you had been learning growing up about giving back Wendy Steele ** 03:52 exactly and and it, but it flipped the switch. You know, because giving to other people gives you a certain satisfaction. But at least in my young life, I didn't really know how it felt on the other side of the transaction, if you will, the other side of my generosity. And once I did, it really changed my perspective, and if anything, made me quicker to help others. Michael Hingson ** 04:23 So when did you figure that out? Because you had sort of indicated that your your view had sort of switched, and then you started getting help. So when did you figure out that? Well, maybe it was right from the beginning. Wendy Steele ** 04:39 Yeah, it was pretty early on. You know what? What happened that made it different for us was that when my mother died, you know, the women came around us the way you might expect in the beginning. You know, we had casseroles left on our front doorstep, or moms would offer to drive extra carpool. Shifts, or, you know, little things in the beginning, like that, that that are very helpful. But the remarkable thing was, is that several of these women, they just kept helping. So by the time I was invited to my first high school dance, one of the moms stepped in and took me shopping, because my dad's idea of where we should go for a nice dress for a formal dance for a young girl was Sears, and luckily for me, this mom took me to the mall and I got to pick out a dress that was a little bit more suitable to my age and and she smoothed everything over with my father and told him that the dress was appropriate. So she really did what I call PhD level giving and understanding that it can be sometimes easy to give in the beginning, but then we get distracted and we move on. And there were women who never moved on. They just kept helping without ever being asked, before we even really knew what we needed. Michael Hingson ** 06:09 Well, your dad was well intentioned, though. Yes, just not, not very knowledgeable where girls were concerned and all that stuff, exactly, yeah. Well, so where did you go to high school? Where was that in southern Missouri? Wendy Steele ** 06:29 Yes, I went to high school in Saint Louis, and I was, I went to a Catholic all girls school, but I wasn't Catholic, and I was the I was the only non Catholic in my class, but I went there because all my friends were going to go there. And I couldn't imagine staying in the public school system if all my friends were going to an all girls Catholic school and I and I loved it there. Yeah, me a minute, but I loved it there. Well, Michael Hingson ** 06:58 that's cool. And was that an extra expense, or did was there a scholarship? Or how did that work? Because I'm sure that would have fretted your dad a little bit. Wendy Steele ** 07:10 You know, this, the school that I went to is one of the most affordable schools in the area, so although there was an expense, it wasn't a burdensome one. So it it worked out the way it did. So when I think he was really happy to know that I was safe and I was in an all girls school versus, you know, whatever was happening at the time in the public school where we lived, Michael Hingson ** 07:36 yeah, which even now is probably a whole lot more riskier than when, when you were going to school, right? Yeah, I'm sure I I don't know all the things that I hear and so on. I think it would be really hard to be a parent today, and it would even be harder to be a kid because of all the stuff with social media, all the temptations, and it's so easy to fall into so many traps, and it was certainly not that way nearly as much when I went to school and you went to school after I did. So I'm but I'm sure you experienced the same sort of thing. So it's, I just think, a whole lot worse. Now, it's kind of scary, isn't it? Wendy Steele ** 08:16 Yeah, yeah. I am happy I got through it all when I did before social media would record my every mistake or, you know, embarrassing moments. So yeah, now, do you have tougher on kids today? Michael Hingson ** 08:30 Do you have kids? Wendy Steele ** 08:33 I do, um, is so I am in a blended family, and together, we have five children, three came from my first marriage, and two came from my husband's first marriage. And so we are very, very lucky to have five amazing adult children, yeah, Michael Hingson ** 08:52 but even though they're adult children, they they went to school after you. So I'm sure they probably would if they're reasonably settled, say the same thing, that it'd be a whole lot tougher to be a kid today. Yeah, it's for sure. Yep, yeah, that's too bad. But you know, we'll, we'll get through it, and maybe it does help build character if we can teach kids what they need to know, and they can resist all the temptations. But that's a less epic for another day, I guess. I guess so. What did you do after high school? Wendy Steele ** 09:29 Well, after high school, I went to Connecticut College, and I studied economics. My grandfather was a banker, and my grandfather taught me when I was a young girl, this would be my mother's parents. My my grandparents really were also very helpful after my mom died and he was a banker. When I asked him why and what made him, you know, stay in the banking business, he said that as a. Banker, you get to help people, and he explained about loans to help someone start or grow their business. Now, he was a banker in the in rural Michigan, so a lot of his customers, they were farmers, and they were people who might have owned a very small business, but they were saving for education or for retirement, they were trying to make sure that they could take care of their families. And he described how banking worked and how it could help people achieve the goals that they set for themselves. He also told me that during the Great Depression, not a single customer of the bank was foreclosed upon. Every single every customer got dealt with on an individualized basis to work out a repayment that could work for them. And hearing this and admiring and loving my grandfather the way I did, I thought, well, that's what I want to do when I grow up, and that's exactly what happened. Michael Hingson ** 11:04 That's that is kind of cool, that not one person was foreclosed on and they they survived and they moved forward over time. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And once again, the theme with your grandfather going back to obviously, he taught your mother the idea of help, and that's that's interesting, that that bankers, or at least some bankers, are in it to help, as opposed to just making a huge profit for the bank. Wendy Steele ** 11:38 Yeah, yep, absolutely, he was definitely one of those bankers, and I think in those days, they had enough latitude that they actually could help customers. I think it's harder now with the regulation and all the things that govern banking, but it definitely was able to work that way for them. Michael Hingson ** 11:58 Yeah, yeah. I was going to ask if you think it's tougher now, and I can see that there's, well, there's more regulation. Unfortunately, sometimes the regulation is deserved, which also is a challenge, but it's the way we have to deal with it. So you got a bachelor's degree in economics? I did, yep. Did you go on and get any advanced degrees or stick with Wendy Steele ** 12:23 that? I went, I went right into banking and and stayed in the banking business for just over 20 years. Um, my specialty was in the private bank, and so I took care of high net worth clients. And by the time I got out of banking, I had made it to senior vice president and regional manager of a Midwestern regional bank holding company, and I loved my clients, I loved my colleagues, and I really did feel like I was helping them to achieve their dreams and their goals in much the same way my grandfather did. The the methods were different because of the regulation, as we've talked but, but the end is still the same. Michael Hingson ** 13:13 How did the regulations make it different? Wendy Steele ** 13:16 Well, you know, in my grandfather's time, he had a lot of autonomy, and in his case, he didn't abuse that autonomy. But regulations come in, and now there's a lot more structure and a lot more approvals. And you know, you want to make sure that everyone is protected. So it changed slightly in that way, but big picture, I think the heart of banking is still to help people, and understanding that sometimes turning down someone for a loan is helping them more than giving them what they ask for. Because as a as a lender, we can do the math and decide, you know, figure out the odds of that individual being able to repay that loan. And so when we say no, we're actually setting them up for success in the sense that we're giving them something that they'll be able to repay. Michael Hingson ** 14:17 Well, you know, the thing that comes to mind immediately is the whole issue with regulation is that a handshake doesn't suffice anymore. And again, given the world, maybe that's the way it needs to be. Wendy Steele ** 14:32 Exactly, yeah, I think you're right. So Michael Hingson ** 14:36 you you went into banking, and where did you do that. Wendy Steele ** 14:41 Um, well, I started in Connecticut, and I worked in Connecticut for a little while, and then I was transferred to Boston, and I was in Boston, and then back to Connecticut, but eventually I ended up in Cincinnati, Ohio. Well, that's Michael Hingson ** 14:59 different. Yeah. How did that happen? Wendy Steele ** 15:04 Well, my my then husband, also was in banking, and he was recruited to go and work for a different bank in Cincinnati, and moving from the east coast, where the cost of living is very high to a place like Cincinnati, where there's a good number of high paying jobs there, because there are lots of corporate headquarters in Cincinnati, but the cost of living is very low. And so he accepted the job, and I came along as what they call the trailing spouse, and I ended up getting a job in another bank and doing work there for about a dozen years, and Cincinnati was was really terrific. That's where all three of my kids were born, but that's also where my marriage fell apart and I ended up with a divorce, but it was a great place to to work and play and raise a family. Michael Hingson ** 16:07 Yeah, divorce is no fun, but if that's what needs to happen, and then that's what needs to happen, 16:13 exactly, yeah, well, that's Michael Hingson ** 16:17 cool. And you were in a nice well, you were with Boston and Connecticut too, but a nice cold Arena in Cincinnati, 16:25 yes, Michael Hingson ** 16:28 good, good place to throw snowballs if you're in the right place. Wendy Steele ** 16:33 Well, we didn't get all that much snow, yeah, a little bit more icy than snowy, but, um, but not bad. Not bad at all. Michael Hingson ** 16:41 Yeah, so it wasn't very wet snow, and so you couldn't really make good snowballs. 16:45 Mm, hmm, yeah. Michael Hingson ** 16:48 Well, gee, we all have to put up with things. But that's that's still pretty good. So you were there for 11 years or so, and then what did you do? Wendy Steele ** 17:01 Well while I was there, I I guess I should back up. When I moved to Cincinnati, I moved there, not knowing anyone, and so I did what I always did, and that was I, I volunteered in the community and every bank that I've ever worked in part of my interviewing of the bank to decide whether I would accept a job if it was offered, was to understand how they felt about community service, you know, and whether they valued it truly and allowed their employees to be out in the community. And so I've been very fortunate to always work for banks that legitimately wanted their people helping out in the community, and so I got involved in the community. I was working in the bank, and I was meeting a bunch of terrific women and a lot of very worthy nonprofits, and I would invite the women I've met along the way to come and join me as I am rather a generalist. I don't have a pet cause that I really care about. I like to help out the nonprofits that I feel are doing the best job solving the pressing problems that they face. Women would tell me all the reasons why they couldn't join me. They couldn't pay a sitter $10 an hour to come and volunteer with me, or maybe they traveled for work and they couldn't go to regular meetings. There was this sense that they didn't know enough. They didn't have enough to give to make a difference, they would tell me that if they ever made a donation in the past, they never really knew what happened. Did the money get spent? And how did it matter? What happened because of their donation? There was also a little bit of skepticism after a high profile nonprofit CEO was caught misbehaving after making quite a lot of money and seemingly getting paid better than his for profit counterparts, and what I knew was that women needed to be involved in the solution. They needed to know what it felt like to give back. But what I realized was that as much as women's roles had evolved over the last several generations, women's philanthropy really hadn't everything in the world of of women giving back was time based. It was based on volunteering and rolling up your sleeves. And although I think that's a vital part and really a powerful part, of helping others, we weren't doing as much in the actual check writing to support nonprofits and. So in the summer of 2001 I got out a spiral notebook and a pen, and I started to write down all the reasons women had told me as to why they couldn't get involved in the community, and one by one, I I worked to overcome every one of those reasons, like, I suppose any good salesperson would, and when I was finished, what I had on the page is what ultimately became impact. 100 Michael Hingson ** 20:33 Mm, hmm. So you are obviously on a journey, and you wanted it to to deal with it. So when you say you overcame them and you overcame all the objections. What does that mean? Wendy Steele ** 20:47 Well, for example, women who said they couldn't make regular meetings, or the women who said they didn't think they had enough to give. What I did is I created impact 100 to overcome those sort of in this case, what it means is, in a local community, the goal of impact 100 is to gather at least 100 women who each donate $1,000 pool 100% of that money together and offer it right back to the local community in grants of $100,000 or more. Women, other than making their $1,000 donation, had no obligation of time. It was one woman, one donation and one vote by democratizing philanthropy in this way, women who didn't have time to go to meetings or weren't interested in going and being a part of the of the vetting of these nonprofits, they didn't need to, but Those who did, it was a very transparent process, they could see and understand exactly what the nonprofits were looking for, and everyone had an equal voice at the table. And when we do this, it just creates a very powerful network of women who are passionate about helping their community and coming alongside each other. And so that first year, we had 123 women write a check. We received over 100 applications from local nonprofits and ultimately awarded a single grant of $123,000 to the mcmicken Dental Clinic, which is in over the Rhine, which at that time was one of Cincinnati's most challenged neighborhoods. It's now gotten much better, but then it was a it was a difficult part of town, and this particular clinic took care of the dental needs of the homeless and uninsured and and really change lives in a significant way. Michael Hingson ** 23:08 So you gave back everything that you took in. How does that help pay for the administration of the organization? Wendy Steele ** 23:16 It doesn't. That's, that's the idea is that impact 100 locally is run by volunteers, and the reason that we give 100% of those donations is so that no one has to wonder what the overhead expenses are or how it's being spent. Now, there are expenses to running a nonprofit, even if staff isn't one of them, so we invite women to join as what we call 110% members. You know, women will often tell us that they give 110% to the causes they care about. Well, if impact is one of them, then instead of writing a check for $1,000 we ask them to write a check for 1100 and the extra 100 helps to cover administrative expenses. Also we have men, and we have companies, and we have families, and in some cases, foundations who also want to be a friend of impact 100 and they can make a donation in any amount, and it's used purely to cover the costs of things like mailings, and you know, the tactical things that you'd have to do to do your work as a nonprofit. There were local companies that offered pro bono services and products, understanding that this relatively large group and growing group of women would also be women who might need their printing services or might need flowers for a graduation or for a baby shower or whatever it might be. And so we allow in every community. Community, the local community, to come around that chapter and sort of help it to reach its highest potential. Michael Hingson ** 25:10 So you that's, that's pretty clever. And so you, you were in Cincinnati, and then you obviously went somewhere else. 25:22 Yes, yeah, Michael Hingson ** 25:24 fitness can't stay in one place, can you? I Wendy Steele ** 25:27 guess not? Yeah, I guess not. But I've been lucky, because I really liked everywhere that I've lived. But yeah, from there, I ended up moving to Northern Michigan with my three kids, and I lived there for about 15 years, during which time I was still a banker for much of it, and I also was doing the Work of impact 100 and in those intervening years. Gosh, impact 100 has just continued to grow. And now, about five years ago, my mom, as you know, died when I was a kid. My father passed away in 2013 but my husband's parents were here in Florida. And so about five years ago, we were empty nesters. The kids had all gone to college and beyond, and we worked remotely back way before COVID. And so we decided that we would spend a little time in Florida to help his his parents. And so we ultimately ended up here. His mother passed away in 2022 but his dad is still going strong, and he will be 94 in November. So he is really amazing, still as sharp as attack, and in really good health all the way around, and a real joy to be around. So that's what brought us here. Michael Hingson ** 27:05 That's cool, well and and impact 100 continues to grow, Wendy Steele ** 27:13 yes. So we celebrated. We gave our first grant away in 2002 and that was Cincinnati for $123,000.20 years later, by 2022 we had given away, believe it or not, more than 123 million. So we grew 1000 fold in those 20 years, and then by the end of last year, we've given away north of $140 million and we now have chapters in four countries, and are growing faster today than we ever have before. Michael Hingson ** 27:53 That's cool. And I assume in most states in the US, you Wendy Steele ** 27:58 know, it's kind of spotty around the US. The thing with our growth is 100% of it is organic. And by that I mean someone locally raises their hand and says, Hey, I want to bring impact to my community. And so as a result, we sort of have clusters like we have a lot in Florida, we have a lot in New Jersey, and we have a lot in Michigan and and they're growing through word of mouth. Michael Hingson ** 28:24 So I know that you talked about it being women that do it. Do men get involved at all Wendy Steele ** 28:33 they can. So we have nine chapters in Australia and in Australia, all but one are gender neutral. Men and women joined together. And you know, part of the reason that they do it that way and that we keep it just with women in this country has to do with our history and theirs, and so in Australia, they really didn't have role models for giving that were men or women. Neither gender had really been involved in philanthropy. Whereas in the United States, you know, the founding fathers and then those very first wealthy entrepreneurs, they took their civic duty to heart. And so we really have an American history of generosity, although largely, as I said, largely men, women would typically have time and they would volunteer. But what struck me, and it was part of what led me to create impact 100 is I remember hearing a story about a local church, and they had come into some serious financial trouble, and so their lead pastor called his senior staff together and the head of the men's Guild and the head of the women's group, and explained the situation and asked everyone to go. Do what they could to raise money and to help this situation that was quite dire. Well, the staff went out and they they collected as many receivables as they could, they cut costs, they they stretched their payables, they got better terms, and they did what they could. The head of the women's group, she went out and with a group of women, my gosh, they they did a rummage sale, they did a bake sale, they washed cars, they they did all of this work. And at the end of this two week period, she happily delivered a check for $8,000 to the senior pastor. She'd never raised that kind of money so quickly. Well, then the head of the men's group, he came, but he delivered far more than that in a check, and she couldn't understand how he did it. And it turns out that he thought to himself, maybe with a spouse. Gosh, we want to help the church I can afford to write a check for x. And then he called his male friends and said, Hey, Michael, can you give what I gave? And Michael would probably say yes. And then he played golf with Joe, and then he had lunch with Steve. And the next thing you know, each one of these men wrote a check. And it wasn't at all that men were keeping women from writing a check. No one told the head of the women's guild that she couldn't simply write a check and ask her friends to do the same. It's that culturally, it never occurred to her to do, and as a banker, but also as somebody who understands that giving your time and your talent is very important and it's very helpful. Giving your treasure is very meaningful, too, and we short change ourselves when we only give one dimensionally, and I believe that's true for people who can only write a check. I think you have the most fulfillment in your life when you can do all three that's really when you connect with the nonprofits and the organizations that you're helping. And so that's kind of what drove it to be a women's organization here in this country. Michael Hingson ** 32:26 Is it a 501 c3, Corporation? Wendy Steele ** 32:30 It is, in fact, every local chapter, they're independent, so it's not one overarching every local chapter is an independent 501 c3, or they might be organized with a fiscal agent, like a community foundation or something similar. Michael Hingson ** 32:49 So what other countries? You've mentioned Australia, and you said four countries. So what are the other two? Wendy Steele ** 32:56 So we are also in New Zealand and we're in the United Kingdom. Okay, Michael Hingson ** 33:02 any opportunities coming up on the horizon for being in other countries as well? Wendy Steele ** 33:08 We're having conversations right now in Switzerland, in Germany, in parts of India and so we'll see. But it's it's starting to happen right now. We've got 73 active chapters around the world, but we have almost 60 communities that are looking to launch. They're sort of figuring out whether they're going to be able to bring an impact 100 chapter. Impact 100 is really simple and really powerful, and it's easy to understand, but it is difficult to execute well, because when you give away grants, our minimum grant size is $100,000 and when you give away grants of that size, you take we take our responsibility of stewarding our members money very seriously, and so there's a lot of process to make sure that when we give a grant of $100,000 it goes to exactly what it's supposed to go to, and our members dollars are protected and and well cared for. What's Michael Hingson ** 34:22 the largest grant that you've given? Wendy Steele ** 34:26 Well, the largest grant was for $184,000 that was given to a single organization. But I will tell you that our impact 100 chapters can vary in size, right? The world's largest chapter in a single day gives away $1.1 million they have over 1100 members. And in fact, this year, they haven't, they haven't started giving money. Away yet, but they are giving away 1.2 million, and that is Pensacola Florida. So Pensacola Florida is the largest in terms of the biggest number of grants and biggest dollar amount. But the largest single Grant was in Cincinnati, and it was $184,000 but every increment of 100 members, we give away another grant. So 200 members, we give two grants and so on. Michael Hingson ** 35:30 Now you talked about the cultural differences, like between men and women and so on, and I, having worked for a non profit, appreciate exactly what you say, which is, it's really, if at all possible, best, to have all three dimensions. Do you spend time? Or is there a way that impact 100 teaches members about maybe looking at being more than one dimensional in the whole giving process, that they can help people learn that it's culturally okay to write a check as well as going out and doing bake sales and and giving of your talents. So time count talents and treasure are all very important. Do you help teach people the value of that? You Wendy Steele ** 36:17 know? It's interesting. I'm not sure that we necessarily teach people how to do that, although I think many of the women who come into an impact 100 chapter they are writing a check for $1,000 for the first time. In other words, they they've never written a check for that big it doesn't mean that they haven't donated to nonprofits prior to impact, but we have provided a viable path for them to feel like they can write that check. Now, very often, they're also interested in doing these other things, and so we do offer opportunities. They're invited to participate in ways where they can do things beyond writing the check. It's not a mandate by any means. It's simply an invitation. And many of them, once, they once they start getting involved, and they really start to realize that in every local community, there are heroes who are doing the heavy lifting in those nonprofits that are really moving the needle for the people in the causes that need it most. And I think it's more. It's like you're just compelled, you have to do more. And for those who have you know deep resources, they might write an extra check and help out financially. Others might introduce these nonprofits to their network or to other funders, and certainly others will volunteer, whether it's, you know, to paint the side of the barn or whether it's to sit on the on the board or an advisory committee to help they they find a way that works for both what the nonprofit needs and what the women's schedules and and other commitments will allow Michael Hingson ** 38:14 Well, you have certainly created an interesting and a dedicated and committed community does impact 100 ever have meetings like national convention or anything like that, where people from around the country, or perhaps even around the world, come and get together? Or is that kind of something that doesn't really fit into the model of what you're doing? Wendy Steele ** 38:42 No, we actually that's a great question. Michael, we do that. We call them global conferences, and we typically have people who come from outside the US. Right now we have only had them in the United States, but I imagine there will be a time that will have them overseas as well every other year. So my work at impact 100 global is I help existing chapters who because they're run by volunteers, you've got built in turnover, and those volunteer leaders need to be trained. They need to understand how the model works, best practices and resources. So my job is to work with all the existing chapters to help them reach their highest potential, and for the potentially founding chapters to get launched in as efficient and effective way as we can and some of the programming I offer includes a global conference every other year. So in 2023 we housed our global conference in Detroit, Michigan, and our next one is in 2025 and it will be in a pan. Handle of Florida. It'll be in Destin Florida, which it which will be a lot of fun. How Michael Hingson ** 40:06 many people come? How many people came to Michigan? You Wendy Steele ** 40:10 know, a couple of 100 usually come. In this case, it's usually three days, and it's a very intense curriculum. But women come, in part to learn from each other. And, you know, they end up meeting women from other parts of the world, other parts of the country, and friendships get forged, and it is a wonderful way for them to feel a bigger part of the community. Now, these only happen every couple of years. So every month, I have a virtual, what we call a chapter Chat, where chapter members can ask questions about, you know, I'm having trouble reaching a certain membership number. How, how do we attract new members? Or how do we retain our current members? Or how do we attract more nonprofit applicants? And so I answer the questions from my perspective being in this from the beginning, but other chapters will also weigh in and say what worked for them, or maybe what didn't work. And they give advice to each other as well. And so the more we can bring people together to create community and to learn from each other, the better off it is for everyone. Michael Hingson ** 41:30 I understand that somewhere along the line, People Magazine learned about the work you're doing. I'd love to learn more about that and what happened when the story was published. Wendy Steele ** 41:39 Yeah, absolutely. Well, so as I said, when I was in Cincinnati, you know, I was a banker and I didn't have a non profit pedigree, you know, I didn't do a lot of the things that you would expect someone who would end up founding a non profit would have done, um, we tried like crazy to get the local press in Cincinnati to tell our story, because we wanted all women to to know about this. All women in Cincinnati were invited and and even from the beginning, in 2001 the founding board was very diverse, and that's part of the secret sauce is you've got to represent your community in a way that would invite women to join. Well, that was, you know, that was fine, but for whatever reason, we really had trouble getting the Cincinnati press to tell our story. So when we had given away that grant to the mcin Dental Clinic, The Cincinnati Enquirer, which is the local paper, they wrote a story, and it was in the living section, you know, a few pages in, and it was a little small excerpt, but it had a, I think, a picture of me with a quote about the funding, and a quote From the clinic that received the grant. And, you know, it just talked very little bit about impact 100 Well, actually, the there was a writer or a reporter with People magazine located out of Chicago, and she was pitching her editor on a story covering eight or six or eight nonprofits, grassroots movements that were happening around the country. Of you know, people trying to do good, trying to help others. So she called me on my landline. Well, at that time, I almost hung up on her. I thought it was a prank call, because we'd had so much trouble getting local press. I certainly didn't think she was really from People Magazine. Ultimately, the magazine ended up writing a story only about impact 100 and me, and so she found us by the smallest little bit of media. Now, if I would have known when I was creating what I did in Cincinnati, if I'd known that it would grow like this, and had I known about the effect of that People magazine article, I don't know. I hope I would have still done it, but it may have been, may have felt too big for me. But it turns out that from that People magazine article, new chapters started launching. But one other thing happened, because it was People Magazine, they always talk about the people in the story, and in this case, they gave my maiden name. They gave they said I was divorced. They gave my whole life story, and believe it or not, a boy that when I was in high school, but during the summers, we went to Northern. Michigan, a boy that I dated in the summers, was somewhere at his doctor's office getting a physical, and he picked the magazine off the coffee table in front of him, started flipping through it, and came to my picture, recognized me, read the story and reached out, and that man is Rick Steele. We got married in 2005 and so we are getting ready to celebrate 19 years of marriage thanks, in large part to People Magazine. That's cool. Is she really cool? Yeah. Michael Hingson ** 45:39 Well, it's a good thing, and it's and it's and it's lasting and sticking. So that's good. Wendy Steele ** 45:45 Very good, absolutely. So, so Michael Hingson ** 45:48 what does your husband do? Wendy Steele ** 45:51 My husband is an industrial design engineer. He works for a company called Polaris, which most people think of Polaris as snowmobiles, which they do, but they also do Indian motorcycles. They do all the off road vehicles. They do something called a slingshot, which is kind of a fancy cross between a car and an ATV. But what my husband does for them is he puts the designs with a whole group of others, but he puts the designs in the computer for the next vehicle that's going to come out, or the next snowmobile, whatever it's going to be. And so He absolutely loves their product line, loves his work and is really good at it, and has been working virtually, as I said, for ages, so he can work from wherever he is. And he goes to Minnesota, where they're headquartered. You know, fairly often, because he really likes the people he works with, but most of the time he has a home office and stays right here, Michael Hingson ** 47:01 and you finally are attached to and or working with someone who's not in the banking world. Yes, exactly, gone. Gone a different direction. Well, that's that's still cool. So you wrote a book, um invitation to impact. I'd love to learn more about that, what, what prompted it, and what's it about, and all of that. Wendy Steele ** 47:30 You know, I, I always sort of had in the back of my mind, I thought I would write a book. Um, people had always asked about how impact 100 got started, and they they want, they were looking for me to do something like this. And what happened was Carrie Morgridge, who is part of the Morgridge Family Foundation and a prolific author in her own right. She and her husband John, created MFF publishing, which is the publishing arm of the mortgage Family Foundation. And she decided, or they decided, that they wanted to tell the stories of nonprofit leaders, that those were the stories they wanted to tell through their publishing arm. And so she asked if I had ever considered writing a book, and I said yes. And she said, perfect. And so I was the first book of MFS publishing. And what it really, what this book really talks about is part my personal story and part the story of impact 100 and then I would say part sort of generosity in general, why you want to train your kids to be generous, and how to do that and and the, you know, the good ways to give and the ways to give that really aren't all that helpful. Part of it was that, you know, if you if people in your audience were to hear me or see me on your podcast, and they think, oh, gosh, you know, this woman, it must have been easy, or she must be super smart, or she probably didn't make any mistakes. You know, I wanted to make the journey real that I made mistakes along the way, and there were things that I didn't get right, and I didn't have this perfect pedigree. But what I did is I didn't let go of the idea that I could make the world better, that I could create something that would make the kind of change that I was hoping to see. Because I think sometimes we all have ideas about what we can do and how we can help people, or some big idea, and then that voice in our head sort of talks us out of it. And so my hope is that. The people who read the book would understand that if I can do it, they can do it, and that you just have to stay true to your vision and work hard and surround yourself with people who know things you don't know, who are smarter than you in some areas, and who will respectfully challenge you in order to make you better. And that's a lot of what this book is about. It's, it's a very real look of the sort of behind the scenes Michael Hingson ** 50:31 you talk in the book about your teaching your children to be generous through volunteering and so on. But what other ways, or how else did you instill generosity in them? Wendy Steele ** 50:43 Yeah, gosh, thank you. Um, you know, through everything, we used to volunteer together. Um, we would raise money to help different causes that the kids would work on that they were interested in. In the beginning, it was the animal shelter, but it would grow. One of the most important things I did when they were very, very young is it was around Thanksgiving time, maybe just after and, you know, Christmas was coming up, and the kids were little, and they were talking about what they wanted Santa Claus to bring. And I we had a basement playroom, and I brought them down there, and I said, Well, my gosh, look your your shelves have books and toys and games. There's no room for anything else. And I explained that there were kids who didn't have what they had. And maybe before they start thinking about the list of what they want, maybe they should think about the things that another child might really enjoy playing with. And so the kids each filled big black garbage bags, you know, those leaf bags with toys and stuffed animals and things that they didn't necessarily play with anymore. And then I did something that I I would advise any parent who's trying to instill this in their kids. I called the organization that we were going to drop off these things at, and I explained the kids ages, they were all little, and that I just wanted someone there who would engage the kids when we brought in this bag of of toys that would thank them and and connect their gift to What was going to happen. And that that nonprofit leader did an amazing job. So we showed up at the appointed hour, and instead of, you know, just sort of dropping it, we brought it in. And this executive director, who was a man, he spent so much time with my kids, asking them about each item, and do I think a little boy or a little girl would like it and and it really made a huge impression on them. If you do that once, that's all it takes. Now, next year, we did the same thing, but I reminded them of the experience. In other words, you don't have to make a big moment out of everything, but make the moments when you can so that it sticks in their heart. I also had given them a piggy bank that was plastic. It was designed to have a compartment for spending, a compartment for saving and a compartment for giving. And their allowance would be divided in thirds. And every week we would put money in all three and the kids would talk about what they were saving for something big, what they wanted to spend, that they could spend that week, and then where they might do the giving, and when you can take money, equate it to chores that they did to earn their allowance, then relate it to their piggy bank in a tangible way, it teaches them budgeting. It teaches them understanding that saving, spending and giving are all equal, that we need to budget for all three of those things. And what can happen if we don't budget for any one of those is that, you know, it's not nearly as fulfilling. And so there were, there were lots of experiences like that that I worked with the kids on that have stayed with them ever since. Michael Hingson ** 54:46 Well, what's next for impact 100 Wendy Steele ** 54:50 Oh, my goodness. Well, right now we are growing at a faster pace. What's next is my work at globe. Global, you're talking to the entire staff of global. And so I work longer hours and more than I should. And so what's next is building sustainability, getting some I'm working very hard to bring in funding so that we can have a staff of people, and if, as they say, I am hit by the proverbial bus, there will be my institutional knowledge will be in the hearts and minds of others. It'll be codified in a systematic way that will make it easier for impact 100 to thrive well beyond my lifetime. So that's the most important thing I'm working toward right now. Michael Hingson ** 55:44 And that's always a good thing to work toward. It's a great goal, sustainability and and keeping true to the model is is very important by any standard. Yes. So what would your message be to anyone who is considering driving real change, or who want to drive real change, and especially who are concerned and apprehensive about getting involved in doing things. Wendy Steele ** 56:19 You know, I would say, listen to your heart, that if there is something that's on your mind and on your heart that you think you want to do, I would listen to it. I believe that that thing that's in your head or in your heart, it it's an indication that it's your responsibility to affect change in that particular area. So don't self select out, trust your feelings and do what you can where you are, and if you can involve other people in it, all the better. You know, when I created impact 100 I'd never given $1,000 to a charity. I'd I'd never done that, but I knew I could do it, but I also knew that me doing it alone wasn't going to move the needle the way it would if I brought everyone else along. And so I hope that anyone who's out there listening and who has an idea or an inkling of what they think they want to do, I hope they pursue it with as much passion and energy as they can muster, because it likely will be much more effective than they can imagine, and it really can make the world a better place. Michael Hingson ** 57:35 If people want to reach out and contact you, maybe talk about starting a chapter, maybe learning more about impact 100 or who want to meet you? How do they do that? Wendy Steele ** 57:44 Gosh, they can reach me at Wendy at impact 100 global.org or I have a website called Wendy H steel.com and so they can, they can find me there. I'm very easy to find Michael Hingson ** 58:04 well, and that obviously means a lot. So and steel is S, T, E, E, L, E, just to make sure people know great well, I want to thank you for taking the time to be with us today and talking about all of this. I think it's important. I think it's valuable. And I think you've given us all a lot to think about, and hopefully we'll think about the whole concept of giving and donating our time and treasures and talents in a little bit different way. Wendy Steele ** 58:40 Thank you, Michael. I'm so glad to have been with you today. Michael Hingson ** 58:44 Well, I really appreciate it. Love to hear from all of you out there as to what you think. If you have any thoughts or want to reach out to me, you're welcome to do so you can reach me at Michael H, i@accessibe.com that's m, I, C, H, A, E, L, H, I at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, I, B, e.com, go to our podcast page if you would, w, w, w, dot Michael hingson.com/podcast, where you can observe all the episodes that we've had, and that's another way to reach out to me. Michael hingson is m, I, C, H, A, E, L, H, I N, G, s, O n.com/podcast, wherever you're listening, would really appreciate it if you give us a five star rating. We love those ratings, and we love your reviews and your thoughts, so please don't hesitate. And if you know of anyone who might need the opportunity to be a guest on a podcast. And Wendy, you as well. Please feel free to reach out, provide introductions. We're always looking to meet more people and bring more people into unstoppable mindset. So please do that. So once again, Wendy, I want to thank you for being here. This has been a lot of fun. Thank you, Wendy Steele ** 59:57 Michael. This real treat for me too. You. Michael Hingson ** 1:00:05 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com . AccessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. 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