Impact100 Atlanta

Impact100 Atlanta is a diverse group of women committed to improving our community by collectively funding transformational grants to make a high impact and sustainable difference in Metro Atlanta. Although Impact100 is new to the Atlanta community, Impact100 Atlanta is joining more than 60 sister chapters worldwide embracing the local collective giving model of Impact100.

The Impact100 Model

The Impact100 model was created by Wendy Steele in 2001 in Cincinnati in response to feeling as though women’s roles in philanthropy needed a new way to be expanded and encouraged. The model is designed to empower women to see themselves as philanthropists and overcome the barriers women have historically faced in this arena. The Impact100 model is designed for transformational grant-making within local communities, with a minimum grant size of $100,000. The concept is simple, but profound.

At Least 100 Women
Come Together

Each Woman
Donates $1,000

$100,000
is donated to a
Local Charity

How it Works

The annual $1,000 donation of each Impact100 Atlanta member is pooled together with the donations of other members to create a grant fund to be given away to nonprofit organizations serving the Metro Atlanta area. Impact100 Atlanta has no paid staff, so 100% of each member’s annual contribution of $1,000 goes directly into the grant pool with no deductions for overhead or administrative costs.

The number and size of grants awarded each year are dependent on our membership, but our goal is to give incremental grants of $100,000 annually. Grant amounts are announced in the Spring at “The Big Reveal” event, commencing our grants cycle. Nonprofit finalists are chosen by grant committees through a competitive application process, and grants are awarded based on a membership vote at our annual meeting. Every woman who gives $1,000 or more has one vote.

Focus Areas

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

Arts & Culture

Education

Family

Health & Wellness

Environment

Our History

The vision to start Impact100 Atlanta began in January 2021, when Founding President Sarah Levitt was inspired by her mother and grandmother’s long-standing involvement in their Impact100 chapter. On the official launch day in February 2022, Laurie (Snowden) Sheehan (also 3rd generation Impact100) serendipitously reached out and quickly joined as Founding Membership Chair. Together, they built the infrastructure and enlisted the assistance of other amazing women in the community to create a supportive Board of Directors. This enabled the Impact100 Atlanta dream to become a reality. Impact100 Atlanta strives to empower a diverse local group of women of all ages, stages in life, income levels, and backgrounds to come together and fund transformational grants of $100,000 in the greater Metro Atlanta area.

For more information about how Impact100 started, see our Global story.

Sarah Levitt
President
Sarah Levitt
President

Sarah is a co-founder and Founding President of Impact100 Atlanta. She is a Corporate Restructuring Senior Associate at Alvarez & Marsal, where she enjoys providing financial consulting for distressed companies to help them overcome difficult times. Sarah is excited about investing in the future of Atlanta through Impact100. She is especially passionate about empowering women to make a collective impact on the Atlanta community. 

Sherrhonda Roach
Vice President / President-Elect
Sherrhonda Roach
Vice President / President-Elect

Raised in Washington, DC, Sherrhonda relocated to Georgia in 2000 and now lives East of Atlanta with  her wife (Beckey) and the cutest miniature Yorkshire Terrier you’ve ever seen, Bishop. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her smart, talented, beautiful and amazing grandchildren Emi, KoKo and Princeton, traveling, creating blessing boxes for people needing encouragement and making a difference in her community with her time and talents.

During the day, Sherrhonda serves as the Vice President of Enterprise Risk Management and Legal Services for the American Cancer Society, the nation’s largest community-based voluntary health organization.  In this role, she is responsible for the business of legal, contract administration, insurance risk management and governance services. Prior to joining the American Cancer Society, Sherrhonda spent 11 years with the Department of Justice, where she enjoyed upward mobility in various agencies such as the United States Marshall Service, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the United States Attorney’s Office and the Executive Office for United States Attorneys.

Michelle Kale Gilfillan
Treasurer
Michelle Kale Gilfillan
Treasurer

Michelle Kale Gilfillan is a founding member of Impact100 Atlanta and is excited to serve as Treasurer.  She has a BS from Penn State University in Business Logistics and International Business and an MBA from Wayne State University.  Michelle served in the United States Army for 5 years as an Ordnance Captain and is a proud veteran with a large military family.  After leaving the military, she worked for 10 years in operational roles with Schneider Logistics and Amazon before deciding to change career paths and start her own business as a Fitness Professional/Personal Trainer.  She works out of her home studio in Decatur, Georgia.  Michelle and her husband, Scott, share their home with their two rescue pups (fur-babies), Penny Freckles and Ellie Kale.  She loves to travel, read, exercise and attend any live sporting event.  Michelle is thrilled to be part of such an amazing group of women and looks forward to seeing the positive impact this organization will have on her community.

Sarah Greenwell
Secretary
Sarah Greenwell
Secretary

Sarah is a Kentucky native who’s happy to have made her home in Atlanta for the last 10 years. She works as a brand strategy consultant for Prophet, helping companies transform across digital, marketing, culture, and customer experience. As a founding member of Impact100 Atlanta, she is passionate about supporting and promoting women in the workplace and her community.

Laurie Sheehan
Membership Chair
Laurie Sheehan
Membership Chair

Laurie first made Atlanta home almost 30 years ago, working with the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. She then turned her to focus to law and practiced as a corporate/M&A attorney at Troutman Sanders for several years before moving inhouse with the American Cancer Society. She spent almost 15 years as legal counsel to the Society at their global headquarters in Atlanta, focusing primarily on mission programs and grant-making. Laurie left her position as Assistant General Counsel in 2017 but continues to assist the Society and other local nonprofits with their legal needs.

It has been a longtime dream of Laurie’s to bring Impact100 to Atlanta after witnessing the transformative effect of the program in her hometown of Pensacola, where her mother was a founding member almost 20 years ago. She passionately believes Impact100 Atlanta will be game changing for nonprofits in the area and life changing for its members.

Laurie, her husband and their 3 teenagers live in Virginia Highland with their golden retriever, Hobbes.

Emily Kallos
Membership Secretary
Emily Kallos
Membership Secretary

Emily is Senior Director of Development for Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research. In her role she is focused on internal operations of the organization as well as individual, institutional and foundation giving to further Rally’s mission to find better treatments and, ultimately, cures for childhood cancer. Emily is passionate about giving back to the community and providing the financial support that non-profits need to continue their critical work. Being a member of Impact100- Atlanta provides Emily the opportunity to give back to her community in a volunteer role as well as in her professional role.

Yujin Chon Jones
Events Chair
Yujin Chon Jones
Events Chair

Yujin Chon Jones (she/her/hers) is the Director of Sales for Avaline Wines, a premium “better for you” clean wine company. Having spent over 20 years in sales and marketing for wine and spirits, Jones is a respected leader in the industry. Jones received her BA in Communication from Georgia State University in Atlanta. Growing up in the area, Jones is committed to helping address the needs of her community and leaving it a better place for her children. She believes women have the power to create a lasting impact in the world and can only do so by supporting each other. In her spare time, she enjoys practicing yoga, reading, and baking with her family.

Lisa Lemke
Corporate Sponsorship Chair
Lisa Lemke
Corporate Sponsorship Chair

Lisa grew up in Savannah and decided to make Atlanta home after graduating from the University of Georgia School of Law.  She practiced as a labor and employment attorney at Jackson Lewis and Troutman Sanders for several years before joining a women-owned business focusing on legal recruiting in Atlanta.  Lisa is passionate about helping attorneys find satisfying and sophisticated legal work while enabling them to work flexibly.  Today, Lisa serves as Executive Director of Consilio, a leading legal solutions and recruiting company, where she leads client development efforts and works with a large number of Fortune 500 legal departments, publicly and privately held companies, and law firms to provide highly qualified attorneys, individually or in managed teams, on an as-needed basis across the legal enterprise.

During the pandemic, Lisa was profoundly affected by the number of children experiencing mental health issues and wanted to more for struggling families and children in her community.  She is delighted to join the board and accelerate the impact she could achieve individually on the funding and provision of these services through her affiliation with Impact 100.

Lisa, her husband and their 2 teenagers, Charlotte and Grant, live in Buckhead with their delightful and spoiled rotten Cavapoo, Buck.

Meg Bender
Governance Chair
Meg Bender
Governance Chair

Coming soon!

Calandra Tipton
Financial Oversight Chair
Calandra Tipton
Financial Oversight Chair

Coming soon!

Laquetta Peters
Grants Chair
Laquetta Peters
Grants Chair

Coming soon!

Allison Anderson
Grant Finance Chair
Allison Anderson
Grant Finance Chair

Allison has spent over twenty years working in higher education and is passionate about helping students achieve their academic and professional dreams.  After graduating with a BBA at Butler University and an MBA at American University, she never left the business school environment and is now working in graduate admissions at the Goizueta Business School at Emory University.  As a founding member of the Impact 100 Sarasota chapter, she has been awed by the impact woman working  together can have in transforming a community and is very excited to help to launch the Atlanta chapter. 

Jill Henry
Grant Focus Area Chair - Arts & Culture
Jill Henry
Grant Focus Area Chair - Arts & Culture

Jill and her husband relocated to Atlanta in 2021 after raising their two daughters in Cincinnati. She retired after more than three decades of success as an executive in the corporate technology and academic arenas. Impact100 Atlanta provides her the perfect opportunity to pay forward as part of a passionate group of women collectively seeking to make a difference in the community.

Megan Sirna
Grant Focus Area Chair - Education
Megan Sirna
Grant Focus Area Chair - Education

Megan is an experienced legal and human resources professional who currently serves as Senior Vice President for Human Resources at Georgia-Pacific. Since joining Impact100 Atlanta as a founding member, she has been involved with the grant application review process, first as a member of the Education Grant Focus Area Committee and now as its chair. Born in Washington, D.C., Megan has called Atlanta home for more than twenty years.  She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and a law degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

Mindy Boggs
Grant Focus Area Chair - Environment, Preservation and Recreation
Mindy Boggs
Grant Focus Area Chair - Environment, Preservation and Recreation

Coming soon!

Erica Atkinson
Grant Focus Area Chair - Health & Wellness
Erica Atkinson
Grant Focus Area Chair - Health & Wellness

Coming soon!

Lauren Dike
Grant Focus Area Chair - Family
Lauren Dike
Grant Focus Area Chair - Family

Coming soon!

Kirstin Nelson-Pilot
Strategic Communications Chair
Kirstin Nelson-Pilot
Strategic Communications Chair

Coming soon!

Courtney Hagle
Graphic Designer
Courtney Hagle
Graphic Designer

Courtney is a Georgia native, born and raised. Graduate of Georgia Tech, Go Jackets! She currently works as a graphic designer for Newmark Multifamily Investment Sales where she enhances understanding through visual storytelling. She believes that investing in your community is the best way to provide a better future and strives to assist women in being their best self. Courtney resides in Marietta with her husband and their dog, Dakota.

Vanessa Benz
Newsletter Manager
Vanessa Benz
Newsletter Manager
Vanessa is a native Atlantan, only leaving to attend The College of Charleston in South Carolina. As a founding member, she is grateful to have played a part in growing Impact100 Atlanta in her hometown.
After working as an analyst in a corporate capacity and owning her own retail business, she focused on her favorite role as a mom. While raising her two children, she took on multiple volunteer roles in education and fundraising. Impact100 Atlanta gives her the opportunity to continue those roles while learning even more about nonprofits. She is excited and hopeful about the transformational impact women can have on so many lives in our community.