Impact Austin attracts talented women who are passionate about collective giving and maximizing the impact they can make with their individual philanthropy. Laura Green is one of those talented women!
We asked Laura how she heard about Impact Austin and what inspired her to join.
“After graduating from Business School in 2010, I knew I wanted to get involved in the nonprofit community in a meaningful way, but I didn’t know where to start. I learned that there are nearly 6,000 nonprofits in Austin! It was easy to tell if an organization’s mission statement resonated with me, but harder to tell if the organization was set up to deliver on that mission statement in a sustainable way. I also found there were lots of organizations with overlapping goals, but didn’t know which were best equipped to deliver on those goals.”
“A friend told me about some needs that Austin Parks Foundation had, and as someone who values a personal referral, I looked into it. What I learned, though, was that Austin Parks Foundation had received a 2010 Environment grant from an organization called Impact Austin, and that it was a big deal. I immediately recognized Impact Austin as exactly the type of organization I wanted to get involved with – I was so relieved, I sent in my membership check that day!”
What jobs have you taken on at Impact Austin?
“Within a week of becoming a member, Impact Austin Founder and then-CEO Rebecca Powers contacted me and we had lunch to determine how I could get involved. I told her about this shiny new finance degree I had and she told me they really needed some help on the marketing committee. Ha! - It wasn’t what I was expecting, but I’m so glad that’s how it turned out, because I became a member of the marketing committee and stayed for 5 years, chairing the committee for 4 of those years. Rather than applying what I already knew, I got to learn new skills and work with a dedicated (and fun!) group of professional women.”
What is your profession?
“My background and education is in finance, and I worked in investments for a number of years. What I REALLY want to do, however, is develop a career as a writer. I’m working on a novel, and have written every single day in 2015 so far. In fact, I’ll go ahead and declare, right here, right now, that I will finish this novel!”
Are you working with other nonprofits, and if so, what do you do for them?
“My husband and I support several other nonprofits financially – some of them are Impact Austin Community Partners: The Rude Mechanicals, CASA of Travis County, and Camp Fire Balcones Council. After working with Impact Austin for five years, I’m going to take a short break from volunteering, but now I have the knowledge and connections to jump right back in whenever I’m ready.”
Tell us a little about your family.
"My family is my husband, Tom, and three wonderful adult step-kids: Jessica, Zach, and Max. I married into a wonderfully creative family. Between the four of them, they are actors, weavers, drawers, writers, stand-up comedians… They’ve shown me the value of a creative life and the hard work that goes into it."
What is the most important thing you have learned by being an Impact Austin member and what is your favorite thing you have done with the organization?
“I now understand many of the needs in our community and who is working hard and doing amazing things to deliver them.”
“I’ve also learned that I’m capable of taking on a large project and successfully seeing it through from beginning to end. My favorite thing I’ve done with Impact Austin is managing the website redesign project (our new website launched last September), and logo/design refresh. It was a lot of work, and it meant working with founding members with their unique experience, brand new members with their fresh perspective, and everyone in between. I took a lot of pride in managing a project that was important to our organization, and I got to work with the dozens of people that made it a reality!”
“Oh, I also loved that my mom, Anita Gilbreath, joined this year from Jacksonville, FL. She helped with the website redesign project, too. Here’s a cute picture of us at the Annual Meeting in June.”
What would people be surprised to learn about you?
“My husband and I love to cycle and to travel to different places to ride. We’ve biked the coast of California, through Montana, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, through New Mexico, North Carolina, etc., etc. But what I’m excited about is that we’re taking it out of the United States for the first time next May, and will cycle along the west coast of Japan for our 8th anniversary!!”
