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Member Spotlight: Michele Juliana

Michele Juliana is in her second year of membership with Impact100 SJ and what she has found striking is seeing the impact that grants have made on the previous nonprofit winners. 

While searching for ways to be more connected to the nonprofit community in the region, Michele read an article about Impact100 in SJ Magazine and was excited to learn more. She was looking to grow her personal philanthropy and wanted to find a network of professional women who shared her values.  Professionally she wanted to learn more about the nonprofits in the area and connect with them as well. Board participation, while satisfying, has limits in the number of professionals with whom you connect. Likewise, the knowledge you gain about nonprofits is specific to the organization whose board you serve on. Impact100 was the perfect fit and network for her personal and professional goals.

Michele has served on the financial review committee with Impact100 SJ, which has been an eye-opening experience. Seeing nonprofits through this lens really showed the impact that a grant of $100,000 can have on an organization and the constituents they serve. The concept of expanding capacity is exciting and seeing the impact on the previous grant winners, like Hopeworks, Lucy Outreach, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Cumberland & Salem Counties, has reinforced her confidence in the collective giving model. Michele shared she is “particularly impressed with the rigor and professionalism of the group and is very confident of how the money is being distributed.” Like many members, she is looking forward to networking in person.

Michele is a Principal and Technology Consultant with RSM US LLP. She has been with the company for 20 years and much of her work is with mid-size nonprofits where she helps them identify, implement, and manage the right software applications for their needs. Michele has so much respect for the nonprofit sector and recognizes the value they bring to the communities they serve. Her profession has allowed her to help nonprofits — even if she is not directly working in the sector. Her firm is in Philadelphia and provides her with the chance to be familiar with the nonprofit community in the city, however, she also recognizes the many unmet needs of the nonprofits in South Jersey. It is for this reason Michele selected South Jersey as her philanthropic priority.

Having lived in South Jersey for most of her adult life, Michele considers it home.  She lives in Moorestown and is currently spending a lot of her professional time in the Charlotte, North Carolina area, which is close to her family.  Michele enjoys international travel, reading, volunteering, and has participated in several Triathlons! The model of collective giving has definitely become a part of her legacy and Michele is committed to the concept.