IMPACT 100 Pensacola Bay Area, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organization that awards grants in increments of $100,000 or greater to non-profit organizations that provide services in Escambia County and Santa Rosa County, Florida. IMPACT 100 is a group of women who each contribute $1,000 to become a member for a designated year. IMPACT 100 has no paid employees or staff, so one hundred percent of each member’s $1,000 contribution is pooled and awarded to non-profit organizations.

The mission of IMPACT 100 Pensacola Bay Area is to:
(i) to know and serve the community;
(ii) to collectively fund significant grants to charitable initiatives; and
(iii) to set an example of effective philanthropy.

IMPACT 100 awards grants in increments of $100,000 or greater, to fund significant projects located in Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties. The project may be for a new program, the expansion of an existing program or may be a collaborative effort among several agencies. IMPACT 100 does not fund general operating expenses or overhead; debt reduction or operational deficits; grants to individuals; endowment funding; interim or bridge funding or partisan, legislative or political activity.

IMPACT 100 started in 2004 with 233 members.

IMPACT has a very specific grant process, which is implemented by the individual members of IMPACT and the Board of Directors of IMPACT (the “Board”).

Once IMPACT 100 completes its membership drive and determines the funds available that year for grants, it organizes into committees to address five areas of our community needs:

Arts & Culture
Environment, Recreation and Preservation
Education
Family
Health & Wellness

Members are involved in the grant process as follows:

• Committee Participation: Each of the five focus committees consists of IMPACT members who volunteer to participate on the committees. All IMPACT members have the option of participating on a committee.

• Review of Applications: Each committee member reads all of the grants that are submitted to that committee and are discussed at each committee meeting.

• Site Visits: As part of its grant process, IMPACT sends at least 2 committee members to each nonprofit to conduct a site visit. The site visits are a critical part of the IMPACT process, as they allow the members to visit with the organizations, it insures that the members are able to fully understand the written grant application, and it allows the members to ask additional questions, obtain additional information and clarify the facts pertaining to the grant request.

• Selection of Finalists: Each committee reviews and discusses every grant that has been submitted to that committee. The discussion focuses on the grant application, the organization’s financial information and the site visit. The length of the discussions will vary, depending upon the grant and the feedback from each committee member.

• Selection of Recipients: Once the committees select their finalists, IMPACT sends written summaries of the nonprofit finalists to all members. Each finalist selects 2 representatives to make a presentation to the IMPACT members at the annual meeting. All presentations are verbal, and no one is allowed to use any multi-media to assist with the presentations, so there is no “advantage” to larger organizations that have the ability to create impressive power-point presentation. After hearing the presentations of the finalists, the members vote for the grant recipients. The votes are calculated the night of the annual meeting (with the help of the Escambia County Supervisor of Elections) and are announced that evening. (IMPACT also has procedures allowing for its members to cast an absentee vote if they are not able to attend the meeting, but all members are encouraged to attend the annual meeting.)

1.Grant Agreements. The nonprofits that receive an IMPACT grant sign a Grant Agreement. The grant agreement ensures that the nonprofit agrees to use the funds in accordance with grant and the IMPACT procedures. The funds must be spent in accordance with the budget, with any substantial changes in the budget being approved by the Board, to insure the funds are being spent in accordance with the purpose of the grant. IMPACT requires invoices and documents to evidence each disbursement of funds under the grants.
2.Board Liaisons. Upon the selection of the grant recipients, a member of the Board is assigned to be the “liaison” for the project. The liaison remains in continuous contact with the grant recipient, and receives all requests for funding from the nonprofit.
3.Quarterly Reports. As part of agreement with IMPACT, the nonprofit must submit quarterly reports to IMPACT until all of the funds are spent to implement the project. The Board may also obtain any other information it requests to monitor the project. The grant recipients are discussed at every Board meeting, until the project is completed. The Board strongly believes that the projects must be carefully monitored to ensure that the funds are being used in accordance with the grant applications, as selected by the members of IMPACT.

The women on the IMPACT Board have diverse backgrounds, but are all focused on the mission of IMPACT. The Board is described as a “working board” since there are no paid employees, and the mission of the organization is carried out via the Board and the IMPACT members.

IMPACT has a good working relationship with the nonprofits in the area. IMPACT’S continued existence is dependent upon the nonprofits of the community being able to generate good grant requests. Every year, IMPACT holds free presentations to provide instructions and suggestions on completing the IMPACT grant application.

IMPACT has very limited expenses, since it has no paid staff. The administrative costs relating to IMPACT and its operations are either donated, or are paid with administrative monies held by IMPACT. The administrative monies are: donations from Friends of IMPACT who make donations to cover administrative costs; matching grants from employers of IMPACT members; and interest earned on the grant monies prior to disbursement of the grants to the recipients.

Over the years, we have seen tremendous “unexpected” benefits from our efforts. Nonprofits have received small and large financial gifts (outside of our grant process) as a result of increased awareness of the nonprofits’ good work. IMPACT members have become actively engaged with nonprofit boards, taking on the responsibility of serving on a board or assisting with special needs/projects, such as fundraising or special events beyond the actual grants we award on an annual basis.