By Deirdre Spiropoulos, President and Co-Founder
On January 6th the women of Impact 100 Jersey Coast kicked the year off with their first Membership Drive event. Over the course of the next two months the woman’s grantmaking circle will be hosting “Wednesdays with Impact,” a series of 40-minute interactive Zoom events where women can learn about Impact and engage in enriching discussion about the grants Impact has funded over the past 5 years.
Impact 100’s mission is to award membership-funded transformational grants to local nonprofit organizations, enabling them to strengthen or expand their services, while empowering women to improve lives through philanthropy. Since its founding in 2015, the organization has awarded more than $1.6 million to 14 Monmouth County nonprofits to help address unmet needs and reach underserved populations.
“We invite any and all women to attend our virtual events to learn more about Impact and how their individual donation can make a tremendous impact in the year ahead. Now more than ever our nonprofit community will need the support of our grants. The more members we have, the more grants we can award and the more lives we will impact.” Lori Missig, Membership Chair
The concept is simple. Any woman is eligible to become a member. Each member makes an annual tax-deductible donation of $1,100. $1,000 is applied directly to the Impact grant fund and pooled together to award six-figure grants to local nonprofits. The process is simple as well. Local nonprofits submit applications for a proposed project or program. Each woman votes for their finalists of choice and members are encouraged, but not required, to participate in the grant review and award process.
Breaking Records
2020 marked a record-breaking year for Impact Jersey Coast. Last March, at the start of the pandemic, they closed their membership drive with a total of 456 members which resulted in a total grant fund of $456,000--or 4 equal grants of $114,000 each.
This past November the group gathered for their Annual Meeting via Zoom, due to COVID, but even though the setting was virtual, the excitement was palpable with nearly 400 members and guests attending. The event is the eagerly awaited culmination of a comprehensive grant review process conducted by more than 100 Impact members. From a total of 61 grant applicants, five finalists representing the categories of Arts & Culture, Children & Families, Education, Environment, Parks, & Recreation, and Health & Wellness were selected to present to the entire membership. Finalist information packets were sent in advance to allow members to prepare, and absentee ballots were included in the final vote count. Captivating video updates from the 2019 Impact grantees were also shown so members could see first-hand the impact of their 2019 collective donations.
The following four Monmouth-county based nonprofits received a grant of $114,000 for high-impact projects:
As the runner-up finalist, American Littoral Society was also awarded $2,500 from OceanFirst Foundation, who was inspired by the impact of the night.
Impact 100 Jersey Coast is actively recruiting members for the 2021 Class.
For more information or to register for a “Wednesdays with Impact” event please visit impact100jc.org/events or email membership@impact100jerseycoast.org.
Our 2020 Grantees
