What are you interested in?

Members are as involved as they wish to be. Indian River Impact 100 has no requirements regarding a woman’s participation in the organization. Some women choose to make their $1,100 and simply vote to choose the grant recipient(s) for that year. Others want to be more active and serve on a committee and/or grant review panel (see Volunteer Opportunities) Each member’s participation depends on her personal situation and may change from year to year.

The rigorous grant-making process for Impact 100 IR is the gold standard in Indian River County. It is implemented by the individual members of Indian River Impact 100 with the goal to keep the process fair and objective at all times. Members are involved in the grant process as follows:

1. It starts with the Visioning Process, in which members of the Visioning committee work with nonprofits to brainstorm big ideas and fine tune grant applications.
2. Grant applications are then submitted by December 1. These are reviewed by a Reading Table comprising grant committee members to make sure they meet our basic criteria.
3. Next, applications are presented to the Board of Directors for approval to move forward to the Grant Review Panels.
4. From December to March, members ‌‌of Grant Review Panels read,‌ ‌‌review‌,‌ ‌and‌ ‌score‌‌ ‌‌grant‌ ‌‌applications,‌‌make‌ ‌site‌ ‌visits,‌ ‌and‌ recommend‌ ‌which‌ ‌applicants‌ ‌‌move‌ ‌to‌ ‌the‌ ‌next‌ ‌phase‌ ‌of‌ member.
5. During Finalist Selection Panel, representatives from the grant review panels present the grants they wish to move forward to voting by the full membership. During this demanding review, grant panel chairs and the executive committee vote on the grants that will become finalists. The finalists are announced at the Meet the Finalist event in March. After this, members receive a packet of information via mail or email about each project that has advanced to the final stage.
6. Lastly and most importantly, is the Annual Meeting where Members Vote. During this time each of the finalists gives a 5-minute presentation. Members then cast their votes to make the final selection of which nonprofits will receive the $100,000 grants. Each member gets one vote for each nonprofit based on the number of grants to be awarded. Members who cannot attend the meeting can vote by absentee ballot.  While members mix and mingle, the votes are tallied up by an independent Certified Public Accountant. The grants are announced as soon as the votes are counted and verified. It is an incredibly exciting time and all members are encouraged to be there to hear the results.

Indian River Impact 100 uses email as its most common means of communication. Members without access to personal email receive notification and communication and the e-newsletter through the USPS. Indian River Impact 100 does not share membership lists or member information for any reason.

As a member, your membership dues of $1,100 are required. Of this, $1,000 goes directly to the grant fund. The additional $100 helps offset our administrative expenses, such as salaries for subcontractors, insurance, accounting, web site hosting, printing, stamps, and other expenses of running an organization of 500 members. All fees, including those paid to cover credit card fees, are tax deductible. Our tax ID number is EIN#83-1598994.

Out-of-pocket costs associated with all these activities are carefully monitored, and budgets are prepared and tracked for each event and committee. Out-of-pocket costs are paid for by sponsorships and voluntary member donations.

 We are fortunate to have sponsors for our events. These local companies help support the cost of renting a facility and serving refreshments. We are grateful to these companies for supporting our work – click here to see who they are.

Voluntary donations by Impact members are a critical source of funds for administrative costs.

Our membership year runs from March 1 through February 28. To secure a position on a grant review panel, membership dues must be paid by December 31.  Only members in good standing who have paid their $1,100 membership dues in full are eligible to vote at the Annual Meeting.

Over the years we have seen tremendous “unexpected” benefits from our efforts. Nonprofits who receive the Impact 100 “Gold Seal Grants” have received other financial gifts, both large and small, outside of our grant process. The publicity of being awarded an Impact 100 grant has increased awareness of the nonprofit’s work. Our members have become actively engaged with many of the nonprofit organizations, through board positions, assisting with special projects such as fundraising or special events beyond the actual grants awarded by Indian River Impact 100.