Treasure Coast Newspapers
INDIAN RIVER COUNTY – Gifford Youth Orchestra, The Learning Alliance, Senior Resource Association, The Source, and the Whole Family Health Center are the five winners of $100,000 grants from Impact 100 for 2023.
Ballet Vero Beach, Bike Walk Indian River County, Indian River County Healthy Start, Junior Achievement of Palm Beach and Treasure Coast, McKee Botanical Gardens and the Vero Beach Theatre Guild each were recognized with $11,800 merit grants by the organization.
Awardees were selected during the annual membership meeting on April 12.
“After hearing presenting sponsor, Tracy Sorzano of PNC Private Bank and the passionate presentations by the 11 grant finalists, the members voted for the five finalists whose projects they believed will have the most lasting impact on the community,” said Mary Ellen McCarthy, president of Impact 100. “We collectively believe the five local nonprofits selected will make transformational changes in our community.” https://4ab311212d005bf26ac70c718182077a.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html Those five nonprofits proposed diverse projects ranging from an audio, recording and communications studio for the Gifford Youth Orchestra; The Moonshot Lab School and Hub for Teacher Training by the Learning Alliance; Meals on Wheels Waitlist Relief by the Senior Resource Association; The Dignity Wellness Program at The Source; and a mobile medical office by the Whole Family Health Center.
Marie Andress, CEO of the Whole Family Health Center said they were pleased and honored to receive the grant to establish Whole Family’s latest service for the community. https://cm.tcpalm.com/article-body/inline-desktop-anon_042023_AprilEvergreen “This initiative is transformational as it will provide and promote better healthcare for vulnerable members of our community,” said Andress. “The mobile medical office will remove barriers to care especially for those with limited mobility or no access to reliable transportation.”
Karen Deigl, president and CEO of the Senior Resource Association, said the grant will allow many members of the community waiting for Meals on Wheels to receive services.
“On any given day, the Meals on Wheels waitlist numbers (include) 300 needy Indian River County seniors,” said Deigl. “This generous grant allows our volunteer team to deliver more than 14,000 meals to older adults who need nutritional support. This is true impact!”
The Source Executive Director Anthony Zorbaugh said the gift from Impact 100 is life transformational for the organization.
“Providing mental health for our members to move out of homelessness will have a major impact in our community,” Zorbaugh said.
Barbara Hammond, CEO of The Learning Alliance said the organization is very excited to be the recipient of an Impact 100 grant that will bring an arts integration specialist into the organization’s moonshot school.“This is really going to bring language comprehension to life in meaningful and engaging ways for our children and our teachers,” Hammond said. Crystal Bujol from the Gifford Youth Orchestra said building an audio recording and communications studio has been a dream of hers for a long time. “The GYO believes that energy can be captured and redirected to music, drama, and vocal arts.,” said Bujol. “The women from Impact 100 have given us a grant to help make that happen in a very powerful and meaning way. We will be able to help the children not only learn the etiquette of recording their voices and performances but also develop the skills it takes to turn their demand to be heard into a work of art.”
About Impact 100
Impact 100 was founded in 2008 with the idea 100 women each donating $1,000 could make a transformational difference in the community. The group now includes more than 550 members. Since its inception more than decade ago, Impact 100 has distributed more than $6 million to nonprofit organizations.
The grant selection process is a complex one, beginning in November when a grant committee begins vetting the applications they have received from county nonprofits. Over the next few months, committee members meet with the various organizations before selecting finalists in March. https://4ab311212d005bf26ac70c718182077a.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html Members of Impact 100 could vote by mail, online or at the annual meeting. Leslie Rossway Swan, IRC Supervisor of Elections, and her staff assisted with the voting process, including providing official ballots and voting machines. The votes were certified by Nuttall, Donini & Associates, CPA’s.
Overall, the annual meeting is the culmination of a comprehensive process that involves outreach to local nonprofits with visioning, grant writing and application support, thorough vetting of applications, and informed voting by Impact 100 members to identify projects that can make a meaningful difference in the community.
“Our process ensures the most deserving projects are selected to receive funding and support from Impact 100 Indian River,” McCarthy said.
2023-2024 Impact grants
The members of Impact 100 Indian River have already started work on their next grant season. The visioning committee is working with nonprofit leaders to cultivate ideas and develop collaborations for potential Impact 100 grant proposals. Nonprofits can request a visioning session and find more information at: https://impact100ir.com/grants/ https://4ab311212d005bf26ac70c718182077a.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html Two nonprofit workshops are scheduled to support those nonprofits interested in applying for a grant—a grant writing workshop at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, May 16, and a nonprofit information session at 9 a.m. on Sept. 6. Both workshops will be held at Northern Trust, 755 Beachland Blvd.
Grant applications for 2023-2024 will be accepted from June 1 to Nov. 3.
