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Impact 100 Richmond awards its first $100,000 grant
Following a live vote on May 5, Impact 100 Richmond presented its inaugural $100,000 grant to the Southside Child Development Center (SCDC), which will use the funds to transform its facility into a safer, high-functioning environment. This inaugural grant was funded by pooling $1,000 donations from individual donors and impact circles, which represented groups of up to 10 women.
The live “Big Give” vote, held at the Weinstein Jewish Community Center, came after each of four finalists offered a short presentation on how it would use the grant. Each individual donor or impact circle then cast its single vote to determine the inaugural grant recipient, which was announced on the spot.
Established in 1930 and located in Manchester since 1950, the SCDC provides quality and affordable childcare services and preschool education for 75 children of working poor parents, who earn less than $22,000 annually. Ninety percent of children are assessed as kindergarten-ready. With the Impact 100 Richmond grant, the center will replace electrical wiring and old windows, address drainage problems and update a limited kitchen in the more than 60-year-old building. Those issues not only pose serious health and safety threats, but they require SCDC to regularly direct limited financial resources and staff time to patching ongoing problems.
“In less than nine months, we have created an avenue for women across our community to come together and create a giving program that can have a greater impact on changing lives than any of our gifts could do individually,” said Talley Baratka, founder of Impact 100 Richmond. “Impact 100 Richmond provides a transformational way to change our community by uniting women’s actions and ideas about philanthropy. We are investing strategically in a project where we collectively know we can support targeted and sustainable outcomes.”
Based on successful initiatives in other U.S. communities, including Ohio, Texas and Washington, Impact 100 Richmond generated gifts from 97 individual donors and 35 impact circles, which include 184 individuals. Each individual donor or impact circle contributed $1,000 and received a single vote.
Earlier this spring, local nonprofit organizations were invited to submit proposals on how the grant would support implementation of new projects or services. Focusing its giving on women’s and children’s issues, Impact 100 Richmond sought grant proposals in education, family, arts and culture, health and wellness, and the environment.
After reviewing 26 initial proposals from across Central Virginia, Impact 100 Richmond donors identified several leading grant requests and conducted site visits to learn more about how those organizations would use the grant money. The group then selected the four finalists to present at the “Big Give.”
“The best part about this giving approach is that these women stay engaged and vote to decide where their money should go,” Baratka said. “This collaborative process provides a way for women who might not have grantmaking experience to learn and make their opinion count. The goal is for this investment to be ‘game changing’ for an area nonprofit organization’s ability to reach its mission.”
In its first year, Impact 100 Richmond exceeded its $100,000 fund-raising target by collecting $138,000. In addition to providing the primary grant, members directed $9,000 to be awarded in equal unrestricted grants among the three runners up. Additionally, members committed $17,000 to the organization’s long-term sustainability, while the balance supports outreach, administration and operations.
Impact 100 Richmond is operating in partnership with The Community Foundation Serving Richmond and Central Virginia.