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Member FAQ's

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Who are the members of IMPACT?

Impact 100 is open to all women age 18 or older who live in, or who wish to help, the Pensacola Bay Area community. IMPACT is a group of women with diversified backgrounds, who contribute $1,000 to maintain their membership in any given year. The membership in IMPACT changes each year.

What is expected from the individual members of IMPACT?

IMPACT has no requirements regarding a woman's active participation in the organization. If a woman has limited time, she contributes her $1,000 and comes to the annual meeting to choose the grant recipients for that year. However, if a woman has the time and desire, she can be an active member on the various committees, can participate in site visits and can actively assist the organization in selecting its grant recipients. Each woman’s participation is dependent upon her personal situation and can change from year to year.

How does IMPACT award its grants?

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”). Members are involved in the grant process as follows:

(a) Creation of Committees: 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.

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

(c) Site Visits: As part of its grant process, IMPACT sends at least 2 committee members to each non-profit 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.

(d) 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.

(e) Selection of Recipients: Once the committees select their finalists, IMPACT sends written summaries of the non-profit 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.)

How does IMPACT 100 oversee the distribution of IMPACT monies to awarded non-profit agencies?

a) Grant Agreements. The non-profits that receive an IMPACT grant sign a Grant Agreement. The grant agreement ensures that the non-profit 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.

b) Board Liasons. Upon the selection of the grant recipients, a member of the Board is assigned to be the "liason" for the project. The liason remains in continuous contact with the grant recipient, and receives all requests for funding from the non-profit.

c) Quarterly Reports. As part of agreement with IMPACT, the non-profit 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.

How does IMPACT stay in touch with its members?

Because IMPACT has no paid employees, it uses email communication whenever possible to stay in touch with its members. It also produces a newsletter to keep its members advised of the current events relating to the organization.

What are "wish lists"?

On an annual basis, each non-profit is asked to submit a "wish list" to IMPACT. The wish list describes goods and services that the non-profit would like to receive. The wish list has historically been distributed to all members at our annual meeting. This year, we are posting the wish lists on IMPACT’s website. Many of our members have contributed goods and services to non-profits, as a result of information they have acquired via IMPACT. Therefore, IMPACT is having an “impact” in our community beyond the actual grants that are being awarded on an annual basis.

How does IMPACT pay for its administrative costs?

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.

Are there any added benefits from IMPACT's work?

Over the years, we have seen tremendous "unexpected" benefits from our efforts. Non-profits have received small and large financial gifts (outside of our grant process) as a result of increased awareness of the non-profits' good work. IMPACT members have become actively engaged with non-profit 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.