Four local nonprofits receive $101,000 each from Impact 100

Impact 100, a local organization that dedicates time, effort and resources to help the community, awarded $101,000 to four organizations during its annual awards ceremony on Sept. 12.

Started in Cincinnati in 2001 by Wendy Steele, Impact 100 was created with the idea of promoting philanthropy among women — if 100 women each donated $1,000, a grant of $100,000 could be awarded to a nonprofit community organization.

Since its inception, the group has become a worldwide name with more than 30 chapters in the U.S. and two in Australia. In Cincinnati, Impact 100 has raised more than $400,000 annually, enough to give $100,000 grants to four recipients.

This year's recipients were selected from a pool of more than 100 regional charities that applied for funding in five impact areas: culture; education; environment, preservation and recreation; family; and health and wellness.

The 2017 grant recipients include First Step Home, Lighthouse Youth and Family Services, NKY Community Action Commission and Ohio Valley Voices.
 

• First Step Home, an addiction treatment center, will utilize its $101,000 grant for the expansion of its programming for opiate-addicted pregnant women and their newborn babies.
• Lighthouse Youth and Family Services will be using its grant money to expand its experiential learning opportunities for children in foster care or the juvenile justice system. The organization will also start work on its Lighthouse Charter School Agricultural Learning Center.
• The NKY Community Action Commission will put its award toward the Lincoln Grant Scholar House, as well as new computer equipment. Single mothers who wish to pursue a secondary education will not only have an affordable living option, but a chance to learn about generational poverty.
• Ohio Valley Voices is looking to relocate, as well as add a new audiology clinic and purchase new equipment for infant diagnostic testing. Its long-term goal is to increase its services by 50 percent.

“It is a privilege to support these organizations — they are making a tangible impact on our communities,” says Donna Broderick, president of Impact 100. “While we could only choose four, as an organization we learn so much about all of the wonderful groups that are working so selflessly to make a difference.”
 

Past winners include Crayons to Computers, the Freestore Foodbank, Supports to Encourage Low Income Families and the Women's Crisis Center.

For more information on the Impact 100 grant process and how to apply for the 2018 round of funding, click here.