The vision to start a Sarasota Chapter of Impact100 SRQ began in February, 2017, when Founding President Jane Watt was inspired by her mother and sister’s involvement in their Impact100 Pensacola Bay Area chapter. Jane shared her dream of founding a chapter in Sarasota and Manatee chapter with two of her close friends, Jodie Zerega and Tilly McFadden. Together, the three of them built the infrastructure enlisting the assistance of the other amazing women in our community and creating an impactful Board of Directors that enabled the Impact100 SRQ dream to become a reality. The Impact100 SRQ chapter began empowering a local diverse group of women of all ages, stages in life, income levels and backgrounds to join together to annually fund $100,000 transformational grant(s) in Sarasota & Manatee counties.
In 2019, Impact100 SRQ kicked off its inaugural year with 228 founding members and two grants awarded of $114,000 each. With over 50 chapters across the US and Australia, Impact100 SRQ debuted as the 3rd largest start-up chapter ever!
In record time, they have ignited the passions of women in our community to unite to effect change. Together, they discover how nonprofits are working to meet the unmet needs of the community. In two short years they have awarded nearly $600k in transformational grants.
Our 2020 Grant Recipients were:
Children’s Cancer Center, Mayor’s Feed the Hungry, and Sky Family YMCA