Impact 100 SRQ

Impact100 SRQ Announces 10 Grant Finalists for 2024 Giving Year

Impact100 SRQ Announces Ten Grant Finalists for its 2024 Giving Year  
Collective Giving Organization to Award Eight $109,500 Grants to Community Nonprofits 

 
December 9, 2024 (Sarasota, FL) —At their 2024 “Meet the Finalists” Media Event today, Impact100 SRQ announced the ten nonprofit Grant Finalists for its 2024 giving year that have a chance to receive $109,500 in funding for a high-impact initiative.
 
Impact100 SRQ’s 876 voting members for the 2024 giving year will convene on January 22nd, 2025, at their “Annual Celebration and Awards Ceremony” at the Sarasota Municipal Auditorium, where each Finalist will present their initiative to all attendees. Immediately following the presentation, members will each vote for their choice of which eight of the ten Grant Finalists they believe should be awarded funding. The eight 2024 grant recipients, each receiving $109,500 in funding for their initiative, will be announced live at this event.
 
The ten Grant Finalists for the 2024 giving year in the five Focus Areas are: 
 
Arts, Culture & History Focus Area:
 
Rise Above Performing Arts Inc.
The proposed Initiative will enhance and broaden experiences for student performers and audience members by funding upgraded lighting and sound systems, live streaming equipment, seating, and a new stage.
 
The Circus Arts Conservatory
The proposed Initiative will enroll and educate more students in a unique and innovative circus-centric learning program in its existing Magnet School Program with the funding of two additional coaches, class materials, and training attire.
 
 Education Focus Area: 
 
Children's Home Society of Florida
The proposed Initiative will provide nutrition and other educational classes, and access to meat, dairy and fresh produce for area families by expanding Food Pantry and Parent Resource Center services to Manatee and Daughtry Elementary Schools in Manatee County.
 
The Florida Center for Early Childhood
The proposed Initiative will enhance its early education program by creating a new welcoming and authentic learning environment that inspires curiosity and collaboration with the purchase of classroom furniture for its preschool. 
 
Environment, Recreation & Animal Welfare Focus Area: 
 
Save Our Seabirds
The proposed Initiative will expand their geographic service area, improve the quality of medical care given to birds, and allow the Avian Hospital to be open additional hours per week and treat more birds by funding a new hospital technician and twelve paid interns. 
 
SunCoast Blood Centers
The proposed Initiative will reduce noise and air pollution and ensure a quiet, reliable, environmentally sustainable, and cost-effective blood collection system by converting two bloodmobiles from gas-powered generators to solar and battery-powered generators.
 
Family Focus Area: 
 
Centerstone
The proposed Initiative will allow clinical staff to more deeply address children who have experienced trauma by transforming a portion of the Sarasota outpatient clinic into a sensory room in their new Children's Wing. 
 
Foundation for Dreams, Inc.
The proposed Initiative will enhance experiences for children with special needs and chronic illness who attend he Dream Oaks year-round residential and day camps and facilitate coordination of programs by significantly updating their administration building.
 
Health & Wellness Focus Area: 
 
NAMI Sarasota and Manatee Counties, Inc.
The proposed Initiative will increase access to and therefore, participation in NAMI's "You Are Not Alone" (YANA) wellness drop-in centers, reducing depression, improving physical health outcomes, and helping individuals take an active role in their care, with the purchase of a 15-passenger van and hiring of a part-time driver. 
 Valerie's House
The proposed Initiative will expand its peer-to-peer grief support services to additional Sarasota County schools, helping students process their grief in a free and accessible manner, with the hiring of a new full-time group program coordinator.
 
To learn more about each Grant Finalist and their Initiatives, visit our website here.
 
For women feeling inspired by the Impact100 SRQ mission, NOW is the time to join. The Membership Drive for the 2025 Giving Year is open until March 26, 2025. If you would like to learn more about Impact100 SRQ and how to become a member, visit www.Impact100SRQ.org/membership.
 
ABOUT IMPACT100 SRQ 
Impact100 SRQ, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit, is one of more than seventy chapters worldwide and joins its sister chapters in embracing the local collective giving model. Formed in 2018, Impact100 SRQ brings together a diverse group of women that annually fund transformational grants to local nonprofits in both Sarasota and Manatee Counties. The model is simple. At least 100 women each give a $1,000 tax-deductible donation, and together, they collectively award grants in increments of at least $100,000 to local nonprofits in five focus areas: Arts, Culture & History, Education, Environment, Recreation & Animal Welfare, Family and Health & Wellness. Each member’s annual donation strengthens the power of giving and funds the innovative projects that make a high “impact” and sustainable difference in our community.