Impact100 Westchester Awards $267,000 to Local Non-Profits

Impact100 Westchester, a women’s collective giving organization celebrating its 10th grant cycle, has awarded $267,000 to Westchester nonprofits. At Impact’s annual meeting, five finalists presented their business cases, and the membership voted on how the grants would be distributed. With 267 members this year, Impact100 awarded two Transformational Project Grants of $80,000 each, three Core Mission Grants of $29,000 each, and five new Boost awards of $5,000 each.

Transformational Project Grants fund capital projects and new programs; they are intended to have a significant impact on the recipient organizations and their ability to serve the needs of the Westchester community. This year’s recipients are:

• Caritas of Port Chester (d/b/a Meals on Main): Meals on Main Street is working to eliminate food insecurity across Westchester. Their grant will be used to establish a “Food Depot” in Port Chester, a dedicated facility for the receipt, weighing, sorting and packaging of food for same day pickup and delivery—a continuous flow of fresh and recovered food to underserved and food insecure communities.
• The Sharing Shelf: The Sharing Shelf was founded to address clothing insecurity and meet the basic material needs of low-income children and teens. With these funds, they will create a permanent Teen Boutique in Port Chester, to provide clothing to children and teens that lack access to sufficient and appropriate clean clothing and other necessities. By providing clothes, they are addressing school absenteeism, low self-esteem and ultimately helping address economic, social, and emotional issues.

Core Mission Grants are smaller grants of $29K each that recipients are entitled to use as they see fit, consistent with their mission. This year, Core Mission Grants were awarded to:

• Child Care Council of Westchester: Based in Scarsdale, The Child Care Council of Westchester champions the healthy development of children, families, and our community by promoting quality early care and education. They are the only Westchester agency focused solely on these areas, supporting children from birth to age 13, focusing on lower-wage-earning households. They support new and existing childcare and after-school programs with a full suite of services including virtual and in-person trainings, conferences, technical assistance and consulting, quality improvement grants and new business support services.
• Endeavor Therapeutic Horsemanship: Based in Bedford, Endeavor's mission is to empower individuals with a broad range of needs by providing the highest quality equine-assisted services in an inclusive and welcoming environment. Endeavor physically, mentally, and emotionally supports Veterans, At Risk Youth, and Children and Adults with Disabilities through the power of the horse.
• Women’s Mentoring Network: Headquartered in Fairfield County, CT yet through a partnership with the YWCA White Plains and Central Westchester, the Women’s Mentoring Network has provided services and programs to Westchester since January 2020. They support low-income women and their families, who lack the foundational skills to secure quality employment, by promoting financial independence, economic security, economic mobility and asset building through education and employment services. All programs and services are provided for free.

This year the group launched a new category of grants called the Boost Awards. This category was offered specifically to smaller Westchester nonprofits, to help them make a larger impact in our community. In this inaugural year, four grants were awarded to: 914 United, Campus Bound Scholars, Ossining Padres Hispanos and Sleepy Coffee, Too. These were voted on and distributed prior to the Annual Meeting.

“We are so proud to be able to award these nine grants to this group of non-profits, that are making an incredible difference in our community. On behalf of the membership, we can’t wait to see just how much more they can do with these funds, to help those who across the community that need it most,” said Danielle DeMaio, Co-President.

In 2013, Impact100 Westchester was established as a meaningful way for women to respond to the needs of local communities through a collective giving concept: women pool their resources together to make a greater change than often one can do alone. Since its founding, Impact100 Westchester has awarded $2,741,000 to 54 different local nonprofit organizations that are supporting, improving and transforming the local community.

About Impact100 Westchester. Impact100 Westchester is a women’s collective giving organization engaging women in philanthropy. By pooling members' funds, the organization dramatically increases each individual’s power to make a difference. Impact100 Westchester awards grants exclusively to Westchester nonprofits. To learn more about the mission, visit https://impact100westchester.org/.