Last fall, the Board approved the formation of an ad hoc Grants Strategy Committee. The committee, composed of thirty members who represented a cross-section of Impact100 Philadelphia’s membership, worked for months gathering data, conducting interviews, and working through scenarios.
The Grants Strategy Committee concluded its work in September and presented the findings to the Board. The Board approved the changes to take effect in the 2023 grantmaking year.
Changes
The changes taking effect this year both simplify Impact100 Philadelphia’s processes and make our intentions to serve the needs of the nonprofit community clearer.
- Application. We have streamlined the application process, taking it from two steps to one. The simpler process will ease the administrative burden for both applicants and volunteers.
- Budget. We have lowered the preferred budget parameters from $300,000 to $3,000,000. Nonprofits with operating budgets above and below this range are eligible to apply, but preference will be given to those within the range.
- Site visit honorarium. Each applicant selected for a site visit by a Focus Area Committee during phase 2 of our grantmaking process will receive $500. We acknowledge and appreciate the time they spend on the application process.
- Terminology. We will use the term General Operating Grants to describe our grants. Retiring the term Core Mission Grants will make clear that our grants are unrestricted.
Community Awards Pilot
The Grants Committee worked hard for two years on the Community Awards pilot. Over twenty members – a subset of our Focus Area Committee volunteers – played a part in research, development, and analysis.
The pilot has paused, and we are returning to a single funding program, but we take from it the important values and concepts we have learned. The trust-based philanthropy practices that were a driving force of the Community Awards pilot are integral to our organization. Going forward, we will seek to infuse them into all aspects of our grantmaking.
Learn more
To learn more about the requirements and application process, please read the Grant Applicants section of this website. In it, we hope you will find the information you need. If you still have questions, please contact us at [email protected].