Dear Impact100 Philadelphia Members & Friends,

We are excited to announce a new grants review process for the 2018 grant cycle. The new process was developed in response to membership feedback that the Focus Area Committees (FAC) had become too large, impersonal and did not encourage full participation of all members. We expect, with this revised process, your 2018 membership experience will be improved and the best proposals will continue to rise to the top. The grant review process is central to our mission and we thank all who contributed their feedback to help us improve it.

First, let us offer a brief note to new members. We value your input and insight! New members give us fresh perspective, and we hope you will join us in the grants review process. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’d like more explanation about any of our processes, but know that more information will be coming in the near future.

What Stays the Same:

• Member-reviewed proposals are still at the heart of our grants process. We will continue to award Core Mission grants in five focus areas: Arts & Culture, Education, Environment, Family, and Health & Wellness.
• Committee work will still take place during three, two hour FAC meetings (dates and locations to be preannounced to facilitate your scheduling), primarily from February to May.
• We will still be conducting site visits to selected applicants.
• Each FAC will still select one finalist for the Annual Meeting.

What Changes:

• Each Focus Area Committee will be led by one Chair.
• Rather than having 3 FAC meetings of 30-40 women, each FAC will be divided into multiple teams with no more than 10 members. Each team will be led by a Team Leader, with guidance from the FAC Chair and Grants Chairs.
• Teams will meet in members’ homes or other suitable locations for the first two FAC meetings and will be responsible for thoroughly reviewing three to four grant proposals.
• Each team will determine if site visits are merited and how many to conduct based on the applications they have read.
• At the third FAC meeting, led by the FAC Chair, all the teams of the FAC will come together and meet as one group. At this meeting, Team Leaders, or designee, will present one (or more) site visit summary report(s), and the full committee will select one finalist for the Annual Meeting in June.
• With the introduction of the new process, the number of Full Proposals reviewed by the FAC will no longer be limited to 9-11, allowing greater flexibility in selecting LOIs to move on to full proposal.

In addition:

• An LOI (Letter of Inquiry) committee will be established for each FAC. It will be led by the FAC Chair, with Team Leaders and other experienced members with two years of FAC experience participating.
• Two to three Financial Review Panel (FRP) members will still lend their expertise to each FAC.

A schematic of the new process is included below.

How You Can Participate:

• Serve on an FAC Committee – All members are welcome! Sign-ups begin in January of 2018.
• Be a FAC Chair – Must have 2 or more years of FAC experience. (Five positions available.)
• Be a Team Leader – Must have 2 or more years of FAC experience. (Approximately 20 positions available.)
• Be on the Financial Review Panel – Financial background required. (Approximately 12 positions available.)

If you are interested in a leadership role or have someone to recommend, please let us know HERE.

We look forward to sharing more about this enhanced process with you, and building on our 10-year strong foundation of collective giving. If you have further questions please contact either of us directly via email.