LOUISVILLE, Ky. — On November 2, 2023, the Louisville chapter of Impact100 will award five (5) nonprofit organizations a $100,000 Impact Grant when it hosts its Annual Awards Event at the Seelbach Hotel in Louisville. Additionally, five (5) other nonprofit finalists will each receive a grant of more than $11,000.
The Louisville chapter of Impact100, founded by mother and daughter Dani Kannapell and Carey Goldstein, came to fruition in 2019 with the mission of creating A Community of Women Transforming Lives Through Collective Giving. The Impact100 model of collective giving is simple and effective – 100 women (or more) each donate $1,000 to create a $100,000 Impact Grant for a nonprofit organization in their community.
“Women can transform their communities by coming together collectively and collaboratively. When you give $1,000, you hope it makes an impact; however, when you give $1,000 through Impact100 Louisville, you know it will make a significant impact on our community,” said co-founder Carey Goldstein. “Each year, our board of directors dares to whisper a membership goal number and each year, we have eclipsed the number of expected members, making Impact100 Louisville one of the fastest growing Impact100 chapters in the world.”
“This year represents an incredible milestone for Impact100 Louisville as we surpass the one million dollar mark for total grants awarded to date,” added co-founder Dani Kannapell. “We could not be more excited that in four years since we started, we will have donated an incredible $1.5+ million to the local nonprofit community. Now that’s truly making an Impact!
This year, a record 558 local women each gave $1,000 to provide $558,000 in grants to benefit nonprofit organizations throughout Jefferson County, Kentucky.
Impact100 Louisville members vote to award Impact Grants in five focus areas: Arts and Culture; Education; Environment, Recreation, or Preservation; Family; and Health and Wellness. This year, members reviewed 154 letters of intent, studied 27 grant applications, and conducted 24 site visits. The 2023 ten finalists are
Louisville Story Program
Arts and Culture
Louisville Black Photography Restoration Project. This project is an intensive effort to preserve the photographic histories of Black life in Louisville in close collaboration with Black photographers and their descendants.
The Library Foundation
Arts and Culture
Artistic Maker Spaces and Books for the Parkland and Portland Libraries. The grant will allow the Louisville Free Public Library to fill the currently empty Parkland Library shelves with new books while fully furnishing two new artistic maker spaces at the Parkland and Portland branches.
DELTA Foundation Inc.
Education
Expansion of DELTA Foundation’s after-school programming to the Newburg neighborhood. Currently, Newburg has only one after-school program for the entire zip code. In addition to the enrichment and academic programming, youth will benefit from optional, free, twice-weekly individual and/or group therapy sessions on-site.
Visually Impaired Preschool Services (VIPS)
Education
Early Childhood Intervention Program. The Early Childhood Intervention Program provides early intervention services to visually impaired and blind children from birth to three years. It teaches children skills that help them reach their developmental milestones in cognition, language/communication, fine/gross motor, social-emotional, and self-help skills.
Portland Museum
Environmental, Preservation, or Recreation
Charting a Course for Growth: AHOY to New Horizons in Portland Museum’s Expansion. This grant will allow the Museum to complete the construction of the mixed-use building next door to provide the community with additional programming.
YouthBuild Louisville
Environmental, Preservation, or Recreation
Smoketown Family Center. The grant will be used to support the construction of the Smoketown Community Center. This important neighborhood amenity will serve youth and young adults in Smoketown and the surrounding area.
Backside Learning Center
Family
Early Childhood Development and Education Program. Hiring a coordinator for the new Early Childhood Development & Education Program will allow the Backside Learning Center to address an acute need within the community: educating parents of children ages 0-4 about the importance of early childhood development and education and encouraging them to enroll in the Program.
Neighborhood House
Family
Reconnecting to Disconnected Youth Ages 16-24. To best meet the needs of adolescents ages 16-24, they propose hiring a Youth Advocate, trained in coaching skills, to be a frontline staff person focused on disconnected youth. This Advocate would meet youth where they are—from basketball courts to front porches. They would also organize events at Neighborhood House to build social connections with young adults, encouraging them to enroll in coaching and meet their individual goals. A meaningful life and a peaceful, dignified death for at least 68 more people per year.
Sweet Evening Breeze
Health and Wellness
Hotel Voucher and Housing Assistance Program and Services. The grant will fund a case manager, a part-time therapist, and a hotel voucher/ housing assistance program to support 50-100 LGBTQ+ youth (ages 18-24) to stay off the streets and transition into stable living situations.
Uniting Partners for Women and Children (UP)
Health and Wellness
Expansion of Services for Women and Children Experiencing Houselessness. The grant will go towards increasing drop-in service hours by 30%, increasing operations space, and targeting services for seniors.
Impact100 Louisville will announce this year’s grant winners at its Annual Awards Event on Thursday, November 2, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. EST in the Grand Ballroom at the Seelbach Hotel, 500 South Fourth Street, Louisville, KY 40202. The event will also highlight the $1,529,000 that the Louisville chapter has donated to the local nonprofit community in just four years. Membership for 2024 is now open and membership fees are tax deductible.
