Impact100 Genesee County will donate $87,000 to one nonprofit during the organization’s Big Give event on Wednesday, Sept. 24 at Sloan Museum.
Impact100 Genesee County is a women’s 501(c)(3) collective giving organization. Each member of Impact100 Genesee County is asked to donate $1,000 a year. The amount donated each year depends on the number of members.
During the nonprofit’s inaugural Big Give in 2024, they gave $57,000 to Prism Project.
The Genesee County chapter now has 92 members who each donated $1,000. During this year’s Big Give event on Sept. 24, the five finalists will give a presentation and then the Impact100 Genesee County members will cast their final votes.
The winning nonprofit will receive $87,000. Katie Kool-Wray, founder of Impact100 Genesee County, said five members joined after the April 8 deadline and the $5,000 will be split among the four finalists who did not win.
“The purpose of the Big Give Event is to bring together as many members in our community as possible to hear our five finalists talk about their grant projects. Our members will vote after hearing the pitches to decide which very deserving organization will be awarded the $87,000 grant. However, our greater goal is for all of our finalists to receive funding for their projects as more people learn about the amazing work they are doing,” Kool-Wray said.
Tickets to the Sept. 24 Big Give can be purchased at https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/big-give-annual-event. Tickets cost $35 and includes hors d’oeuvres and dessert.
FIVE FINALISTS
ABC Youth
Mission: ABC Youth’s mission is to serve the Flint community youth and families through skilled trades, culinary arts and life skills that will promote and celebrate lifelong learning for the success of youth and families.
Project: ABC Youth’s Skilled Trades Training and Development Center equips underserved youth in Flint with hands-on experience in skilled trades, culinary arts, STEM education, and life skills, while offering job shadowing opportunities with local contractors to prepare them for living-wage careers.
Crim Fitness Foundation
Mission: The Crim Fitness Foundation cultivates accessible, vibrant communities in Flint and Genesee County that encourage people to lead healthy lifestyles by integrating physical activity, healthy eating and mindfulness into their daily lives and mentors other communities to do the same.
Project: And Still I’m R.I.S.E. is a two-year pilot initiative that aims to empower youth and educators in Genesee County with mindfulness-based tools to promote social and emotional wellbeing and build peer-led support systems, addressing the urgent mental health challenges facing today’s youth.
Ireland’s Dream
Mission: Ireland’s Dream is dedicated to ensuring children living with cerebral palsy have access to quality care enabling them to live their best life.
Project: A baseball field for everyone to play on together: both physically and not physically handicapped.
St. Francis Prayer Center
Mission: Secure in God’s love, the St. Francis Prayer Center (SFPC), Flint, exists to serve all people, especially our poor, our parishes and our diocese through the ministries of prayer, evangelization, healing, formation, direct services and social justice.
Project: This project will continue to restore the dignity to more Flint marginalized who are sleeping on floors especially children through a good night’s sleep by delivering more free beds/bedding using delivery trucks which are protected in a safe steel pole barn with additional storage for mattresses, box springs, and frames.
Youth Arts: Unlocked
Mission: Bringing the arts to justice involved youth, and their work to the public.
Project: Youth Arts: Unlocked will implement board-certified music, dance and/or drama therapy interventions.