A new women’s philanthropy organization in Atlanta plans to award $130,000 to one metro area nonprofit this year, with all the money coming directly from membership contributions. The group’s aim is to not only financially support nonprofits serving their communities, but also inspire women to become more involved in the male-dominated philanthropy field.
Impact100 Atlanta, founded last year, is an all-volunteer-led nonprofit organization comprised of 130 local women who have each donated $1,000 to create the $130,000 grant fund, said co-founder and president Sarah Levitt. The women uniting and pooling their money and resources to fund a project they see as transformative not only helps the nonprofit receiving the grant, but also the women who are making it happen, Levitt said.
“I feel like a lot of women work at nonprofits, but maybe aren’t the leaders, even at female-focused nonprofits,” said Levitt, 28, a financial consultant at global professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal.
“It’s good to have representation across the board and have our voices be heard,” she said. “And it’s really empowering to have our collective funds going to fund a very transformative project in the community when a lot of times, even the big foundations in Atlanta, are mostly males or male-driven.”
Applications for the inaugural grant are being accepted through July 8 from Metro Atlanta nonprofits in Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale counties. Impact100 Atlanta accepts applications from groups focused arts and culture; education; family; health and wellness; and environment, preservation and recreation.
Impact100 Atlanta is one of the newest chapters of Impact100 Global, the philanthropy group founded more than 20 years ago by Wendy Steele. The group has more than 60 chapters in the U.S. as well as in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. To date, the chapters have donated more than $105 million to local community nonprofits, Levitt said.