Announcements
20th Annual Awards Celebration, June 17, 2025
Our 20th Annual Awards Celebration will be held at The Crane Bay Event Center on June 17. The finalists for the $100,000 Change Maker grant will have seven minutes to pitch their program to our Members and Guests, the Members will cast their vote for the program of their choice, and we will announce which of the five finalists will be our 2025 Change Maker and receive the $100,000 high impact grant before the event ends. The other four finalists will each receive a Community Support Grant of $15,000.
The 2025 Grant Finalists are:
- Arts, Culture & Preservation:
Big Car Collaborative: The Big Table: Culinary Arts and Community Wellbeing - Education:
Nine13 Sports: Using the Bicycle as the Ultimate STEM Education Tool - Environment & Animal Welfare:
IndyHumane: Pet Resource Center - Family:
Indiana Diaper Bank: Mobile Distribution to Meet Community Needs - Health & Wellness:
Coburn Place: The SHIELD Safety Project
Want to know more?
- See our blog on the 2025 Finalists to learn more about the proposed programs.
- Read our press release to learn more about the history of the event.
- Go to the Annual Awards Celebration page for details on the event.
91 Place & Impact 100 Greater Indianapolis Featured by Indy Maven’s Female Founders Series
Jenna Shaffer, founder of 91 Place, was recently featured as a Female Founder by Indy Maven. During the interview, Jenna highlighted receiving the 2024 Change Maker and the difference that 91 Place and Impact 100 Greater Indianapolis makes in the community.
You can see the interview here.
Impact 100 Greater Indianapolis Affirms Their Philosophy & Core Values
During the April Board meeting, our board came together to review our Giving Philosophy and Core Values. After completing the review, our board has voted to affirm our Philosophy that:
- We seek to fund critical needs, new ventures, and innovative ways to solve social problems and to create a more civil and respectful climate in our community.
- We believe that every member of our community should have access to a clean, safe environment, cultural enrichment, family services, quality education, and healthcare.
Additionally, we voted to affirm our commitment to the following Values:
- INTEGRITY as we approach decision-making with open minds, respect for the ideas of others, and with fairness. We are ethical in our actions are accountable for them.
- DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION as we strive to be diverse, equitable, and inclusive in our leadership, membership, grantmaking, and with community partners. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity/expression.
- HUMANITY as we foster kindness and benevolence in our interactions and relationships. The humane consideration of every member of our community is at the heart of our philanthropic endeavor.COLLABORATION as we expect everyone to participate, and value the individual strengths that each member brings to the process. Once consensus is reached, we believe all members should fully embrace the decision.
- THOUGHTFULNESS as we value discussion and spend the necessary time to work through all decisions, giving consideration to all possible paths.
- EXCELLENCE as we strive for the highest possible outcomes in all our actions. We educate ourselves to ensure we are employing ‘best practices’ and that our decisions are made objectively.
Click Here to Review our Giving Philosophy & Core Values
2024 Giving Report Released
Each year Impact 100 creates our version of an Annual Report to provide an overview of the organization’s financial, membership, and granting history. This year’s report can be accessed by clicking here.
You can be a Member! Go to Our Membership Page to Learn How
Impact 100 has been an important part of the Indianapolis community since 2006, along with our annual goal of delivering more than $100,000 to nonprofits in the Greater Indianapolis community. Through our grants we have proven that collective giving works, and that a group of inspired women can accomplish much more than any one of us can alone. Visit our Membership Page for more information.
Announcing Our 2024 Change Maker
91 Place will not forget June 11, 2024, where they were named the Impact 100 2024 Change Maker!
91 Place was the Health & Wellness Focus Area Committee Finalist. The organization serves homeless youth, ages 16-24, by providing transitional housing for up to 2 years using a comprehensive wellness strategy. The Change Maker Grant will fund The Creating Permanency in Transitional Housing project. This project is an urgent response to the pending sale of their flagship home, which houses 4 youth and 2 house mentors. The home’s owners are offering the property to 91 Place at a price far below its appraised value. This opportunity creates equity, avoids a costly and disruptive move and eliminates the necessity of finding another suitable house when few are on the market.
Four other local nonprofits received unrestricted Community Support Grants of $11,000 each:
- Arts, Culture & Preservation: Iibada Dance Company, Artsforce Development Project
- Education: Kids ’Voice of Indiana, Little Voices, Big Futures
- Environment & Animal Welfare: Medical Mutt Service Dogs, Mutt Mentors Fostering Program
- Family: Coburn Place Safe Haven, Two-Generation Rapid Rehousing & Supportive Service Program
To find out more about each finalist organization, click on their name to go to their website. To learn more about their proposed project, go to our blog here.
Interested in supporting one of these projects? Contact us at impact100indy@gmail.com and we will be happy to make the introductions.
Updates on the 2023 Grant Recipients
The 2023 Change Maker, Unconditional, has posted their June reasons to celebrate. Read about them on our blog.
To see how the 2023 Grants are impacting our community, read our 2023 Grant Update blog posting.
2024 Leaders of the Future Program Recipients
The Impact 100 Leaders of the Future Program has been an important pipeline for developing new members and future leaders for Impact 100. We are proud to announce the 13 women receiving this year’s Leaders of the Future memberships:
- Leili Abdi, Master Student, IU School of Philanthropy, Research Asst. Global Philanthropy Environment Indices
- Paradise Bradford, Free Leading and Pretty Passionate Hands
- Roxanne Diggs, USPost Office and Grad Student
- Danielle Drake, Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce
- Caroline Durava, We Bloom
- Oriana Fuenmayor, IUPUI Student, Intern at Domestic Violence Network
- Erica Henry, Master student IU School of Philanthropy
- Twanda Jones, MPA Student, Defense Finance/Acctg, The Comfort Home Place
- Mary Lechner, Teenworks
- Natalie Matthews, Cathedral High School
- Sally Root, Indianapolis Art Center
- Madeline Sersic, IU McKinney School of Law
- Priti Tailor, Enrolled in 2024 Leadership United Program w/ United Way of Central Indiana
Click here to read about their dream projects.
Click here to learn more about the Leaders of the Future program,
Board of Director Recruitment
We are currently looking for women interested in serving on our Board of Directors and board committees (membership, marketing, fundraising, Focus Area Committees, etc.). Learn more here.
It’s time to start recurring payments towards a 2025 Membership!
Click here to learn more and to sign up for recurring payments. If you have questions about setting up recurring payments, please contact us.
Indy Star: Scott Newman and Rock Steady Boxing
The Indy Star has a great article on former Marion County prosecutor Scott Newman and his founding of Rock Steady Boxing. Rock Steady Boxing was the Impact 100 Change Maker in 2010, and the recipient of a $100,000 grant from Impact 100 members.
You can read the article here.
Meet Our 2023 Change Maker!
Meet our 2023 Change Maker Unconditional Indy. Our $100,000 grant will fund “Expanding Bridges” – a holistic housing assistance program for women who have transitioned out of sex work and the adult entertainment industries. We can’t wait to see al of the amazing ways Unconditional Indy will continue to grow and impact so many women in our community over the next year.
These four nonprofits each received an unrestricted Impact 100 Community Support Grant of $13,000:
- Arts, Culture & Preservation: Indiana Artisan: Emerging Artisan Program
- Education: Freewheelin’ Community Bikes: Changing Tires Changing Lives
- Environment & Animal Welfare: Community Alliance for the Far Eastside (CAFE): Community Orchard and Greenspace
- Health & Wellness: Step-Up, Inc.: Mobile Prevention Services
Go to our blog posting with more information on these projects!
Donna Oklak, Impact 100 Greater Indianapolis Co-Founder, featured in Nonprofit News Podcast on Innovation in Nonprofits
Impact 100 Member Olanike Olaniyi (Nike)
in Documentary Welcome Home
Olanike Olaniyi shared with Impact 100 that she and her husband are featured in a short documentary, Welcome Home. It tells the story of Nike and other recent immigrants who settled in Indianapolis after leaving their home countries and who now help others adapt to life here through the Immigrant Welcome Center.
The short film debuted at the Central Library on December 13, and you can watch it here:
Welcome Home
NeuroHope, 2022 Change Maker, Receives $1,000,000 Expansion Grant From
OrthoIndy Foundation
NeuroHope, a nonprofit rehabilitation and wellness center for people recovering from neurologic injuries, has received a $1 million grant from the OrthoIndy Foundation to expand its continued care programs for spinal cord injury, brain injury and stroke. As part of the expansion, NeuroHope has added staff, operating space, and opened an adaptive fitness center so people living with neurologic conditions can have affordable access to long-term rehabilitation programs when they leave the hospital. You can read the full press release on the grant here.
NeuroHope also provided an update on the Impact 100 Wellness Center: “Just want to share with you – signage is up, all equipment in place, and the “Impact 100 Wellness Center” is Open at NeuroHope!
We already have 30+ of our 95 patients enrolled in the wellness program, which now features open gym and supervised gym access to the “Impact 100 Wellness Center”, and daily group strength and cardio classes! This is such a difference maker for our patients, and for our overall model of providing continued care programs for people living with and recovering from paralysis.
You Yes You! 2021 and 2022 Finalist Receives $206,000 Grant
You Yes You! a 2022 Change Maker Finalist and Community Impact grant recipient has been awarded a $206,000 Community Catalyst Grant from the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration. The grant will fund a seven-week, family therapist-run program focused on self-awareness, coping skills, and perseverance during incarceration, as well as the anxiety and depression related to reentry and reuniting with family post-release.
Please join us in congratulating them on this wonderful news. Learn more about their transformational work here.
Giving Circles Podcast
The High Cost of Evictions
On November 10, 2021, Impact 100 Greater Indianapolis presented The High Cost of Evictions, an online panel of experts to educate our members on the eviction crisis in Indiana and on the impact of homelessness on families and children. Click here to learn more!
Impact 100 Greater Indianapolis
Receives A 2nd National Spotlight Award
for Innovative Grant Making!
Impact 100 Greater Indianapolis was recognized for their 2018 Change Maker Grant to Trinity Haven to provide safe, affirming housing for LGBTQ youth experiencing housing instability. In April of 2021, during the pandemic, Trinity Haven celebrated the grand opening of the home. The grant was transformational for the giving circle and the community because it was their first grant focused on the needs of the LGBTQ community and Trinity Haven is Indiana’s first residential and host homes program addressing the needs of LGBTQ young people who are at risk for homelessness.
Read more about our Spotlight Award here.