NonProfit NewsPod: Impact 100 - Apply Now for $100,000 Grants

Jeff Holden: [00:00:00] This news pod is all about opportunity. Many nonprofits dream of the big grant, the life-changing donation that comes in and provides sustainability capacity, and furthers the impact of the organization. Wouldn't that be amazing if something like that really could happen? Hi, I'm Jeff Holden. Welcome to this nonprofit podcast News pod.

I'm speaking with Sarina Paulson, president of Impact 100 Greater Sacramento, and that opportunity I spoke of for life-changing grants. Well, it does exist, and in this news pod you'll hear how your nonprofit can apply for one of those grants, but I want Serena to better detail it for us here. Serena, before we get into the actual grant application process and what it's all about, would you give us a brief overview of Impact 100 Greater Sacramento?

Sarina Paulsen: I would love to. So the premise of our organization is for every 100 women that join and donate $1,000 as their [00:01:00] membership dues, we create a hundred thousand dollars grant. So the more members we have, the more grant dollars that we have available to fund. And I couldn't be prouder sitting here today. In the first three years, we have awarded almost a million dollars in our local communities.

Jeff Holden: That is just an amazing amount of money and to think it's coming right from Sacramento participants in the program. So tell us a little bit more, what is the organization in terms of its, its makeup. What does it look like today and and I think you have a registration or application window open right now too, to join right.

Sarina Paulsen: We do. So we are kind of towards the end of our membership drive, which closes on February 28th, and I wanna mention that 100%. Our members dues, the thousand dollars goes towards building the grant. So we do not use any of those funds for operating expenses. We have [00:02:00] donations for that. And so we are an organization comprised of all women, philanthropic women who understand the power of collective giving.

So the idea of. You know, we each bring our contribution, which might not feel significant by itself, but when we pull it together, it becomes extremely powerful. And we've seen in the grants that we've awarded over the past three years, what that transformation look like in our communities. And the money stays right here, just as you mentioned.

So we award grants in our four counties, which is Placer, El Dorado, Yolo in Sacramento. 

Jeff Holden: I know we've had many of the organizations that you have awarded on the nonprofit podcast, and it's amazing to see really what that does for the organization and the enthusiasm, the excitement, the opportunity to put it into play is, it's really astounding.

It's a significant amount of money. 

Sarina Paulsen: It is. And one of the things that is so [00:03:00] powerful, and I hear from members all the time is. Sometimes when you make a donation, while it is impactful, you don't always get to follow the thread of when you write the check to how it resonates, the impact that it makes. But as a member of Impact 100, you do, and we actually are our mixer.

In January, we invited our members to one of our recipients, which is Music Andrea, and we're able to see what our funding did for that organization. And for their constituents. And our next mixer in May is going to be at Ridge Curva Food Locker. And we're going to, in turn, see how that has resonated and transformed that specific organization.

So it's just such a unique opportunity to take your philanthropic spirit, but to be able to do so in an active way if you're, if you're wanting to do that. 

Jeff Holden: And we had Buddy Hale in after he received his award. What an incredible episode. I happened to [00:04:00] see him present to win his award and it was, uh, just a very heart wrenching story that he told that was so appropriate for what he's doing today.

And of course, Carrie at the w Rancher court of a food locker, we also had on with her incredible situation where they're building a grocery store. Instead of a food bank per se, where it really provides dignity to people who are in a situation where they need food. You've really made a difference in those organizations significantly.

Last year, over 180 applicants, over $450,000 awarded. I mean, that's. That's just simply amazing. And these grants are awarded by categories as well? Correct. So there's a hundred thousand dollars per, depending on what the level of investment is from the membership. What are the categories? 

Sarina Paulsen: Sure. So we have arts and culture, [00:05:00] health and wellness.

Family education and environment. Okay. And what I'd like to mention, Jeff, is that if our members, whenever a member wants to be involved, you know, dependent upon their level of involvement, that they, and time that they have to give to the organization. Um. Our members are actually the ones that read, review score, the grants, the, the app, excuse me, the applications themselves.

So it's a process that our members really lead and make the determination as who our semi-finalists are gonna be, who our finalists are gonna be, and then ultimately vote to determine who will receive the grants. 

Jeff Holden: Okay. And we skipped over something that I wanted to address. Last year. You had 392 members, give or take.

This year, the goal would be to get a little bit over 400 if possible. Knowing full well that that means $400,000 in grants. And last year there was some additional awards that were donated or matched funds. Correct. So [00:06:00] that's why it was a little bit more, 

Sarina Paulsen: yeah. So last year we had 392 members and then. We had a matching campaign that ended up getting us to the 452,000 that we awarded.

And our generous member, again this year has challenged us to another matching campaign. So whatever members that, um, we have in, in the grant dollars, then we will add what we raise from that matching campaign to that. So, uh, we are hoping to have, um, at least 400 members. You know, we know that funding continues to decrease while need continues to increase.

And so those two things. Are not working well together, and so we want to be a transformative and sustainable philanthropy in the region, 

Jeff Holden: and you so are, and with the significance of those grants, it just makes such a big difference. They are life changing. I wanna be sure the applicants also know that there's a lot of fringe benefit that comes from applying.

It's not just you send an application in, you make a presentation, and you hope that you win an award. [00:07:00] There's a lot that goes on behind the scenes, all the way to the buildup later in the year. You wanna share a little bit about the benefit to an applicant? 

Sarina Paulsen: Sure. So one of the things that is, I think, not quantifiable really, is the level of awareness and visibility that the nonprofits are receiving.

And I will, I will speak for myself when I say. As I've read applications, there are certain needs that exist in our community that we're all very aware of, but there are other needs that exist and a lot of organizations that exist that some people don't even know about. And so one of the things that I think is extremely powerful is the fact that our members are having awareness of those and we're bringing to light these organizations that exist.

And through that we are hearing from. Members and nonprofits alike, that our members are getting involved to support those organizations, you know, outside of what they're doing at Impact 100. The other portion though, are things that we're doing that we like to call extra impact. So we [00:08:00] hosted this year three grant writing workshops.

Um, we've done this as our third year and this year we added a third actual workshop. And the intent behind those is to help organizations, give them some, some techniques and things that they can do when they're applying for our grant. But hopefully that will spill over to help them as they're applying for other funding opportunities as well.

And we've heard success stories with regards to that. And this year we were overwhelmingly excited by the fact we had over 200 attendees between those workshops of, of people from nonprofits in our community coming. To learn more about that. And you know, the other part about that is the sense of community that happens in the room during those workshops is also something that is extremely powerful and beneficial to the nonprofit community.

So we continuously are looking for ways that we can extend additional support outside of the grants that we award. 

Jeff Holden: I'm smiling here because you said you had 200 attendees, you had 186 applications last year. If you've [00:09:00] already had 200 attendees through one of the sessions. I'm gonna guess that you're probably gonna be over 200 applications in the process, not to mention the funding challenges that organizations have.

So they're gonna be coming more aggressively into any opportunity and option to get some funding. 

Sarina Paulsen: I imagine you're, you're right. I'm, I'm not sure what to expect with regards to that, but we want, we want any and all nonprofits that meet our eligibility criteria to apply and they can find that information on our website.

Jeff Holden: And I suspect that your volunteers are gonna be quite busy going through those applications this year. For sure. Let's get into the specific details. Uh, again, just one more time for everybody. Deadlines, when the next event happens and what's important for them to know. 

Sarina Paulsen: Well, the number one thing right now is our membership drive.

Um, we can never have enough members. We, we need. Every woman in, in our region to be a member of Impact 100 Greater Sacramento, because the more members we [00:10:00] have, the more money we can award. And we know that the need exists out there. So membership drive closes on February 28th, and on our website at Impact 100 Greater sacramento.org is a place where you can apply.

And so that's the first thing. The second thing is, as you mentioned, our nonprofit application portal is currently open. And our nonprofits, local nonprofits in our region, and those four counties where the money will be spent can apply also on our website. And the portal closes on March 21st at midnight.

Jeff Holden: Do you have a date yet for the actual reveal when the awards will be granted? 

Sarina Paulsen: So, um, on the big reveal in April is where we will announce how many members we have and we'll do our matching campaign, but then for awarding the grants, that'll be in late September. 

Jeff Holden: Okay, good. Well, I, I have to ask, since I've been doing this with you for, uh, this would be the fourth year, correct?

Sarina Paulsen: Yes. 

Jeff Holden: [00:11:00] Of the organization. And we started together at about the same time when we launched, uh, the nonprofit podcast and it's very rudimentary form before we were even doing weekly cadence, but do you have any idea yet? Are we gonna hit $500,000 this year? 

Sarina Paulsen: I, I don't know. I, I cannot tell you that, but I can tell you we are sure trying, we are working as hard as we can, you know, between our board and our ambassador team and so many of our members, everybody is bits on the ground working as hard as they can to, to bring every member that we have in.

But it's only going to be possible with everybody listening, every woman listening that as a philanthropic spirit, consi, you know, considers joining. 

Jeff Holden: Nicely done. I've never gotten an answer from you or Evelyn back when first started. So, but the excitement is there and I don't think anybody saw $450,000 coming last year.

Right. And, and the year before, you know, several hundred thousand dollars, it just has grown each year. So I think the expectations there [00:12:00] that it likely will, and I know that the women that wanna participate will actually step up. Serena, congratulations on such an incredible program that you and your team have given this nonprofit community.

Thank you so much for sharing the information. 

Sarina Paulsen: Thank you, Jeff. We, we are so grateful for your support 

Jeff Holden: and once again, applications close. March 21st, 2026, and you can learn more and apply at Impact 100 greater sacramento.org. Find all the details in the podcast notes as well. I cannot wait to see where this year ends up.

Sarina Paulsen: Me too. 

Jeff Holden: This has been a nonprofit podcast News pod. Thanks for listening, and be sure to subscribe by visiting nonprofit pod.com.