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This month, Impact 100 announced the five finalists for 2010 representing the areas of Culture; Education; Environment, Preservation and Recreation (EPR); Family and Health and Wellness. It may surprise you to know that this announcement has been months in the making. Here’s how the process works:

1. PROCESS IS INTRODUCED

JANUARY:

• Grant Review Coordinator, conducts an informational session for the not-for-profit organizations about the Impact 100 grant process for 2009.
  

FEBRUARY:

• The five Grant Review Chairs, Grant Review Coordinator and the Community Investment Review Committee (CIRC) Chair meet to outline the timeline for the review process and develop training materials for grant review members.
• Local not-for-profits complete the grant application to be submitted by March 1st.

2. COMMITTEE STEPS

MARCH:

• Applications descend upon Impact 100 via US mail, email and uploads to the website. Over 100 applications are received and sorted.
• Copies of each application are distributed to the Grant Review Chairs for their committee members.
• At the end of March, each Grant Review Committee meets for the first time, receives training (How to Review a Grant Application), reviews the process timeline, signs the conflict of interest agreement and distributes the grants to be reviewed by specific committees.

APRIL:

• Each committee determines the process for narrowing the field of site visit candidates. Typically, each committee will choose 3 to 5 agencies to take to the next step — a site visit by committee members.
• A member of the committee volunteers to organize the site visit. This Site Visit Coordinator then contacts the agency to arrange a one-hour meeting to learn about the health of an agency. After preliminary CIRC approval, committees conduct site visits.

MAY:

• And into June, committee members engage in what many consider their favorite part of the Impact 100 experience — site visits.
• The Site Visit Coordinator organizes the visit and takes responsibility for answering the questions/comments that were discussed at the grant review committee meetings as well as the items requested by the CIRC committee.
• After the visit, the Site Visit Coordinator writes a DRAFT one page executive summary report to be presented to her committee outlining the reasons for or against this applicant becoming the committee’s finalist.

3. DELIBERATION PROCESS

JUNE:

• Ushers in the final committee decisions for the five finalists. Committee members review and discuss each of the site visit summaries and vote to choose the committee’s finalist.
• After each committee chooses its finalist, the CIRC committee does a final review which includes receiving all the documents requested, insuring all questions are answered satisfactorily.

4. THE ANNOUNCEMENT

JULY:

• Impact 100 Board of Directors ratifies the five finalists at the July Board meeting.
• Afterwards, our finalists are notified and decline letters are mailed to the other applicants.
• Representatives of the five finalists attend the August Impact 100 Board meeting to receive instructions and answer any questions about the presentations to be delivered at the Annual Awards Celebration.

5. THE IMPACT AWARDS

SEPTEMBER:

• Five finalists present to Impact 100 members who vote.
  And the winners are…

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