About

Impact100 Southern Connecticut

Impact100 Southern Connecticut strives to coordinate a diverse group of women in varying stages of life, income levels and backgrounds who are committed to improving our community by collectively funding transformational grants to make a sustainable difference to local nonprofit organizations in the Southern Connecticut Region.

Impact100 SCT is a 501(c)(3) new to the State of Connecticut, however we are proud to be joining our 80 sister chapters and over 30,000 members worldwide embracing the local collective giving model of Impact100 while awarding over 178 million dollars in grants.

Together, we will make a sustainable impact in our community, one transformational grant at a time.

Impact100 Model

The Impact100 model was created by Wendy Steele in 2001 in Cincinnati in response to feeling as though women’s roles in philanthropy needed a new way to be expanded and encouraged. The model is designed to empower women to see themselves as philanthropists and overcome the barriers women have historically faced in this arena. The model is designed for transformational grant-making within local communities, with a minimum grant size of $100,000.

At Least 100 Women Come Together

Each Woman Donates $1,000

$100,000 is donated to a Local Charity

Become a Member

How it works

The annual $1,100 donation of each Impact100 Southern Connecticut member is pooled together with the donations of other members to create a grant fund to be given away to nonprofit organizations serving the Southern Connecticut area. Impact100 Southern Connecticut has no paid staff, so 100% of each member’s annual contribution of $1,000 goes directly into the grant pool and $100.00 goes toward administrative costs. 100% of $1,100.00 is tax deductable.

The number and size of grants awarded each year are dependent on our membership, but our goal is to give incremental grants of $100,000 annually. Grant amounts are announced in the Spring at The Big Reveal event, commencing our grants cycle. Nonprofit finalists are chosen by grant committees through a competitive application process, and grants are awarded based on a membership vote at our annual meeting. Every woman who gives $1,100 or more has one vote.

Focus Areas

We provide nonprofit organizations with grants in increments of at least $100,000 across five broad Focus Areas:

Arts & Culture

Education

Family

Health & Wellness

Environment, Preservation & Recreation

Our History

Impact100 Southern Connecticut was established in 2024. Lucille Pelletier, Founding Board President was volunteering at the House of Hope Food Pantry and learned that they were the recipient of a $100,000.00 grant from Impact100 Martin in Florida. With the 100,000 grant House of Hope expanded its “Feeding Families for Success” program. They were able to expand and enhance their food production hydroponically providing healthy fruits and vegetables for those experiencing food insecurity in the community. This experience is what motivated Lucille to launch an Impact100 chapter in Southern Connecticut.

The concept of Women empowering Women through the power of philanthropy seemed like such an easy way to make an impactful contribution to a community. Quite intrigued by the Impact100 Model, Lucille quickly went to work putting The Impact100 Southern Connecticut Founding Board together.

The Founding board and their two amazing 'Volunteers for Impact' built the infrastructure and enlisted the assistance of other amazing women in the community to make the dream of Impact100 Southern Connecticut a reality.

Through collaborative philanthropy, our mission is to build a dynamic and diverse membership of generous women who accelerate positive social change in the greater Southern Connecticut area.

For more information about how Impact100 started, see the Impact100 Global story.