Getting to 10 grant finalists

Thanks to the women and friends of Impact San Antonio, we will once again award five $100,000 High Impact Grants this year — one per focus area. Meanwhile, the process of determining which applicants will present their projects to the full Impact SA membership in October has already begun.

This spring, agencies wishing to apply for a grant submitted an organizational questionnaire which, together with agency financial information, was used to determine each applicant’s readiness to implement an Impact SA grant. Agencies deemed ready were then eligible to submit a project application. More than 100 project applications were submitted.

Narrowing those applications down to just 10 finalists is no simple task! That’s where our Grant Review Process comes in. Member volunteers first attend Grant Reviewer training. They are then assigned to one of five teams tasked with selecting which projects most deserve to move forward as finalists for their focus area. During the summer, grant reviewers use a consistent process, including multiple rounds of reviews and site visits, to evaluate all the project proposals for their focus area. By late August, each team will select two finalists per focus area.

The 10 finalists will be announced in September and receive training on preparing recorded presentations about their projects. Members will view these presentations online during the week leading up to Grant Award Night and vote to decide which finalists will receive High Impact Grants. Grant recipients will be revealed at Grant Award Night on October 24. We hope you’ll join us!