And so it begins. The journey to award $164,600 in Community and Education Grants is now in progress. From January 13 to February 9 (with a two day extension of the original deadline due to the ice storm and resulting power outages) Impact Austin collected applications for funding. During the same weeks, Impact Austin members registered to serve on Grant Review Committees and Grant Finance Committees. We thank them - and the entire Grants team - for their volunteer service,
COMMUNITY GRANTS
A total of $82,300 will be awarded in June
31 applications received
31 members on the Grant Review Committee, including two chairs and one advisor
This GRC will meet in person at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, starting February 22
EDUCATION GRANTS
A total of $82,300 will be awarded in June
43 applications received
30 members on the Grant Review Committee, including two chairs and one advisor
This GRC will meet virtually, beginning February 21
THE PROCESS MOVING FORWARD
Before grant review begins, Impact Austin will make available two sessions of training in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) to all GRC members. The goal of this training is to equip our grant reviewers with a shared knowledge base and understanding of systemic racism, unconscious and implicit bias, and a history of racism in Austin. In addition, each GRC member will receive a copy of DEIB Resources that offers additional learning materials. This is a compilation of past Impact Austin events, communications, and blogs related to DEIB and assembled by our DEIB Learning Committee. Training grant reviewers is intended to be one step in pursuing Impact Austin’s immediate, short-term goal to reduce bias in the grant review process. All Impact Austin members are invited to access DEIB Resources.
The Impact Austin Grants Committee simplified and clarified some of the financial statement requirements in order to streamline the application process and make it less burdensome on our applicants. Next steps are as follows:
Mar 10 Initial assessments of applications completed
April 7 Semi-finalists identified
May 4 Finalists named
May 17 Finalist packets emailed to members for voting
May 26 Voting ends
June 5 Spring grants awarded at our Annual Meeting
