our history
Impact Grants Chicago’s story began in 2012 when Georgy Ann Peluchiwski and Allison Bacon collaborated to create a women’s collective giving group based on the national Impact model originated in Cincinnati, Ohio. That year they formed a City Chapter within the already existing Impact 100 Chicago that operated out of the northwest suburbs and served Chicago and the suburbs.
In June of 2017, the City Chapter leadership decided to concentrate all of their giving in the city of Chicago and founded Impact Grants Chicago to continue their work of awarding $100,000 grants to Chicago nonprofits annually.
We are proud to say that in the first seven years as Impact Grants Chicago, we have awarded over $3,400,000! This includes TWENTY-NINE $100,000 Impact Grants along with $515,000 in Merit Grants. We are excited to continue our journey and hope you will join us this year.
Impact Grants Chicago 2017/18 Founding Board of Directors
from left to right - Elizabeth Chow, Arla Gomberg, Becky Lenington, Caryn Gallop, Kristen Pettit Grube, Shannon Weinberger, Sandy Chapman, Maggie Schell, Allison Bacon, Georgy Ann Peluchiwski, Joyce Greenblatt, Terry Kass, Lisa Aronson, Barbara Melcher, Kathy Rice (not pictured: Lisa Centone Curci and Pauline Taylor)
Impact Grants Chicago is a proud member of the following organizations dedicated to women’s collective giving.
