“For 17 years we have been helping Indian River County become a better place to live,” said Suzi McCoy Shriner, Impact 100 Indian River president, welcoming everyone to the Season Kickoff Reception at the Quail Valley River Club.
Impact 100 is an all-female philanthropic funding group whose members contribute $1,100 annually ($1,000 toward grants and $100 to administrative costs). Each spring, members vote to determine which nonprofit applicants will receive that year’s $100,000 transformational grants.
Shriner noted that event sponsorships play an important part in offsetting costs to the organization, before introducing the event’s Diamond Sponsors Chris Hill, president of The Hill Group, and Jennifer Peshke, of the Law Offices of Jennifer D. Peshke, and Gold Sponsor Joanne Liakos of Seacrest Wealth Management.
Jeff Pickering, president and CEO of the Indian River Community Foundation, spoke about the critical needs of the community, adding that he often thinks of the advice his grandparents gave him – to be generous and to be grateful.
He said there are almost 900 local nonprofit 501c3 charitable organizations, with about 200 of those earning enough to require filing a tax return.
Of those, some 21 percent are categorized as human services, 14 percent as education, 12 percent as health, and 11 percent as arts and culture, with the remainder including animal welfare, the environment, public and societal benefits.
Unlike other communities, he said the nonprofits’ largest revenue category, some 41 percent, came from contributions.
“That’s a substantial amount. And this last statistic on contribution makes us the eighth most generous county out of all 67 counties in Florida, and Impact 100 certainly played an important part. And for that, I thank you,” said Pickering.
However, he said there are still considerable areas of concern, with 11 percent of the population medically uninsured, a number nearly 50 percent higher than the national average. Also, more than 500 students in our school system were homeless last year and some 50 percent of residents are either living in poverty or are among the ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) population, workers living paycheck to paycheck and one step away from poverty.
“If you’d like to take a deeper dive into more data and information about community needs, the Indian River Community Foundation has developed a resource online on our website called Indian River Indicators. It’s a tool that we developed to help our clients and other funders like Impact 100 to practice more effective philanthropy,” said Pickering.
Shriner said after the devastating damage caused by the Hurricane Milton tornadoes, the Impact board established an Extraordinary Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund which the board and members contributed to.
“We’ve never done anything like this before, but these were extraordinary times. When we unite collectively, we can do big things,” said Shriner, presenting a check for $36,275 to Meredith Egan, CEO of United Way of Indian River County, who expressed her deep appreciation.
Encouraging renewals and enrollments, Shriner reiterated the Impact slogan that more members equals more grants and more impact.
“Together, we are a force that can transform lives in our community, and together, we can build a community where everyone has the opportunity to thrive,” said Shriner.
For more information, visit Impact100IR.com.
Photos by Joshua Kodis
