IMPACT 100 Names 20 Finalists as Record Membership Pushes Grant Pool to $1.3 Million

Nonprofits

IMPACT 100 Pensacola Bay Area has announced the 20 Grant Finalists for 2026, and 13 of them will each receive a $101,000 grant at the organization’s Annual Meeting on Oct. 11.

• IMPACT 100 membership hit an all-time high this year at 1,313 women, and each member’s $1,000 donation goes straight into the grant pool. That math produces a grand total of $1,313,000 in grants headed to local nonprofits this fall.

Since its founding, IMPACT 100 Pensacola Bay Area has awarded 177 grants totaling $18,700,000 to nonprofits serving Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties.

This is the organization’s 23rd year awarding grants, and IMPACT 100’s Focus Area Committees narrowed the finalists to five categories: Arts, Culture & History; Education; Environment & Recreation; Family; and Health & Wellness.

Here’s the full list of 2026 finalists, by focus area:

Arts, Culture & History

• Ballet Pensacola, Inc.—A Holiday Classic Restored: Updating The Nutcracker Costumes and Lighting. New costumes, scenery and LED lighting to refresh the company’s signature holiday production.
• Pensacola Children’s Chorus, Inc.—Driven to Sing: Connecting Choir & Community with Transport & Performance. A 15-person van and portable risers to bring free concerts to underserved neighborhoods.
• Pensacola Museum of Art Guild, Inc.—Best in Show: Projecting the PMA into the Future. Funding to bring the William Wegman retrospective to Pensacola and upgrade gallery technology and seating.
• University of West Florida Foundation, Inc.—WUWF Mobile Live Events Access and Preservation Project. Equipment and a dedicated vehicle to expand WUWF’s mobile live-event production and archival work.

Education

• Naval Aviation Museum Foundation, Inc.—Flight Adventure Deck: Elevating the Future. Upgraded flight simulators and classroom furniture to strengthen middle school STEM programming.
• Santa Rosa Education Foundation, Inc.—Little Red School House: Expanding Access, Increasing IMPACT. A retrofitted utility trailer and facility upgrades for the teacher supply depot serving Santa Rosa County.
• The Pensacola MESS Hall, Inc.—Moving Science After School. Transportation, staffing and equipment to expand hands-on STEM programming to 200 elementary students.
• Umbrella Learning Academy Corporation—Regulation Station: A Secure Sensory & Social-Emotional Learning Center. A custom sensory-regulation space and ADA-rated flooring for neurodivergent students.

Environment & Recreation

• Friends of Pensacola State Parks—Rebuilding Long Pond Boardwalk. Rebuilding 750 feet of damaged boardwalk at Big Lagoon State Park.
• Keep Pensacola Beautiful, Inc.—Moving Beyond Trash: Reforestation and Invasive Species Removal. Two heavy-duty trucks to expand tree-canopy restoration in high-need neighborhoods.
• Pensacola and Perdido Bays Estuary Program, Inc.—Stories from the Bay: Inspiring Stewardship through Estuary Encounters. A new outreach vehicle and two short films supporting oyster and creek restoration work.
• Winterfest of Pensacola, Inc. (dba Five Flags Trolley)—IMPACT 100 All Access Express. A 28-passenger, ADA-accessible trolley with wheelchair lifts for residents with disabilities and seniors.

Family

• A HOPE, Inc. (dba Snip Happens)—Safer Surgeries for Family Pets. Advanced surgical and monitoring equipment for the organization’s high-volume spay/neuter clinic.
• Pensacola Habitat for Humanity, Inc.—Building Promise: A Habitat–Family Promise Partnership. Construction of a 4-bedroom, 2-bath home to house two homeless families at once.
• Pregnancy Resource Center, Inc. (dba Life Options Clinic)—Parenting Education and Resource Building. A new 2,500-square-foot building dedicated to parenting classes and resource services.
• South Santa Rosa Interfaith Ministries, Inc.—Driving Hope for Families. An 18-foot box truck to grow thrift store donations that fund financial and emergency assistance programs.

Health & Wellness

• 4EVR DEZ—Beyond the Dress: A Resource Hub for Teen Girls. Furnishings for a new wellness center for teen girls and a van for mobile outreach.
• Health and Hope Clinic, Inc.—Expanding Access to Dental Care. A 400-square-foot addition with two new dental suites to cut the backlog for uninsured adults.
• Sacred Heart Foundation—The Willow Boutique, An Impactful Space. Northwest Florida’s first dedicated oncology boutique, offering wigs, head coverings and support for women in cancer treatment.
• The Seven Project, Inc.—Pedaling Beyond Limits. Two Functional Electrical Stimulation cycles for adaptive fitness serving people with paralysis and spinal cord injuries.

Grants are announced live at the Annual Meeting, where members vote, and the 13 winning nonprofits are revealed on the spot.

• IMPACT 100 membership is open to any woman 18 or older who makes an annual $1,000 tax-deductible donation by March 1, with the full contribution flowing directly into the grant pool.

More information is available at impact100pensacola.org.