Impact 100 Names Finalists For $1.3 Million In Grants

September 17, 2026

IMPACT 100 Pensacola Bay Area has announced 20 nonprofit finalists that will share $1,313,000 in grants.

Thirteen of the 20 nonprofit Finalists will each receive a grant of $101,000 at the IMPACT 100 Pensacola Bay Area Annual Meeting on October 11.

IMPACT 100 membership in 2026 is at an all-time high with 1,313 women. As a result of this record-breaking growth, IMPACT 100 will be able to celebrate and showcase more transformational nonprofits.

This is the 23rd year that IMPACT 100 will award grants to local nonprofit organizations. Since its inception, IMPACT 100 Pensacola Bay Area has awarded 177 impactful grants totaling $18,700,000 to nonprofit organizations serving Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties

The 20 Finalists selected by IMPACT 100’s Focus Area Committees are as follows:

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.

Comments





Have a comment on this story?

We welcome your comments on this story, but there are some rules to follow::

(1) Be Nice. No comments that slander another, no racism, no sexism, no personal attacks.

(2) No Harrassing Comments. If someone says something bad about you, don't respond. That's childish.

(3) No Libel. That's saying something is not true about someone. Don't do it.

(4) Keep it clean. Nothing vulgar, obscene or sexually related. No profanity or obvious substitutions. Period.

(5) NorthEscambia.com reserves the right to remove any comments that violate our rules or we think to be inappropriate. We are not responsible for what is posted. Comments may not appear right away until they are approved by a moderator.

(6) Limit your comments to the subject in this story only, and limit comments to 300 words or less. Do not post copyrighted material. Comments will not be added to stories that are over 30 days old.

(7) No posts may advertise a commercial business, political candidate or political group, or link to another commercial web site or political site of any kind.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under FRONT FEATURE