Impact100 Greater Chesapeake Annual Meeting 2026 where Blue Ribbon Project was awarded $65,000 to purchase a van that will be used to deliver Backpacks of Love and transport materials and volunteers to community events. It will also be used to pick up donations for Backpacks of Love from community partners who collect items on The Blue Ribbon Project’s behalf, increasing their efficiency in the community. Photo by DANIE Photography
Impact100 Greater Chesapeake and The Women & Girls Fund of the Mid-Shore
Although the mission, focus, and scope of Impact100 Greater Chesapeake and the Women & Girls Fund of the Mid-Shore differ, both women-led grantmaking organizations pool their donations to make a significant impact on local nonprofits. By empowering women with a shared vision, these critical organizations serve as catalysts for change through their transformative grants.
Located in Annapolis, Impact100 Greater Chesapeake awards one large grant each year to a local nonprofit in Anne Arundel County across five focus areas: arts and culture, education, environment, family, and health and wellness. The organization utilizes a collective giving model in which 100 members each donate $1,000 annually and pool the money to fund a grant.
Based in Easton and specifically serving the needs of women and girls in Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s, and Talbot counties, the Women & Girls Fund is a permanent endowment that funds several small grants annually to nonprofits in need and provides a source of funding for future grantmaking. The endowment is managed by the Mid-Shore Community Foundation.
“As an all-women’s organization, Impact100 Greater Chesapeake creates a space where women’s leadership and collective power come together, and that has a meaningful ripple effect throughout the community,” says Sarah Amyot, president, Impact100 Greater Chesapeake. “When women pool their resources, they don’t just increase the size of the grant; they expand their knowledge, confidence, and influence, resulting in more effective grantmaking and stronger communities.”
“As a group of women pulling together to help women, the Women & Girls Fund connects our resources and experience with the dynamic needs facing our communities,” adds Beth Spurry, president, Women & Girls Fund. “It offers women a chance to lead and use their voices to create change.”
Board President Beth Spurry highlighting the 2025 grants to attendees of the Women & Girls Fund Golf Tournament last September. Photo by Karena Dixon Photography.
The Power of Women
According to Impact100 Greater Chesapeake, the all-volunteer organization was founded by Heather DeBuse, who currently serves as grant review coordinator and president emeritus. DeBuse and a group of like-minded women united their efforts to create a chapter of Impact100 in Maryland. And in 2017, Impact100 Greater Chesapeake was officially launched.
The only chapter located in Maryland, Impact100 Greater Chesapeake is guided by its mission of “driving transformational change in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, by collectively funding high-impact grants to local nonprofits.”
Impact100 Global, the umbrella organization for individual chapters, credits Wendy Steele with founding the Impact100 model of collective giving in 2001. Today, numerous chapters are located in the United States and other countries.
“The collective giving model of Impact100 is unique,” Amyot says. “It operates on the premise that we can make a big impact when we combine our individual donations into one amount. This ‘think big’ approach is truly transformative. Our largest grant was awarded to the Annapolis Symphony Academy in the amount of $90,000 in 2023. Grants such as these truly demonstrate the power of collective giving and greatly benefit our communities.”
According to the Women & Girls Fund, the organization was founded in 2002 as a grassroots effort by Alice Ryan and a group of women who were trying to identify effective ways to address local issues. The first donation was received that year, and after working with the United Fund and the Mid-Shore Community Foundation, the organization’s first grants were awarded in April 2003.
Since its inception, the Women & Girls Fund has been dedicated to fulfilling its mission to “use the power of pooled resources to improve the lives of women and girls on Maryland’s Mid-Shore.”
“Women and girls are often the most vulnerable in a crisis situation,” Spurry says. “They suffer disproportionately from domestic abuse, assault, hunger, and other issues. We believe that focusing on these issues benefits the entire community. Supporting a mother supports the family. Lifting up a girl’s confidence gives her a chance for a lifetime of promise.”
Left: Past and present board members celebrating the Women & Girls Fund’s 20th Anniversary in January 2023 at Tidewater Inn, Easton. Courtesy of the Women & Girls Fund. Right: Grants Committee of the Women & Girls Fund at work reviewing requests. Courtesy of the Women & Girls Fund.
2025 Grant Recipients
In 2025, Impact100 Greater Chesapeake awarded a $56,000 grant, and the Women & Girls Fund awarded 18 grants totaling $64,970—a testament to their philanthropic efforts and their dedication to supporting the needs of the communities they serve.
The recipient of Impact100 Greater Chesapeake’s annual grant was Open Hands of MD, a food pantry and distribution center in Pasadena. The funds were used to purchase a new outdoor walk-in freezer, which will greatly impact the operations of the nonprofit organization. To learn more about Open Hands of MD, visit openhandsofmd.org.
Amyot says it’s so empowering to take an idea, make it come to life, and see its impact on the nonprofit organization and the community as a whole.
“We were delighted to fulfill our grant commitment to Open Hands of MD,” Amyot says. “This pivotal addition will significantly expand their capacity to store and distribute frozen foods, enabling them to reach more neighbors in need and fight food insecurity in Anne Arundel County.”
Impact100 Greater Chesapeake Annual Meeting 2025 where Open Hands of MD was awarded $56,000 to support the purchase of a Polar King Outdoor Freezer. The pivotal addition of a new freezer significantly expands their capacity to store and distribute frozen foods, enabling them to reach more neighbors in need and fight food insecurity in Anne Arundel County. Photo by Autumn Ka’ree Photography
The Women & Girls Fund awarded one of its 18 grants to Open Doors Partners in Education, a nonprofit organization located in Chestertown that is committed to its mission “to increase the literacy rate of struggling readers.” According to information provided by the Women & Girls Fund, the nonprofit is the only organization to address the literacy crisis in Kent County by providing free and reduced-cost tutoring. To learn more about Open Doors Partners in Education, visit opendoorsed.org.
Spurry says the $5,000 grant will benefit the organization by underwriting a portion of the costs of providing educational supplies for teachers and female students. The grant will also support tutoring services for women in shelters and rehabilitation facilities.
“Literacy is a family affair,” Spurry says. “Moms who are fluent readers guide their children and [inspire them] to lead. This program provides science-based tutoring to readers to increase their literacy levels on a one-on-one basis—free of charge. We believe that bringing students up to grade level prepares them for success in school and sets the stage for generational success in education.”
The grant awarded to Open Doors Partners in Education is just one example of the many grants that the Women & Girls Fund awarded in 2025 to address the needs of women and girls in the communities it serves.
Both Impact100 Greater Chesapeake and the Women & Girls Fund empower women to become philanthropists and make a difference in their communities. To learn more, visit impact100greaterchesapeake.org and womenandgirlsfund.org.
