Impact100 Sonoma Grants Record $365,000 to 16 Valley-Serving Nonprofits

Sonoma Family Meal Receives Multi-Year Encore Grant

On Tuesday evening April 28 the women’s collective giving organization, Impact100 Sonoma, awarded $365,000 in grants — ranging in size from $50,000 to $5,000 — to 16 nonprofits addressing critical needs across the Valley – from food security to housing to mental health. One recipient, Sonoma Family Meal, received the organization’s Encore Grant, providing a second year of $25,000 in funding in early 2027. The awards were announced at the Sebastiani Vineyards & Winery tasting room, where member donors and community partners gathered to celebrate this year’s grant recipients.

The 2026 grant total of $365,000 — donated by more than 330 members — sets a new annual giving record for Impact100 Sonoma and raises its cumulative grant total since 2010 to $4,740,485. It is one of the valley’s largest funders. Grant recipients represented a broad range of nonprofit organizations serving residents of all ages and requirements.

“This year our members rallied around some of the community’s most urgent and fundamental needs, such as housing, food security, mental health, and early childhood education,” said Vice President and Grants Oversight Co-Chair Leslie Blankenship. “In a time of growing uncertainty, these organizations are not just helping, but sustaining lives. With reductions in federal food assistance programs, Sonoma Family Meal stands out as a critical recipient of the Encore Grant. Its Unity Kitchen on Highway 12 is the only source of free, hot meals five days a week in Sonoma Valley, and the demands on the facility’s services continue to grow.”

Sonoma Family Meal acquired Sonoma Overnight Support and assumed operation of the Unity Kitchen in September 2025, nourishing the community and building economic mobility by combining culinary job training, emergency meals Monday through Friday, a food pantry, and support for the local food ecosystem. Said Executive Director Whitney Reuling, “Since September, we’ve provided over 6,000 meals per month, serving up to 500 food-insecure households and 2,000 individuals, including older adults, immigrants, unhoused community members, and low-income families. We often provide their only hot meal of the day.”  The Impetus Grant will fund the salary of a dedicated Food Security Program Coordinator to oversee meal distribution and delivery, manage the pantry, and help expand capacity by an additional 500 to 750 meals per month while keeping costs low and quality high. The Encore Grant will sustain the position into a second year.

“Eight organizations, including Sonoma Family Meal, are first-time grant recipients, showing that our member donors continue to embrace new possibilities for our funding,” said Vice President and Grants Oversight Co-Chair Alison Thompson. “That we have given more than $4.7 million in 17 years, helping to strengthen more than 70 local nonprofits, is an impressive achievement, especially for a community our size. It’s a testament to the philanthropic spirit of the valley.”

Every Impact100 Sonoma member makes a one-year, fully tax-deductible minimum donation of $1,200 ($600 for a shared membership), $1,000 of which goes toward grants, and some donate additional funds. The more members, the more money is available to distribute. Applicants submitted their grant proposals in January. Over the winter, Impact100 Sonoma volunteer committees evaluated applications, made site visits, and selected the finalists. Those organizations presented their proposals to the full Impact100 membership at Vintage House on April 11, after which members voted online for grant recipients.

For the sixth consecutive year, Impact100 Sonoma awarded multiple Impetus Grants of up to $25,000 to selected nonprofits. This strategy of disbursing funds widely, as opposed to offering fewer large grants, was initiated during the pandemic and is planned to continue long term, based on feedback from the nonprofit community. The organization remains committed to trust-based philanthropy by funding more than programs. Its grants may be used for core-mission support, such as capital expenditures, capacity building, or specific budgetary needs.

In addition to receiving a second consecutive year of funding, the Encore Grant recipient has the option of selecting one woman from among its staff members, board members, or volunteers to receive a fully paid, two-year membership in Impact100 Sonoma. The membership may also be shared between two women, giving them both full member privileges, but with one grantmaking vote.

2026 Impetus Grant Recipients

• Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma Valley: $24,000 to launch a Family Therapy Program, rounding out its mental health resources.

• Catholic Charities of Northwest California: $25,000 to support critical participant services at the Sonoma Home & Safe Village.

• Friends in Sonoma Helping (FISH): $18,200 to fund shared office space in the Springs with Spanish-speaking staff to assist clients.

• Habitat for Humanity of Sonoma County: $25,000 to fund the Aging in Place Program, repairing homes of Sonoma Valley seniors.

• The HomeMore Project: $5,000 to fund 50 weatherproof Makeshift Traveler backpacks containing safety essentials for unhoused valley women.

• Kids Cooking for Life: $18,000 to fund a year-long cooking and nutrition education program at Sassarini and El Verano Elementary Schools, expanding into the special education program at Sonoma Valley High school.

• La Luz Center: $25,000 to support housing stabilization for low-income Latinos.

• Magnolia Project: $20,000 to fund the Career Explorations program at Creekside High School.

• Make It Home: $25,000 to fund the furnishing of 13 Sonoma Valley individual and family households moving from crisis into permanent housing with donated new and used goods.

• Music in Place*: $25,000 to sustain and expand youth music education and performance programs in Sonoma Valley.

• North Bay Children’s Center: $25,000 to fund improvements to the preschool outdoor play area at Sassarini Elementary School.

• Sonoma Family Meal: $25,000 to fund a Food Security Program Coordinator, enabling service expansion at Sonoma’s Unity Kitchen.

• Sonoma Valley Education Foundation: $25,000 to expand the algebra-readiness training program for middle-school math teachers helping students who are academically behind.

• Sonoma Valley Hospital: $25,000 to help upgrade the Stryker Operating Room Integration System.
  
• Vintage House: $25,000 to fund the Sonoma Valley Grief Support Initiative for older adults.

Unrestricted Partial Grant Recipient

• Square Peg Foundation: $4,800 to fund scholarships for the therapeutic Adaptive Horsemanship Program, which serves neurodiverse children, youth, and young adults.

Impact100 Sonoma’s Community Service Hub supports the volunteer needs of grant recipients past and present. The online resource is open to the public at impact100sonoma.org/CSH.

About Impact100 Sonoma: Women Giving As One

Founded in 2009 by Annette Lomont and Christine Dohrmann, Impact100 Sonoma is a women’s philanthropic organization that pools member funds to support nonprofits serving valley residents from Schellville to Kenwood. Its vision is to foster a just and thriving Sonoma Valley by empowering women to invest in a more sustainable nonprofit community through collective giving, responsible stewardship, and active engagement while emphasizing equity in its approach to grantmaking. The first Impact100 chapter in California, Impact100 Sonoma is an affiliate of Impact100 Global and the national Philanos network. Today it has more than 300 members and typically grants more than $300,000 annually. 

Main Photo Caption:

Accepting funds on behalf of the 2026 Impetus Grant recipients were: (from left) Yohki Ihejirika, Homeless Action Sonoma (partner of Catholic Charities of Northwest California); Emily Gassaway, Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma Valley; Jennielynn Holmes, Catholic Charities of Northwest California; Melissa Bingham, Music in Place; Whitney Reuling, Sonoma Family Meal; Becca Knopf, Square Peg Foundation; Susan Brennan, Make It Home; Keith Meyer, The HomeMore Project; Lori Mogan, North Bay Children’s Center; Rachel Jeffries, Habitat for Humanity of Sonoma County; Lara Rajninger, Kids Cooking for Life; Leslie Antonelli Peterson, Sonoma Valley Hospital Foundation; Sarah Carroll, Sonoma Valley Education Foundation; Thomas Haeuser, Friends in Sonoma Helping (FISH); Leonardo Lobato, La Luz Center; Gianna Biaggi, Magnolia Project; and David Seyms, Vintage House.

(Photos by Ann Iverson)