President’s Message: How We Determine the Number of Grants Each Year

October 10, 2025

During a recent conversation, member Jeannie Fraser, asked the question – In a year like this, when unused funds from a previously unfinished grant are added back into the grant pool, how does the board decide to award six $100,000 grants and four Support Grants, rather than staying with our usual five $100k High Impact Grants and simply increasing the amount of the Support Grants?

Since every teacher I ever had said that if one person has a question, others probably do, too– I thought it was a perfect opportunity to answer this great question here!

The short answer? The board doesn’t actually have to decide this each year. That’s because we have established by-laws and policies that guide this exact scenario.

Here’s how it works:

We have a Grant Fund Determination Deadline of June 30.
By-laws Article 9 (Section 9.6b), tells us “The number of available High Impact Grants for that Fiscal Year will then be determined by dividing the grant fund by 100,000, with the resulting whole number being the number of High Impact Grants, and the remaining funds being the “Support Grant Pool”.
Support Grants must be a minimum of $2,500, and no more than $20,000.
Policy 11, “Number of Grant Finalists and Grant Recipient Determination Policy”. This includes Schedule 1, a handy chart that maps out, for every grant pool size, the corresponding number of High Impact Grants, the number and dollar amount of Support Grants and the number of finalists. This chart goes all the way up to a grant pool of $999,000! (Wouldn’t that be incredible to reach someday!)

It is in reading these policies that I am reminded of the foresight and effort of the members who came before us. Their work has created a consistent framework to follow. Of course, as our organization evolves, some by-laws and policies have already been updated—and others will be, too. It is one of the many reasons a strong and forward-thinking board is so important for sustaining Impact San Antonio well into the future.

I’d love to hear any other burning questions you may have! Email me at ygrothues@impactsanantonio.org–I’d be happy to answer them in a future newsletter!