Local charitable organizations hoping for an opportunity to put their work in front of more than 100 potential supporters have until Sept. 14 to make their case.
Power of 100 Hastings Women has opened its charity submission period for the group’s Fall 2026 Impact Meeting, scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 29, at the Hastings Golf Course & Event Center. Applications are being accepted from qualifying charitable organizations serving Hastings and its residents, with three organizations ultimately selected to make presentations at the fall meeting.
“We'd love to hear from our local charities doing good in our community and beyond,” the Power of 100 Hastings Women Core Team said in an email announcing the application period. “Now is the time to submit your applications to be considered as a presenter for our October event!”
The submission deadline is Monday, Sept. 14, giving organizations several weeks to assemble not only an application, but financial and organizational information used during the Power of 100 review process.
The process begins with a completed charity submission form. Organizations must also provide a recent annual report, budgets for both the current and previous year, current-year income and expense information and verification of their nonprofit status.
Organizations are generally expected to have IRS 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(19) status. Programs or collaborative initiatives that operate under another registered charitable organization may also be considered through a fiscal agent or sponsor.
For those organizations, budgets and income and expense reports can be specific to the program seeking the award. The annual report and nonprofit verification, however, must be provided for the fiscal sponsor if the program does not have its own nonprofit status. Power of 100 Hastings Women may also request additional information to verify the fiscal agent’s responsibility and good standing.
The organization’s eligibility guidelines place an emphasis on local benefit. A nonprofit must demonstrate that it serves the Hastings community and its residents. National charities, organizations and programs are generally not considered, although a local branch of a national organization can qualify if the Impact Award money remains in the Hastings community.
Organizations operating through a fiscal agent are also expected to have at least two years of financial operations available to demonstrate fiscal responsibility.
Once applications are received, the decision about who gets to present is not made through an informal discussion around a table.
Members of the Power of 100 Core Team review applications for completeness and validity, then individually evaluate them using a confidential scoring rubric. Applications are reviewed and scored separately by Core Team members rather than being debated as a group. Those individual scores are combined, and the three organizations receiving the highest cumulative scores advance to the fall event.
“Each submission goes through a thorough review, evaluating community impact, fiscal responsibility, and overall alignment with our mission,” the Core Team said. “After careful consideration, the top three scoring charities will be invited to present at the October event.”
That makes the written application an important first step. The group encourages applicants to explain their organization’s history, mission, values and vision, along with what the organization does and why that work is important to Hastings.
Applicants are also encouraged to be specific about the impact they are making locally and about how Impact Award money would be used.
The group recommends that organizations review their websites and social media pages as they prepare an application. Members are encouraged to learn about the three organizations selected to present before arriving at the meeting, making updated public information another way for a charity to tell its story.
For the three organizations that make it through the application process, the next challenge will be doing all of that storytelling in a fairly tight window.
Each finalist receives seven minutes at the Impact Meeting to explain its mission, vision and impact in the community. Members then have three minutes to ask questions of the organization.
The applications themselves are not distributed to the general membership, meaning the finalists must rely on their presentations to clearly communicate their work and make their case.
After all three presentations and question periods are complete, Power of 100 members vote by paper ballot. The organization receiving the majority of the votes earns the Impact Award.
The Power of 100 model is built around a straightforward idea. Members commit to donating $100 at each of two meetings held annually, one in April and one in October. Those individual contributions are combined into an Impact Award of at least $10,000 for the organization selected by the membership.
Members write their checks directly to the winning nonprofit, so the donation money does not pass through Power of 100 Hastings Women. Members who choose to give more may do so, and the two organizations that do not win the Impact Award can also receive additional donations from members.
The group demonstrated the potential of that collective approach from its beginning. At its inaugural event on Oct. 8, 2019, Power of 100 Hastings Women raised more than $20,000.
Winning the Impact Award does temporarily take an organization out of the running for another award. A charity receiving the Impact Award must wait three full calendar years before applying again.
Organizations selected as one of the three presenters but not receiving the Impact Award have a shorter waiting period. They must wait one full calendar year from their presentation date before reapplying.
Organizations that apply but are not selected as one of the three presenters can try again at a future meeting. Although Power of 100 keeps information from previous submissions on file, organizations are asked to complete a new application for the next event.
The Core Team also limits how frequently the same nonprofit may be selected to present, including preventing an organization from presenting at two consecutive meetings.
For groups that do not make the final three this fall, the Core Team stressed that an unsuccessful application should not be viewed as a judgment on the value of their work.
“If your charity isn’t selected this time, please know that we deeply value the incredible work being done in our community and encourage you to continue submitting future applications,” the Core Team said.
The Fall 2026 Impact Meeting is scheduled from 5:45 to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 29 at the Hastings Golf Course & Event Center. A social hour precedes the program, which begins at 7 p.m. The meeting is for committed Power of 100 Hastings Women members rather than the general public.
For local nonprofit organizations, however, the important date comes considerably sooner.
Applications and required supporting documents for consideration at the October meeting are due Sept. 14.
“We can’t wait to come together this fall to make a lasting impact,” the Core Team said. “Thank you for all you do to make our community a better place to thrive!”
To apply, visit https://powerof100hastings.com/