Impact Austin and Girls Giving Grants Award $308,000 in Unrestricted Funding

Impact Austin
2 hours ago
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Since 2004, Grantmaking Includes $9.45 Million to 108 Central Texas Nonprofits

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

AUSTIN, Texas – June 9, 2026 – The 307 women of Impact Austin and 63 members of Girls Giving Grants (g3) are awarding seven new grants totaling $308,000. Impact Austin announced the awards during the organization’s Annual Meeting on June 8. Members voted on specific allocations for Community, Education, and Health & Well-Being Grants arising from 149 applications. The Girls Giving Grants Award to the Children's Advocacy Center Serving Bastrop, Lee and Fayette Counties was announced in April and celebrated again at the Annual Meeting.

2026 Community Partners include Casa Marianella, the Refugee Collective, Economic Growth Business Incubator, Seedling, Capital Area Counseling, and Trinity Center Austin. These organizations are among 108 nonprofits that have benefited from 140 Impact Austin grants totaling $9.45 million since 2004.

Impact Austin’s Community, Education, and Health & Well-Being Grants are unrestricted for the second year as the organization advances toward trust-based philanthropy.

Board President Claudia Barlow amplified Impact Austin's approach: "Across central Texas, the need for community services is growing while government services and public funding for nonprofits are simultaneously shrinking. Local nonprofits are being asked to do more with less. Impact Austin builds genuine partnerships with our grant recipients. The clearest expression of that partnership is making our grants unrestricted. We trust our nonprofit partners to know their clients and their communities far better than we do, so we give them the power to direct funding where it's needed most. In this environment, that flexibility is essential."

Regarding the 2026 awards, Barlow added, "Our grants will reach community members who need support most: neighbors experiencing homelessness, refugees building new lives here, entrepreneurs seeking economic mobility, people seeking affordable mental health support, and children with an incarcerated parent. These aren't just services — they're interventions with the potential to permanently change the trajectories of individuals and families in our community.

Congratulations to Impact Austin’s and g3’s 2026 Community Partners.

Casa Marianella

$80,000 Community Grant (unrestricted)

Founded in 1986, Casa Marianella is the only homeless shelter in Austin dedicated to immigrants. Casa operates four housing programs and provides free immigration legal services, an onsite benefits clinic, and ESL classes. Their comprehensive support system helps newly-arrived immigrants move with dignity from crisis into self-sufficiency permanent housing. Casa serves an average of 325 immigrants and asylum seekers each year.

The Impact Austin grant is unrestricted and awarded with a trust-based approach. Casa Marianella proposes directing funds to (1) fulfill increased demand for immigration legal services and (2) offset City of Austin funding losses.

the Refugee Collective

$20,000 Community Grant (unrestricted)

Founded in 2009 as a volunteer-run community center for Austin refugees, the Refugee Collective operates two fair-wage social enterprises: a textile studio and a 20-acre certified organic regenerative farm in Elgin. The studio fulfills commercial contracts for products and creates its own line of naturally dyed organic cotton home goods accessories. The organic farm sells produce to local restaurants and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) subscribers. Since 2015, 87 refugees, most of whom are women, have been employed. A total of $2.8 million has been paid in wages, 75,000+ lbs. of culturally relevant produce have been delivered to 900+households, and $165,000 has been paid to 35 refugee farmers in the Community Farmer Program.

The Impact Austin grant is unrestricted and awarded with a trust-based approach to support the mission and programs of the Refugee Collective.

Seedling

$80,000 Education Grant (unrestricted)

Launched in 2005, Seedling’s mission is to mitigate the impact of parental incarceration on children in Central Texas through individual, school-based mentoring. Since 2005, Seedling has served 3,300+ students across 130 Central Texas schools. A 2024–2025 independent program evaluation found that 85% of mentees achieved three or more key program outcomes, including improved school engagement, reduced disciplinary incidents, and increased school attendance.

The Impact Austin grant is unrestricted and awarded with a trust-based approach. Seedling proposes to serve 500+ students during the 2026-2027 school year with strengthened outreach, recruitment, and school partnership-building efforts in outlying districts and communities.

Economic Growth Business Incubator (EGBI)

$20,000 Education Grant (unrestricted)

Economic Growth Business Incubator (EGBI) was founded in 2004 to address the growing digital and business education gap facing Hispanic communities. EGBI helps aspiring and current business owners start, stabilize, and grow small businesses as a pathway to long-term economic mobility, ultimately strengthening families and communities. Since 2014, EGBI has served 4,300+ business owners, the majority of whom are women and low-income individuals.

The Impact Austin grant is unrestricted and awarded with a trust-based approach to support the mission and programs of EGBI.

Trinity Center

$80,000 Health & Well-Being Grant (unrestricted)

Trinity Center was founded in 1999 to offer comprehensive services to downtown Austin’s unhoused and low-income individuals, providing support that helps resolve homelessness. As the only day center operating multiple days per week in an indoor space, Trinity Center collaborates with 20+ partner agencies to connect individuals to critical resources. In 2025, more than 36,000 individuals accessed services at Trinity Center, including 1,000 who secured critical identification documents necessary to secure employment, healthcare, and public services.

The Impact Austin grant is unrestricted and awarded with a trust-based approach. Trinity Center proposes to expand access to their Summer Cooling Center initiative while continuing to offer core services of nutritious breakfasts, showers, clothing, ID assistance, transportation support, prescription health, and connections to healthcare and behavioral health providers.

Capital Area Counseling

$20,000 Health & Well-Being Grant (unrestricted)

Since 1980. Capital Area Counseling (CAC) has made available affordable, accessible, and high-quality mental health services to all Central Texans while serving as a premier training ground for emerging therapists. CAC eliminates barriers of location and transportation challenges by offering both in-person and telehealth therapy sessions in English and Spanish. CAC employs 16 clinical supervisors, with capacity to grow, and oversees 85 student counselors each year.

The Impact Austin grant is unrestricted and awarded with a trust-based approach to support the mission and programs of Capital Area Counseling.

The Chilren's Advocacy Center - Serving Bastrop, Lee and Fayette Counties

$8,000 Girls Giving Grants Award (unrestricted)

The Children’s Advocacy Center – Serving Bastrop, Lee and Fayette Counties is a safe, child-friendly organization where child abuse victims can receive comprehensive services, including forensic interviews, medical exams, therapeutic counseling, and victim advocacy services. For 30 years, the goal of the Children's Advocacy Center (CAC) had been to minimize the trauma experienced by the victims they serve by providing them with a supportive environment and ensuring that all their needs are met in a coordinated and efficient manner.

Join Impact Austin!

Impact Austin welcomes new members year-round and identifying as a woman is the only requirement. We offer an accessible path to membership with three annual giving levels: $2,500, $1,250, or $625. We encourage each new and renewing member to choose the level that best aligns with her financial capacity and philanthropic goals — and to consider: How much impact do you wish to make? Members can get involved by voting on grants, joining a committee, participating in the review process, attending social events, learning philanthropy education and more. For more information, visit https://www.impactaustin.org/membership.

About Impact Austin

Founded in 2003, Impact Austin is a women’s collective giving organization funding nonprofits in Central Texas that provide services in Bastrop, Hays, Travis and Williamson counties. Impact Austin’s mission states, “Through the power of informed women’s collective giving, Impact Austin provides transformative grants to Central Texas nonprofit organizations that strengthen our community and improve lives.” Girls Giving Grants (g3), Impact Austin’s youth initiative, creates learning and leadership opportunities for girls in grades 8-12. In 22 years, 3,112 local women philanthropists from Impact Austin and g3 have given $9.45 million to nonprofit organizations and collaboratives in Central Texas, including 140 grants serving 108 organizations. For more information, visit www.impactaustin.org.