Impact100 is an initiative set up by the Wakatipu Community Foundation on the premise that 100 philanthropic women would give $1000 a year, which would then be awarded to a community organisation.
This year is its second year and 173 women were involved.
Pivotal Point Charitable Trust chief executive Lisa Leftley said the trust would use the grant to help neurodiverse children and children with learning disabilities by offering a professional development programme to schools and offering additional support through a comprehensive screening programme.
"This is a game-changer for our trust’s ability to implement our plan of support for our local neurodiverse learners.
"This grant will enable us to change the lives of many children within the Wakatipu Basin."
The grants were announced at an awards dinner after speeches from each of the five finalists, which included Central Lakes Family Services, the Kiwi Kit Community Trust and Volunteer South partnership, the Routeburn Dart Wildlife Trust and the Southern Wellbeing Trust, were given and the attendees had voted for which they thought most deserving.
A second grant of $85,000 was awarded to the Routeburn Dart Wildlife Trust to establish a technology-based trapping programme for feral cats in the Dart-Rees delta.
A further $15,000 was split among the remaining finalists.
The next call for applications from organisations will be in June next year, and the opportunity for women to join Impact100 closes on May 31.
