Impact 100: 2026 Nonprofit Slate

Community improvement organizations support and revitalize communities, especially those that are underserved. They can offer a wide range of community services that meet local needs, such as education, job training, healthcare, commercial development, and other social programs.  

Broad Community Connections  

Broad Community Connections (BCC) is a community economic development organization originally founded by community members to address immediate post-Katrina recovery needs. BCC works to ensure Broad Street and adjacent neighborhoods are an equitable, thriving corridor. In partnership with residents, businesses, and property owners, BCC has prioritized health equity, food access, anti-displacement, and equitable development to improve life expectancy and health outcomes for residents —including attracting $35 million in mission-driven real estate investments to build wealth, resilience, and community power.  

Potential Pitch: BCC would launch its community-owned real estate portfolio and move toward its first acquisition in 16 years.

https://www.broadcommunityconnections.org/

Bureau of Governmental Research 

Bureau of Governmental Research (BGR) strengthens local government, improving quality of life in our region through in-depth, nonpartisan policy research, government monitoring, civic engagement, and voter education. Through publishing and disseminating information on more than 70 public entities in accessible reports, BGR empowers citizens to understand and make informed choices related to complex programs and major public investments. BGR’s recent work includes helping to strengthen protections for the City’s reserves and advancing Sewerage & Water Board reforms.  

Potential Pitch: BGR would create the New Orleans Index of Progress, a series of interactive dashboards that track progress on key services and outcomes funded by tax dollars, bringing ongoing accountability and transparency to the public.

https://www.bgr.org/ 

Community Center of St. Bernard 

The Community Center of St. Bernard (CCSB) is a regional anchor organization, providing reliable food access and emergency resources to residents of St. Bernard, New Orleans East, and the Lower Ninth Ward, who are disproportionately impacted by economic instability and disaster. From a grocery-style Food Pantry that offers clients food and hygiene options with dignity and self-direction to quarterly health fairs that connect residents with necessary health resources, CCSB strives to uplift our community

Potential Pitch: CCSB would redesign its intake process, ensuring individual client needs are understood so community members are efficiently connected to additional resources, quickly building pathways from food assistance to holistic support.

https://www.ccofstb.com/

Grounds Krewe 

Grounds Krewe works to make New Orleans events, like Mardi Gras, more sustainable through waste prevention, recycling, and eco-conscious products. From providing recycling stations at New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival to actively collecting ground beads at parades to offering affordable eco-friendly parade throws sourced from local businesses, Grounds Krewe removes millions of pounds of unnecessary trash from our community’s streets, storm drains, and landfills. 

Potential Pitch: Grounds Krewe would expand its sustainable parade throw offerings by producing an eco–friendly iconic Mardi Gras bead from Louisiana-made, locally sourced, biodegradable sugarcane beads. 

https://www.groundskrewe.org/home

Everyone deserves a high-quality education and the opportunity to succeed. Creating lasting change in education is labor-intensive and requires the sustained efforts of many including parents, teachers, and administrators. Nonprofit organizations in the field of education address issues, such as literacy, school readiness, education reform, the achievement gap, in-school programming, research, training, policy, and research. 

College Beyond 

College Beyond (CB) supports 900 students annually from under-resourced backgrounds to successfully transition to and persist in college from high school graduation through sophomore year re-enrollment, when a majority of students drop out of the college pipeline. Building on proven national, research-based practices, CB provides ongoing trauma-informed coaching, academic and financial support, and socio-emotional care to help underrepresented and first-generation students succeed in their college journey.  

Potential Pitch: CB would expand its in-school partnerships with public high school counselors to empower under-resourced students’ exploration and selection of their best two- or four-year post-secondary fit, with workshops and coaching to build financial literacy, writing skills, and pursue scholarships. 

https://www.collegebeyond.org/

Community Works 

Community Works (CW) expands access to high-quality afterschool, summer, and in-school extended learning enrichment programs for young people across Greater New Orleans, increasing social-emotional skills and engaging families in their child’s education. Serving approximately 1,600 students, CW’s programming connects young people, including those with disabilities, to trained instructors in the arts, science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), wellness, literacy, and other educational opportunities.  

Potential Pitch: CW would expand its Entrepreneurship Works program, that introduces middle school students to entrepreneurship through hands-on learning and mentorship from a summer intensive to year-round program.

https://communityworksla.org/

Junior Achievement of Greater New Orleans 

Junior Achievement of Greater New Orleans (JA) works to connect young people, kindergarten to age 25, across Southeast Louisiana with the knowledge, confidence, and skills to succeed in the global economy. Through hands-on education in financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and career readiness in schools, JA brings opportunities for youth to explore their futures, pursue economic opportunity, and connect with local high-wage careers.  

Potential Pitch: New state laws that are currently unfunded require middle schoolers to receive career exploration curriculum. JA would update its dynamic career-connected learning for high schoolers and bring it into middle schools.  

http://www.jagno.org/

New Orleans Speech and Hearing Center 

New Orleans Speech and Hearing Center (NOSHC) works to identify and address the needs of children and adults who are affected by communication disorders affecting their speech, language, and hearing. With bilingual staff providing screenings, evaluations, and therapy services starting as early as 4 weeks old, NOSHC empowers residents to connect with others and be active participants in improving their lives.

Potential Pitch: NOSHC would expand its screening programs to more public schools, increasing early identification and crucial interventions for youth with developmental language disorders, connecting families with crucial health support funding, and smoothly connecting those who warrant assistance with evaluations and therapy.

https://www.noshc.org/

Nonprofits working to promote human rights empower individuals, communities, and institutions to promote the protection and enjoyment of rights for all by addressing structures or human actions within society that result in people being treated unfairly or unjustly. These organizations work to ensure that all people have equal access to wealth, health, well-being, justice, privileges, and opportunity regardless of their legal, political, economic, or other circumstances. 

Home is Here NOLA 

Home is Here NOLA (HiH) coordinates community-based systems of support for newly arrived immigrants and those impacted by immigration detention, deportation, and displacement in the Gulf South. HiH has connected hundreds of individuals to a network of more than 50 partner organizations, leverages the power of relationships to provide direct services, advocates for structural change, and builds community. HiH’s work creates safer, more affirming spaces for LGBTQIA+ migrants and provides free immigration legal services for over 1,000 vulnerable immigrants across Louisiana.  

Potential Pitch: As one of the state’s few free legal immigration service providers, HiH would expand attorney capacity to help hundreds of people navigate complex proceedings with dignity and support. 

http://www.homeisherenola.org/

Innocence & Justice Louisiana  

Innocence & Justice Louisiana (IJLA) works to free wrongfully convicted individuals and those serving unjust sentences by investigating their cases and representing them through their appeals processes. Concurrently, IJLA leads education and advocacy campaigns to combat legislation that uses punishment to deepen systemic inequities. IJLA shares its clients’ stories in court, the legislature, the community, and the media to expose the root causes of many unjust convictions and humanize the wrongfully incarcerated. 

Potential Pitch: IJLA would undertake renovations of its two buildings, modernizing the house it uses as a staff office and upgrading and adding community space in its short-term transitional home for its recently freed clients.  

https://justicelouisiana.org/

Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center 

Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center (LAFHAC) works statewide to promote greater access to safe, stable housing for all people and advocate for thriving, inclusive communities. Through legal and policy advocacy, research, and education, LAFHAC builds community power to challenge housing discrimination. Annually, LAFHAC keeps hundreds of people facing eviction in their homes and recently secured U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) settlements for five families who experienced housing discrimination. Additionally, LAFHAC plays a critical role in coalitions advocating against the criminalization of homelessness. 

Potential Pitch: LAFHAC would expand its capacity to lead robust public education workshops on fair housing rights across Louisiana, ensuring more families know their rights and stay in their homes.

https://lafairhousing.org/

The Ella Project 

The Ella Project (TEP) empowers New Orleans cultural creators to effectively manage their creative output and intellectual property through legal services, business development training, and advocacy at the local, state, and federal levels. With programming focused on serving artists, musicians, and grassroots nonprofits, TEP supports 250+ creative clients annually with pro-bono career development services including copyright, trademark, patent, licensing, contract creation and review, LLC and nonprofit incorporation, and estate planning. 

Potential Pitch: TEP would expand its one-on-one work with elderly musicians to protect copyright, royalties, and estates to ensure cultural preservation and economic justice. 

https://ellanola.org/

Women and girls have unique needs that require strategic and culturally specific attention. Nonprofits that work with women and girls focus on addressing their developmental needs and gender-specific challenges by using strategies that empower them to become thriving members of our region.

Dress for Success New Orleans

Dress for Success New Orleans (DSNO) supports women in achieving professional and personal goals with workforce readiness programming and career development tools, and by providing professional attire. Beyond coaching women to select outfits that work best for their individual career goals, DSNO builds women’s successful futures with personalized support and mentoring to increase confidence, a peer– networking community, and supportive services to thrive in work and in life. 

Potential Pitch: DSNO will purchase an electric van to launch ”Success on the Move,” providing mobile programming with professional attire, career coaching, workforce development, and employment resources across the region.

https://neworleans.dressforsuccess.org/

Junior League of New Orleans 

Junior League of New Orleans (JLNO) advances women’s leadership through meaningful community impact. JLNO’s Diaper Bank distributes over 1 million free diapers, period products, and adult incontinence supplies annually across Southeast Louisiana. Through an interconnected grid of 27 community distribution partners and two library systems, JLNO combats Diaper Need and Period Poverty’s negative impacts on women’s lives. Dignified and reliable access to hygienic supplies improves women’s mental health while removing workforce, school attendance, and childcare challenges. 

Potential Pitch: JLNO would digitize warehouse operations and inventory, dynamically matching incoming physical donations of diapers and women’s hygiene products with regional nonprofit agency demand to advance equity and basic health access across New Orleans.

http://www.jlno.org/

Luke’s House Clinic  

Luke’s provides free bilingual medical care, gynecological services, vision exams and glasses, mental health counseling, prescriptions, and asylum case medical evaluations. Annually, Luke’s serves 700+ patients, trains nearly 100 medical students across New Orleans academic institutions, and mobilizes 30+ volunteer doctors to both teach and provide care at their twice weekly evening clinics. Luke’s recently launched telehealth and in-home care programs and expanded access to free contraception and breast and cervical cancer screenings. 

Potential Pitch: Luke’s will increase availability of Pap tests, women’s and children’s wellness appointments, and vaccinations to every clinic night.

https://www.lukeshouseclinic.org/

Saul’s Light Foundation 

Saul’s Light Foundation works to improve Louisiana’s dire perinatal outcomes at both the personal and systems levels. From providing peer and direct support services for families navigating the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), including direct monetary assistance, to training NICU staff and providers, to advocating for better health and insurance policies at the legislature, Saul’s Light Foundation provides crucial services for unimaginable circumstances, including navigating infant loss. 

Potential Pitch: Saul’s Light Foundation would expand programming, including its NICU Family Fund, which helps families cover the non-medical costs incurred during a NICU stay including transportation, food, and lodging. 

http://www.saulslight.org/