The Community Foundation of Sarasota County Celebrates 45 Years

November 2024

The Community Foundation of Sarasota County celebrates 45 years of enhancing well-being for all who call this area home. Since its founding in 1979 by the Southwest Florida Estate Planning Council, the Community Foundation has invested more than $500 million in grants and scholarships to people and causes in Charlotte, DeSoto, Manatee and Sarasota counties.

Our Philosophy2 Gen Approach The 2Gen, or two-generational, approach empowers families of all shapes and sizes toward social mobility through focusing on children and the adults in their lives simultaneously and intentionally. While many public and nonprofit organizations focus on either children or adults, 2Gen synthesizes these supports to help families create economic security and mobility.

These efforts include providing scholarships to both traditional students seeking post-secondary education and adults returning to school to earn credentials, working with nonprofit organizations to support their work in supporting children and families, and reducing barriers to prosperity.

Key Initiatives:

Season of Sharing For 25 years, Season of Sharing has helped thousands of people in our region avert cascading crises by providing immediate financial assistance for essential living expenses. This time-tested and trusted community safety net has provided a lifeline for families facing economic peril, whether triggered by a personal emergency like a hospital stay, or by a community-wide disaster, like the recent spate of storms that has placed many in our community at the economic edge.

Since its inception in 2000, Season of Sharing has raised and distributed more than $42.5 million to more than 50,000 individuals and families, helping them regain stability with dignity.

Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund

In a region that is vulnerable to hurricanes and the secondary perils they bring—flash floods, storm surge, and tornadoes—a thoughtful, long-term recovery fund is key to making our communities whole again. Created as a response to the catastrophe unleashed by Hurricane Ian in 2022, the Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund prioritizes the important work of restoring our community once immediate relief efforts have concluded. With a focus on equitable recovery, funding priorities include supporting programs that serve youth and vulnerable people in our communities, legal aid for recovering losses, and critical repairs to underinsured properties.

The Giving Challenge In the spirit of communitywide philanthropy, the Giving Challenge is a 24-hour online giving event that brings together more than 700 local nonprofits with passionate donors and community members to support the causes they care about while creating transformative impact.

Over nine Giving Challenges since 2012, the community has raised more than $92 in unrestricted funding to local nonprofit organizations that serve our region.

Resources to Inform Charitable Giving and Community Impact

Community Indicators Dashboard & The Giving Partner

A community is best served when there is accurate and unbiased data about its bright spots and where opportunities for improvement exist. The Community Indicators Dashboard is a free, reliably sourced database of indicators of community well-being, including education, the economy, health, and housing. Insights from the dashboard help organizations make impact goals and allow donors to make strategic philanthropic decisions. The Giving Partner is a searchable database of nearly 800 local nonprofit organizations that offers transparency through profiles that include organizations’ missions, leadership and board, financials, and operations. An updated profile in The Giving Partner helps nonprofits earn trust in the community and assists informed charitable giving.