Gulf Coast Approves $5.8 Million in Grants

Gulf Coast Community Foundation’s Board of Directors approved over $5.8 million in grants and scholarships last week. The funding, which was approved at the final Board meeting of the foundation’s 2018 fiscal year, included over $3.8 million in grants from donor advised funds, as well as $508,000 in scholarship awards.

“Between the endowed funds over which our Board has discretion and the hundreds of donor-directed funds we administer in partnership with generous philanthropists, Gulf Coast Community Foundation has invested over $35 million into the community over the past year,” noted Dr. Mark S. Pritchett, President|CEO of Gulf Coast Community Foundation. “That demonstrates the true power and purpose of a community foundation.”

Among grants approved by the Gulf Coast Board in June were five Leveraged Grants totaling $289,500. Gulf Coast’s Leveraged Grants fund collaborative work that will address specific regional priorities identified by the foundation through periodic community assessments. These grants included:

$100,000 to support Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation’s First 1,000 Days Sarasota County initiative. The funding will help establish a Patient Navigator Program at Sarasota Memorial Hospital and support outreach and education to help vulnerable mothers and families access prenatal, newborn, and early childhood development care. 

$27,500 to the Gulf Coast Partnership, the lead agency addressing homelessness in Charlotte County, to implement a coordinated entry system into housing and services for female veterans and chronically homeless women and their children.

$40,000 to United Way of Charlotte County to support the new position of collective impact manager, who will oversee collaborative initiatives that serve vulnerable women, specifically mothers of substance-exposed children, women who are underemployed and experiencing health challenges, and homeless women.

$97,000 to Ringling College of Art and Design and Sarasota County Schools to support the design and pilot testing of innovative classrooms for intensive language arts education for struggling students in Sarasota County high schools. The funding comprises $60,000 to Ringling College for classroom design and $37,000 to the school district for professional development and support for teachers.

$25,000 to Van Wezel Foundation to support the planning phases of the organization’s capital campaign to create a world-class performing arts center.

Gulf Coast also awarded over $139,000 in Community and Sponsorship Grants, which are smaller grants to fund programs, projects, and fundraising activities at regional nonprofit organizations. These included a $20,000 grant to The SKY Family YMCA in Venice, which will sustain scholarships for low-income families to participate in a variety of children’s programs at the Y, such as early learning, childcare, summer feeding, and youth sports.

For a full list of grants approved by the Gulf Coast Board at its June meeting, go here.