Naples, FL (PRWEB) April 10, 2015
The Community Foundation of Collier County President/CEO, Eileen Connolly-Keesler, has announced that $2,406,069 million in grants was distributed by the Foundation to 209 organizations for the period from January 1 through March 31, 2015. That figure is nearly double the grant dollars awarded in the third quarter of the previous fiscal year. Grants awarded for the first three quarters of the Foundation’s fiscal year - from July 1, 2014 through March 31, 2015 - totalled $6,143,448.
“These dollars fuel programs that meet local challenges and improve the quality of life in our region. We track the vital signs and we know how pressing the needs are in terms of homelessness, hunger, healthcare, the arts, the environment and issues facing women and girls in Collier County”, explains Connolly-Keesler.
Approximately $2,254,945 of the third-quarter grant total came from the Community Foundation’s Donor Advised funds. Donor Advised funds are a tool that allows donors to participate in the funding process by suggesting grant recipients. The number of Donor Advised funds at the Foundation has increased by 15 percent since the beginning of the fiscal year. Fifty-two percent of this donor advised grant total ($1,160,880) was directed locally to Collier County agencies, including NCH Healthcare System, Naples Community Church and the Conservancy of SWFL.
Grants from Unrestricted funds totalled $151,124. Donors who do not have a particular charitable field of interest and do not want to be involved in the details of grantmaking create Unrestricted funds. Eighty-five local organizations applied to the Foundation for 35 available grants in the area of Human Services, Women & Girls and Organizational Development. These grants are vetted and recommended by the Foundation’s volunteer grant committees and awarded to organizations that address the most current needs as outlined in the Foundation’s Vital Signs report. Grants from Unrestricted funds are competitive and require the agency to complete a profile in the Foundation’s NONPROFIT DIRECTORY and also submit an application online.
In the Vital Signs area of Human Services, the largest grants were awarded to the Salvation Army, Collier Harvest and Harry Chapin Food Bank. Organizational Development grants were provided to Leadership Collier to fund a public opinion survey for their Collier County Advancement Initiative. The Women’s Initiative Network grantmaking totaled $54,000 to seven Collier County nonprofit agencies working to solve problems facing at-risk women and girls. Recipients were Jewish Family & Community Services of Southwest Florida (JFCS); Legal Aid Service of Collier County; The Shelter for Abused Women & Children; Boys & Girls Club of Collier County; Regional Resource Center on Human Trafficking; NCH Foundation; and, Our Mothers Home of Southwest Florida.
About the Community Foundation of Collier County - The Community Foundation of Collier County is a tax-exempt, public, charitable fund, established in 1985 to increase and focus private philanthropy in the area. Today, the Community Foundation of Collier County manages more than 510 funds, collaborates with more than 400 nonprofits, holds nearly $100 million in assets - a fifty-three percent increase in just 18 months - and has distributed more than $79 million in grants to nonprofit organizations and community programs. It is one of Florida’s fastest growing community foundations.