It’s easy to think charitable giving is just for billionaires. After all, we study and work in buildings named after rich philanthropists, peek at the sponsor lists at our favorite...
2018 Tribe Stories: Valerie’s House With help from SWFCF grant, Valerie’s House will begin a program specifically targeted at children and their caregivers whose family member has died from opioids abuse. Check...
How Yuzellie Turned a Dark Experience into a Drive for The Future By Dayhanna Acosta, Southwest Florida Women’s Foundation Two years ago, Yuzellie Garcia decided to return to school to become the...
The Matched Savings for Education Program (MSEP) helps low-to moderate income students achieve their college graduation goals and do so with little or no debt. MSEP works by combining student...
by Sr. Maureen Kelleher, Esq., Immigration Law Staff Attorney with Legal Aid Service of Collier County and facilitator of the ‘Legal Rescue and Empowerment Initiative’ Many thousands of immigrants and their...
I work alongside a team member who likes to ask “there are no bad ideas, right?” before she launches into an idea generating session at the office. I find myself...
We just passed the longest day of the year last week and our team and the recipients of our grants are energized by the summer solstice as evidenced in their...
2018 Tribe Stories: Legal Rescue and Empowerment Project. The Immigration Legal Rescue and Empowerment initiative will provide legal services to at-risk immigrant families through an initiative delivered by an experienced...
By Sonya McCarter, Community Engagement Coordinator, Alliance for the Arts Four years ago, as an actress, my search for plays featuring compelling and interesting African-American characters in Ft. Myers came up...
2018 Tribe Stories: The Alliance for The Arts. The Alliance for the Arts project will spearhead conversations on equity and access to the arts in African-American communities, beginning with Dunbar....
by Jack Ham, Principal, The Academy, Port Charlotte, Fla. Another school year has come to a close, and The Academy has even more reason to celebrate than usual. Given the school's...
2018 Tribe Stories: Gulf Coast Partnership. The goal of this project is to provide basic support, student enrichment, and increase parent/family engagement at The Academy high school in Port...
Preventing Dog Bites in Elementary Aged Children in Lee County By Nicole Ferguson-Morrison, DVM, MS, MPH, MRCVS Veterinarian, Lee County Domestic Animal Services Dog bites are a frightening experience for anyone, especially children....
20-year-old graduate of Evangelical Christian School and a junior at Florida State University, was killed two years ago in a car accident Four local nonprofits, a church mission trip and a high school senior were this year’s recipients of funds from the...
2018 Tribe Stories: Lee County Domestic Animal Services Rabies Vaccination. The "Learn what’s right, avoid the bite" campaign is a bite and scratch prevention program for the community in conjunction...
Scholars, veterans, entrepreneurs and philanthropists have been hard at work in the region these past few months creating exciting progress in the areas of scholarship funding, and designing pitches for...
The sights and sounds of commencements are all around us this time of year. I remember my own graduations and the sense that the whole world had stopped and noted...
Every year our tribe of grantees make the journey to the Center for Public Interest Communications at the University of Florida. While on retreat, the tribe members work on strategies...
135 scholarships awarded through 91 scholarships funds for high school seniors and undergraduate and graduate students The Southwest Florida Community Foundation recently granted $761,650 and 135 scholarships through a competitive process...
Several of the 111 volunteer scholarship reviewers for the Southwest Florida Community Foundation's 2018 scholarship season joined the Foundation team for the Scholarship Reviewer Thank You Reception on May 3...
I have never eaten a soufflé. In the scheme of things, it is not a big deal but recently I saw the offering on a menu and began to consider...
The Southwest Florida Community Foundation will bring nationally renowned author and TED talk speaker Dan Pallotta to town on Saturday, November 3 for a one-day Board training seminar for nonprofit...
Last week I ran into now former Fort Myers city councilman, Mike Flanders in a downtown coffee shop. I flagged him down on his way out the door to introduce...
I found out last week that I am not the only one with a storied past. If you are a regular reader of this column you know that I share...
Rosa was just 19 years old when she left Guatemala to start a new life in America. She has lived here since the early '90s, began working for a local...
Can you imagine standing up on stage in front of a large rowdy crowd and reading excerpts from your childhood diary? It seems unimaginable to me, but last weekend I...
I decided to work from home today, so I am not wearing my business attire and am writing this from my comfortable couch with a very different view out the...
When I was in elementary school report cards were handwritten and grades were recorded in blue or black ink. I remember this because of a few bad decisions I made in...
The Bonita Springs Community Fund, a fund of the Southwest Florida Community Foundation, presented two $20,000 checks to the United Way to provide support to Habitat for Humanity and the...
More than 80 Women’s Legacy Fund contributors and Prima Donors recently attended the Southwest Florida Community Foundation Fund’s spring luncheon. The luncheon was exclusively for WLF contributors and Prima Donors....
by the Team of the Southwest Florida Community Foundation What on earth do you plan to do in honor of Earth Day this week? While the official Earth Day is April...
I have been a life long environmentalist. As boy, I sailed with my family all along the East Coast from New York to Maine. As a young adult, I took...
As we countdown to Earth Day, our foundation team is all about finding little ways that each of us can help save the planet. We have each made a pledge...
No doubt many of you are recovering from the recent Easter egg hunting season. Spring is in the air and for weeks leading up to the Easter Bunny’s annual pilgrimage...
Women have made progress over the past several decades; there are, however, significant areas for improvement for women in Florida.Since the publication of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research’s 2004...
The Jessie Ball duPont Fund has invested $3 million in a Jacksonville nonprofit that promotes affordable housing, community facilities and small business development in Jacksonville’s urban core and surrounding areas....
When I was a kid, I fell in love with the band REM. It was the album Out of Time that changed the way I thought about music and made...
Plastics. This one word is actually ranked number 63 in the American Film Institute’s list of the top 100 movie quotations in American Cinema. It appears in the 1967 movie...
This column was not written on Saturday, March 24, 2018 between 3:30-4:30 pm or 8:30-9:30pm. The reason I am certain about the timing is my observation of Earth Hour 2018. Every year...
The Southwest Florida Community Foundation has launched an Earth Day campaign to raise awareness and funds for the environment in Southwest Florida. The “Earth Day the SWFL Way” campaign is meant...
Ardent community supporters Richard and Vicki Pitbladdo recently collaborated with the Southwest Florida Community Foundation to establish a virtual $1 million endowment. “This virtual endowment fund is reflective of the new...
Springtime. The season when days get longer and temps start to climb. But Spring isn’t the only thing heating up the Southwest Florida landscape. There’s a new type of heat...
When I walked into a Makerspace for the first time, I curled up on a well-worn sofa, surrounded by workspaces that were flanked by shelves and bins filled with tools...
Recently I was enjoying a cup of coffee with a new acquaintance who had reached out to learn more giving and philanthropy in Southwest Florida. When he asked me about myself...
HOME IS WHERE YOUR COMMUNITY IS…. Miami, Mexico City, Washington DC, Michigan, Immokalee, Fort Myers, Naples, LaBelle……. As you will see in Cause & Effect this month, members of my team and...
Sometimes I feel like I am living in a commercial for Southwest Florida complete with soundbites, video clips, campaign themes and headlines. I see it all around me as I...
As I stood in the massive ticketing lobby of the Mexico City International Airport I was swept up in a wave of unfamiliarity. I felt disoriented and it took a...
As expected this time of year the line to valet at the Naples resort seemed to stretch out endlessly. Experienced Southwest Floridian’s have grown to expect this during season and...
This is the fifth annual Southwest Florida workforce overview study providing key information about industries, occupations, employment gaps, and projected job growth. The study is divided into three major sections:...
Wandering into the Chapultepec Forest seemed a bit mysterious. As I stood at the gates leading into one of the largest parks in the Western Hemisphere, I didn’t have a plan. I...
