Teri A Hansen is president and CEO of Gulf Coast Community Foundation. On July 1, she will become the president and CEO of the Charles and Margery Barancik Foundation.

My shoes are off, and my staff is (begrudgingly) listening to my choice of music on our office sound system, accompanied by my half-humming, half-singing along. My daughter, Crystal, could attest to the likelihood that those half-sung lyrics are all wrong, too, since I can never seem to remember song lyrics or who wrote them.

Please don’t get the wrong idea. I haven’t “checked out” or stopped taking my job seriously. Quite the opposite. Bare feet under my desk and upbeat music from the overhead speakers are rare vices that my staff will call me out on, telltale signs I am trying to avoid something especially unpleasant. Writing my final guest column as president and CEO of Gulf Coast Community Foundation is definitely one of those things.

A week and a half from now, I will transition to a new role at the Charles and Margery Barancik Foundation. It’s a change, after 13 amazing years at Gulf Coast, that even I didn’t imagine until two days before I made it official that I was leaving. But while I leave the employ of this foundation, I remain a permanent part of the Gulf Coast family. Indeed, as Gulf Coast donors both now and in our estate plans, my husband and I are forever members.

In trying to write this column, it feels obligatory to note Gulf Coast’s “significant achievements” over the past many years. But it also feels fraught; our donors and nonprofit partners have done so much to transform this region, I’d surely leave out more than I could include. Plus, it risks compromising Gulf Coast’s forward focus: We have always honored the accomplishments of the past by striving to build upon them for the future. 

Suffice it to say, in my time at Gulf Coast, I have seen systems changed, lives transformed, donors fulfilled, and legacies eternalized. As you read this, we are poised to surpass $200 million in grants made since the foundation’s inception. My parting message, then, is simple: Thank you! 

Thank you to the donors who call Gulf Coast their philanthropic home (like Steve and I do); to the nonprofits and other community organizations we work with every single day; and to the legal and financial advisors who care enough about their clients and their community to help structure charitable gifts that will benefit both. It is only thanks to partners like these that Gulf Coast’s bold aspirations for our community become real. 

These partnerships won’t change, either, except in that they’ll grow. The Gulf Coast staff and Board of Directors are stronger than ever. They will continue using data and knowledge to make smart community investments, engaging the right groups to bring big ideas to life, and leveraging charitable resources to help donors accomplish so much more than they could alone. In a small example of that seamless trajectory, you will see future columns here from other members of my beloved Gulf Coast staff, whose knowledge and work were typically the source for my musings anyway.

The partnership between Gulf Coast and my new employer will grow too. You see, even as I help a family whom I admire deeply create their own legacy through a foundation in this community, I will never forget Gulf Coast’s unique role, and exceptional responsibility, as the foundation of community.

A few years ago, the Gulf Coast Board articulated what that charge means in action. Our job, we said, is to leave people feeling different than they felt when they arrived; to leave them reminded that all they ever wanted to do was make a difference, and knowing that this is a place that galvanizes people into doing just that.

Whatever has brought you to Gulf Coast Community Foundation—or will bring you here in the future—I hope the experience leaves you feeling different. I know it has for me.

Teri A Hansen is president and CEO of Gulf Coast Community Foundation. On July 1, she will become the president and CEO of the Charles and Margery Barancik Foundation.