Building a Community with Bricks and Beliefs

Guest Correspondence

When nonprofits are more effective and efficient, donor dollars work harder. That’s why we’re proud at the Community Foundation of Sarasota County that our support of local nonprofits goes deeper than the millions in grants we award.

In 2000, the Community Foundation of Sarasota County’s long-time board member and donor Leila Gompertz had a vision the Community Foundation could solidify itself as a permanent, charitable force in the region in every sense. At the time, the Foundation was operating out of office spaces in downtown Sarasota, but Leila wanted to create a space that nonprofits, government organizations and community leaders could all convene to collaborate, learn from each other and enhance the impact they were making in the community.

Leila generously donated more than $2 million to buy a plot of land on Fruitville Road and construct the building where the Community Foundation of Sarasota County stands today. In exchange for this new, rent-free space, the Foundation would invite other community organizations to utilize the conference space to host board meetings, conferences, trainings and workshops at no cost. Leila passed away in 2013, and we are honored to continue to carry out her legacy through the use of our space in the way she wanted it. More than 18,000 people are welcomed into our building each year for a variety of different reasons, and overwhelmingly it is with the goal to make our community an even more incredible place to live, work and play.

But our commitment to nonprofit organizations goes beyond providing space. For decades our Community Investment team has helped build the capacity of local organizations to ensure donors’ charitable dollars make an even bigger impact. Through our nonprofit services, workshops and volunteer consultants, our team helps guide others on topics ranging from fundraising, human resources management, program support, marketing, data evaluation and much more. Each training is handcrafted to provide direct and relevant information to strengthen nonprofit capacity. This fall a new session of training sessions began in September, and we are looking forward to welcoming new participants who dedicate their work to incredible causes.

 What’s unique about this new seven-month series is that in addition to traditional subjects, we are also focusing heavily on relationship building to maximize impact. As our world continues to change at a rapid pace, relationships are the constant that keeps us connected and able to affect change. These sessions will focus on stewarding relationships with donors, creating healthy work environments, engaging in community initiatives, inspiring good board governance and many other topics.

Our belief in this ongoing education program is incredibly strong, and we want to invest in organizations that work to continuously improve. We are excited the Community Foundation’s Board approved $100,000 in grant opportunities to those who take part in our trainings. This opportunity is offered exclusively to organizations with updated profiles in The Giving Partner, our online nonprofit database. We believe this will even better help participating nonprofit professionals implement the information they’ve gathered from the trainings and put their learning into action at their own organizations.

Expanding impact means ensuring our partnering nonprofits have access to the tools and resources they need to grow and thrive to address the issues that affect our community. No one knew this more than Leila Gompertz, and we will be forever grateful for the vision that she brought into being. It is not widely known that the Community Foundation of Sarasota County was first established in 1979 by a single $500 check and first operated out of a utility closet at the Sarasota Orchestra (then the Florida West Coast Symphony), but donor by donor, we have grown to become the permanent charitable force we are today. We have many people to thank for that—many people who believed they could be the ones to impact another person, a cause, a community.

Roxie Jerde is president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County.

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