Photo provided by The Community Foundation of Sarasota County

The Community Foundation of Sarasota County recently awarded more than $240,000 in 2018 Giving Challenge grant prizes to organizations for a variety of special “Best Of” categories during the Challenge. An event was held on Friday, June 1st at Gold Coast Eagle Distributing to announce the recipients and award them their prize certificates.

For months leading up to the 2018 Giving Challenge, which happened on May 1st and 2nd, nonprofits worked on fundraising plans, communications campaigns, and planned events around the Giving Challenge in order to leverage the opportunity to generate unrestricted funding and develop relationships with new donors. Participating nonprofits were eligible to apply for prizes based on their strategy and success, such as best giving challenge video and event, best nonprofit-nonprofit partnership, best nonprofit-business partnership, best overall campaigns, and many more. 

Volunteer committees made up of community leaders reviewed and judged the more than 430 applications submitted by the participating nonprofit organizations. Nonprofit organizations were broken down into three categories: Small (budgets under $100,000), Medium (budgets between $100,000 and $750,000) and Large (budgets greater than $750,000). The Community Foundation’s Board of Directors approved $200,000 to be awarded for this year’s prizes, with additional funding support Manatee Community Foundation, the William G. and Marie Selby Foundation, and the Charlotte Community Foundation. The 2018 Giving Challenge raised more than $11.7 million in just 24 hours for 636 local nonprofits, thanks to support from The Patterson Foundation. In total, six combined Giving Challenges have helped to provide more than $40 million in unrestricted funding since 2012. 

The Community Foundation of Sarasota County is proud to partner with SRQ Media Group to highlight stories about community impact powered by philanthropy in our region, thanks to the support of donors and our local nonprofit partners. The Community Foundation is a public charity founded in 1979 by the Southwest Florida Estate Planning Council as a resource for caring individuals and the causes they support, enabling them to make a charitable impact on the community. 

Photo provided by The Community Foundation of Sarasota County

Full List of 2018 Winners