Community Foundation of Sarasota County Awards 2018 Giving Challenge Prizes
SARASOTA, FL – 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.
Facilitated by the Community Foundation, 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 matching 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 winners are as follows:
Best Nonprofit Partnership
Sponsored by: William G. and Marie Selby Foundation
$4,000 to three winning partnerships, $4,000 is split between partners
- Boys and Girls Club of Manatee County and Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School
- Healthy Start Coalition of Sarasota County and Early Learning Coalition of Sarasota County
- Humane Society of Manatee County, Turning Points, Satchels Last Resort, and Lost Pet Services
Best Business Partnership
Sponsored by: William G. and Marie Selby Foundation
6 Grant Awards: $2,000 to two winners in each category (Small, Medium, Large Organizations)
Small
- Literacy Council of Manatee County and 3 Keys Brewing and Eatery
- The Mark Wandall Foundation and Station 400
Medium
- ABA Academy and Spoiled Dirty Rotten
- SailFuture and Herediaa Creative
Large
- Easterseals of Southwest Florida and Century 21 Beggins Enterprises
- Healthy Start Coalition of Sarasota County and Pineapple Yoga Studio
Best Board Member Engagement
Sponsored by: William G. and Marie Selby Foundation
3 Grant Awards: $2,000 to the winners of each category (Small, Medium, Large Organizations)
Small
- Animal Network Inc
Medium
- UnidosNow
Large
- Turning Points
Best Giving Challenge Community Event
Sponsored by: Community Foundation of Sarasota County
9 Grant Awards: $2,000 to three winners in each category (Small, Medium, Large Organizations)
Small
- Community Broadband Radio
- Punta Gorda Historic Mural Society
- The Children’s Garden
Medium
- ABA Academy
- High Risk Hope
- UnidosNow partnered with Florida Studio Theatre
Large
- Cat Depot partnered with Suncoast Blood Bank
- Girl Scouts of Gulfcoast Florida partnered with Library Foundation for Sarasota County
- Van Wezel Foundation partnered with Early Learning Coalition of Sarasota County
Best Use of Social Media
Sponsored by: Herald-Tribune Media Group
6 Grant Awards: $2,000 to two winners in each category (Small, Medium, Large Organizations)
Small
- Suncoast Youth Foundation dba Empowerment Group
- Warehouse of Venice
Medium
- Arts & Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County
- SailFuture
Large
- Education Foundation of Sarasota County
- Humane Society of Sarasota County
Best Giving Challenge Video
Sponsored by: Suncoast News Network
6 Grant Awards: $2,500 to two winners in each category (Small, Medium, Large Organizations)
Small
- Animal Network and Just for Girls – https://youtu.be/wbnlKXvthpw
- Suncoast Youth Foundation DBA Empowerment Group – https://youtu.be/WycjbZWqgIE
Medium
- SailFuture – https://vimeo.com/267036440
- UnidosNow – https://youtu.be/vbGr-aicWfg
Large
- Incarnation Christian School – https://youtu.be/Zmm56uwj8eU
- Westcoast Black Theatre Troop – https://youtu.be/xFb3kLRK1v0
Best Giving Challenge Newbie
Sponsored by: Charlotte Community Foundation and Harbor Style Magazine
6 Grant Awards: $2,000 to two winners in each category (Small, Medium, Large Organizations) for first-time Giving Challenge participants
Small
- Beams of Grace Inc. DBA the Twig Warehouse
- Moving Ethos
Medium
- Barrier Island Parks Society
- Drug Free Manatee
Large
- Imagine – East Manatee County DBA Imagine School at Lakewood Ranch
- United Way of Charlotte County
Best Giving Challenge Original
Sponsored by: Manatee Community Foundation
6 Grant Awards: $2,000 to two winners in each category (Small, Medium, Large Organizations) for organizations who also participated in the first Giving Challenge (Note: due to uneven application counts across size categories, one “small” award was reallocated to the “large” category).
Small
- Fairy Tail Endings Inc
Medium
- Project 180
- UnidosNow
Large
- Easterseals of Southwest Florida
- Humane Society of Sarasota County
- Mote Marine Laboratory
Best Giving Challenge Turnaround
Sponsored by: Community Foundation of Sarasota County
6 Grant Awards: $2,000 to two winners in each category (Small, Medium, Large Organizations) who demonstrated growth between the 2016 and 2018 Giving Challenges
Small
- Literacy Council of Manatee County
- Mayors Feed the Hungry
Medium
- Child Evangelism Fellowship
- Hope 4 Communities
Large
- First Step of Sarasota
- Humane Society of Manatee County
Best Overall Campaign
Sponsored by: Community Foundation of Sarasota County
9 Grant Awards: $6,000 to first place, $5,000 to second place, and $4,000 to third place in each category (Small, Medium, Large Organizations)
Small
1. Sarasota-Bradenton Kappa Alpha Psi-Project Guide Right
2. Survivors in Sync
3. The Children’s Garden
Medium
1. The Sarasota Cuban Ballet
2. SailFuture
3. A Life Story Foundation
Large
1. Girl Scouts of Gulfcoast Florida
2. Cat Depot
3. Womens Resource Center of Manatee
About the Community Foundation: 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. With assets of over $333 million in more than 1,400 charitable funds, the Community Foundation awarded grants and scholarships totaling more than $33 million dollars this past year in the areas of education, health and human services, the arts, animal welfare, and the environment. Since our founding, more than $217 million has been invested back into the community through grants and scholarships. For more information, visit www.CFSarasota.org.
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