July 2011           A monthly e-newsletter for people interested in Florida philanthropy      Headlines      Darden, Other FPN Members Help Make New Eatonville Boys & Girls Club a Reality The Eatonville Boys & Girls Club has operated in a cramped portable classroom with threadbare carpet, broken window blinds and a crammed computer area with a handful of aging terminals. But on June 17 the agency unveiled its new 9,000-square-foot Joe R. Lee branch with state-of-the-art equipment and dozens of exhilarated kids who rushed in to explore it. The facility is named for the retired Darden Restaurants executive who helped make it possible, and received major funding from Darden as well as support from the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation and Walt Disney World among other funders.           Allegany Addresses Health Care Needs in Six Florida Counties Allegany Franciscan Ministries awarded grants totaling nearly $900,000 to 59 nonprofits in June to increase access to health care and improve the health status of underserved and marginalized persons, with most of the projects focused in Hillsborough, Pinellas, St. Lucie, Martin, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties. Allegany plans to award an additional $5 million in grants by December 2011.     > Community Foundation Announces Million Dollar Matching Opportunity on Hunger and Affordable Housing The Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties announced $489,000 in grants for two initiatives focused on improving local access to food and affordable housing, with a one-to-one matching challenge for organizations that received the grants.      > Orlando-Based Ushahidi Among 2011 Knight News Challenge Winners Ushahidi in Orlando is among 16 winners of the 2011 Knight News Challenge, a media innovation contest of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Ushahidi received $250,000 for its SwiftRiver platform, which will use new methods to verify the flood of information coming from email, Twitter, web feeds and text messages.     > Jaguars Foundation's Straight Talk Show Aired in June Straight Talk, a partnership of the Jaguars Foundation with local media, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida and the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, aired its 2011 show in June to help prevent teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections among teens.      > Worksite Wellness Gets Push Thanks to Winter Park Health Foundation Grant Winter Park Health Foundation gave the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce a three-year, $220,745 grant to develop and launch Work Well Winter Park, a comprehensive initiative designed to inspire workplace wellness in local businesses.     > Community Foundation of Broward's Assets Reach $100 Million In less than 30 years since its inception, the Community Foundation of Broward has reached $100 million in assets, which represent the donations of more than 700 philanthropists interested in supporting critical causes in the local community through the establishment of individual funds.     > New Health Foundation Grants Address Health Needs of Underserved in South Florida     > Miami Foundation Grants Help 56 Nonprofits Address Wide Range of Community Issues     > Blue Cross Social Media Campaign Rewards Florida Nonprofits That Net Most Votes     > Southwest Florida Community Foundation Moves to Larger Facility      Arts Funding News       Six Jacksonville-Area Artists Receive Community Foundation Support Six individual artists in the Jacksonville area received grants of up to $3,500 from The Community Foundation in Jacksonville to help advance their work. The grants were made as part of the foundation's Art Ventures initiative, which has supported the work of artists and small arts organizations for two decades.     > Knight Foundations Helps Lead "Cultural Explosion" in Miami  The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Miami-Dade Cultural Affairs Council, and key private donors and organizers have helped build a growing matrix of arts organizations in Miami, The Miami Herald reports.      Education Funding News       Helios Education Foundation Celebrates Its Partnerships and $100 Million Invested in Education in Florida and Arizona Helios Education Foundation is celebrating the partnerships created, the thousands of lives enriched and the $100 million that has been invested in education since it was founded in 2004. What began as a vision in the minds of members of the Southwest Student Services Corporation's board of directors has today blossomed into a philanthropic organization focused on changing lives through education in Arizona and Florida.   > USF St. Petersburg Receives NGLC Grant for Digital Mathematics in Middle Grades The University of South Florida St. Petersburg was among 19 recipients of Wave II grants from Next Generation Learning Challenges, which is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other funders. USF received $500,000 for a project to leverage technology to help 2,500 middle school students build mathematical meaning.     > High Schoolers in Sarasota, Manatee & Charlotte Counties Get Help With College Nearly 300 graduating high school seniors from Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties received a scholarship from the Community Foundation of Sarasota County this spring, totaling $600,580 from more than 60 unique scholarship funds at the foundation.      FPN News       Convening presenters included (l-r) Scott Howat, Orange County Public Schools; Stacy Carlson, Helios Education Foundation; Gary Chartrand, The Chartrand Foundation & new member of State Board of Education   Florida Education Grantmakers Convene to Explore Philanthropy's Role in Education Innovation & Reform Education funders from across Florida met on June 8 for an FPN convening, coordinated through FPN's Education Funders Affinity Group (EAG), to discuss innovations and changes in education programming, funding and advocacy, and possible public-private ventures focused on education reform. Featured speakers included Gary Chartrand and Don Pemberton, members of Gov. Scott's Education Transition Team, who reviewed recommendations in the team's report to foster game-changing education innovation in the state and talked about the possible role of FPN and its members in that work. FPN and our EAG members will work to explore and advance ideas discussed at the convening.      Government & Policy Watch     > Charities Warned of "Tsunami" Over Tax Issues Nonprofits should pay more attention to the questions that federal policymakers are asking about the tax breaks that benefit charities, said Diana Aviv, president of Independent Sector, in an interview with The Chronicle of Philanthropy. She warned of a "tsunami" in the making. Partly because of budget pressures, both President Obama and Congress are conducting an "extensive look at the sector the likes of which I don't think we've seen in 50 years," Aviv said. "And the biggest danger of all of this is that nobody's paying attention."     > IRS Ends Exemption for Nearly 14,000 Florida Nonprofits The IRS announced that 275,000 nonprofits, including nearly 14,000 in Florida, have lost their tax-exempt status because they did not file legally required documents for three consecutive years, reducing the number of tax-exempt groups by about 14%. Most of these organizations are believed to be defunct, the IRS said, but groups that are still operating may apply to get their charity status back. Download the list of Florida nonprofits that have lost their exemption.      Giving Trends     > U.S. Charitable Giving Rose Modestly in 2010, New Report Finds Total charitable giving in the United States rose an estimated 3.8% in 2010 over 2009 (2.1% adjusted for inflation), according to the latest Giving USA report. The strongest growth in giving came from charitable bequests (18.8%) and corporations (10.6%), while giving by individuals rose 2.7% (1.1% adjusted for inflation) and foundation giving declined slightly. Giving either held steady or rose for all subject areas except human services and environment/animals. Click above to download the report's executive summary (free registration required).     > Companies Report Increased Philanthropic Giving in 2010 Preliminary survey findings by the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy show that 65% of companies gave more in 2010 than in 2009, with 40% of companies increasing giving by 10% or more. However, median total giving remained largely unchanged. CECP found that 53% of companies gave more in 2010 than in 2007, before the economic crisis set in. The full report will be released in fall 2011.      People        Terri Vitale        Andrew Kushner   > The Community Foundation of Sarasota County has added four new members to three-year, at-large terms on its board of directors: Michael R. Pender, Jr., CPA, PFS, CFF, CFE with Cavanaugh & Co; Rick Smith, CPA, Christopher, Smith, Leonard, Bristow & Stannell, PA; Terri Vitale, Tandem Enterprises; and Richard R. Gans, Esq., of Ferguson, Skipper, Shaw, Keyser, Baron & Tirabassi, PA, who will be representing the Southwest Florida Estate Planning Council on the board.        > Kathleen B. Emmett, CFRE, Steven A. Templeton and Andrew Kushner have been appointed as new members of the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties' board of directors. Emmett is Great Expectations campaign director for Palm Beach Day Academy; Templeton is founder of Templeton & Company, an accounting firm with offices in West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale; Kushner is assistant treasurer at NextEra Energy, Inc.     > Mayur Patel, vice president of strategy and assessment for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, has been named to the 2011 cohort of Independent Sector's American Express NGen Fellows program.      Jobs Recent job postings on FPN's Jobs Board:      > Annual Giving Specialist, Bayfront Health Foundation.      Honors           Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice was named Nonprofit Business of the Year at the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce's 2011 Frank G. Berlin Sr. Small Business Awards, held on June 2.      Funding Opportunities     GLBT Community Projects Fund Grant Program The Miami Foundation is now accepting proposals for its 2011 grant cycle for the GLBT Community Projects Fund program. The Fund's goal is to advance education and public awareness of GLBT issues and support the local GLBT community. Deadline: Aug. 5.           Health Foundation of South Florida Dec. 2011 Grant Cycle The Health Foundation of South Florida welcomes proposals for its December 2011 grant cycle, for projects focused on improving the health status of underserved populations in Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. Deadline: Aug. 1 (for preliminary grant proposals).           Quantum in the Community Small Grants Program A new Quantum Foundation initiative will provide funding to small organizations (annual cash expenses of $500,000 or less) in Palm Beach County that provide basic needs such as food, shelter, clothing, transportation, emergency financial assistance (for utilities, rent, etc.) and other necessities that impact the health and well-being of individuals, families and communities. Deadline: Sept. 23.      Welcome New FPN Member     > Merrill G. & Emita E. Hastings Foundation, Port Washington, NY & Boynton Beach, FL.       Follow FPN on Twitter @flphilanthropy      Florida Philanthropic Network is a statewide association of grantmakers working to strengthen philanthropy through research, education and public policy.     Join Florida Philanthropic Network.   Not a Grantmaker?  Become a Friend of the Network.