April 2013           A monthly e-newsletter for people interested in Florida philanthropy      FPN News     FPN Public Policy Florida Foundations Blanket Capitol Hill to Raise Awareness of Philanthropy; Urge Congress to Preserve Charitable Deduction Florida Philanthropic Network led a team of 12 Florida grantmakers for visits with Florida's representatives and senators as part of the annual Foundations on the Hill event on March 19-20, 2013. The team blanketed the Hill, making contact with all 29 members of Florida's congressional delegation and their staffs, to stress to legislative leaders the important role that philanthropy plays in our state.          FPN Fact Sheet: The Charitable Deduction in Florida FPN has produced a new fact sheet to help explain the impact of the charitable deduction in Florida. The fact sheet clearly explains that the deduction is used by Floridians at all income levels - one-third of Floridians who claim the deduction on their tax forms earn less than $50,000 per year - and that the contributions inspired by the deduction help some of the neediest people in our state.   > FPN Is Hiring! FPN is currently hiring for several positions: Director of Programs and Learning, who will play a crucial leadership role to plan, manage and implement FPN's educational programs and learning opportunities for our members; Online Communications & Services Manager (P-T) and Finance Manager (P-T).     > Farewell Maggie! FPN wishes all the best to Maggie Osborn, who is leaving her position as FPN's Vice President on April 12 to be the next President for the Connecticut Council for Philanthropy, FPN's colleague organization based in Hartford, CT. Although we will all miss Maggie greatly, we're pleased that she will still be a part of FPN's national network of regional associations of grantmakers. Thank you Maggie for all that you've done for FPN and Florida's philanthropy field.      Headlines        Darden Supports More Than 850 Nonprofits Through Restaurant Community Grants Program The Darden Foundation awarded more than $1.9 million to more than 850 nonprofits in the United States and Canada as part of its Restaurant Community Grants program. The program empowers each restaurant in the Darden family of brands to help award a $1,000 grant to support local community programs that align with three focus areas: access to postsecondary education, preservation of natural resources and hunger. In Florida, Darden awarded $209,000 in grants to 79 nonprofits. Read more about the 2013 community grants.           70,000 Central Florida Kids to Benefit From New Disney Grants As part of its Disney Helping Kids Shine Grants program, Walt Disney World Resort awarded more than $1.5 million to 59 local nonprofits and school districts that have a positive impact on 70,000 children in Central Florida. Disney also presented the Orange County Public Library System with the Bob Allen Outstanding Community Service Award, which is given each year to recognize a local social service, environmental or humanitarian organization for outstanding work in Central Florida. The library system plans to use the grant for its Summer Reading program.   > Jessie Ball duPont Fund Unveils Plans for Nonprofit Office Center in Jacksonville The Jessie Ball duPont Fund has announced its intentions to purchase a building in downtown Jacksonville to become a multi-tenant office center for nonprofits. As envisioned, the building would become home to the Fund and local nonprofit groups and have common spaces that could be used for meetings and other gatherings.     > Dr. Phillips Charities Gives $10 Million for Completion of Orlando Performing Arts Center The Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts received a $10 million gift from the Dr. Phillips Charities that will go toward the campaign to raise $75 million to complete the project now under construction. The Center will be a 1,700-seat, multi-form theater in downtown Orlando that will be the home of the Orlando Ballet and Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra.       > Bank of America Grant Helps Homeless Jacksonville Hospital Patients Recuperate The Sulzbacher Center, which provides shelter and other services for Jacksonville's homeless, has received a $200,000 Neighborhood Builder grant from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation. The Neighborhood Builder program rewards high-performing nonprofits that have made a significant impact in the community working in the bank's priority funding areas. The grant will fund a 28-bed medical respite facility on the 340-bed shelter's second floor.       > "Poetry for all" Comes Back to Miami O, Miami Poetry Festival returns in 2013 to once again attempt to deliver a poem to all 2.6 million-plus residents of Miami-Dade County during the month of April. Created by University of Wynwood with founding sponsor the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, O, Miami is both a celebration of contemporary poetry and an experimental project to turn a metropolitan area into a canvas for the literary arts.       > Martin County Community Foundation Extends Giving Day to Meet Demand Response to the Martin County Community Foundation's annual Giving Day fundraiser was so strong that the foundation extended the hours for the event, which seeks to encourage donations to local charities to be matched by a percentage of the foundation's pooled money.      Education Funding News       Helios Partners With SRI International to Create Center for Digital Learning The Helios Education Foundation is partnering with SRI International by investing $1 million to seed a Center for Digital Learning in St. Petersburg. The Center will create a portfolio of digital learning projects to enhance student achievement in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). While the Center will not limit itself to Florida projects, Florida will be central to its mission.   > Triad Foundation Helps Boost School's Science Lab The Triad Foundation has awarded $10,000 to St. Peter Claver Catholic School to help buy equipment for the school's science laboratory. Founded by a Jesuit priest in 1894, St. Peter Claver is Florida's oldest black parochial school. It has struggled in recent years financially and with declining enrollment.   > Quantum Foundation Gift to Science Museum to Help Stimulate Students' Interest in Science   > Cardinal Mooney High School Rises to Challenge of $1.1 Million Match From The Patterson Foundation      Voices of Florida Philanthropy Leadership       Carol Jenkins Barnett: Support Families by Investing in Children In an opinion piece that appeared in the Sun Sentinel, Carol Jenkins Barnett, president of Publix Super Markets Charities, writes about the importance of ensuring that families have the community support needed to provide nurturing experiences for children. "Clearly, those children in families that lack support are at much greater risk for child abuse and neglect, educational challenges and all sorts of other poor outcomes," writes Barnett.      People         Coletta     Koehn   Rogers   Waters > Carol Coletta is the new vice president for community and national initiatives for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. She was the first head of ArtPlace, a collaboration of private foundations and federal agencies under the umbrella of the National Endowment for the Arts. Coletta succeeds Knight's vice president/communities Trabian Shorters, who has announced that he will become the first CEO of BMe, and vice president/strategic initiatives Paula Ellis, who is retiring.     > Dr. Christine Koehn has been named the first executive director of The Celia L. and Victor W. Farris Foundation in West Palm Beach. In this position, Koehn will provide strategic leadership, have oversight of the foundation's grantmaking, and manage its operations. She brings nearly two decades of grantmaking experience to the foundation, and has held prominent positions with organizations such as the United Way of Palm Beach County and the Quantum Foundation.     > Steven E. Marcus. Ed.D., president & CEO of the Health Foundation of South Florida, was honored with a Path Award by the Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work at Florida International University. The awards recognize community partners and exemplary professionals in dietetics, public health and social work.     > Carolyn Rogers has been named vice president of development and communications for the Southwest Florida Community Foundation. She has more than 25 years of experience in public relations, marketing, advertising and nonprofit fund development, and was most recently owner of SimplifyPR, a local public relations and marketing firm in Fort Myers.     > Jillian C. Vukusich has been promoted to vice president of community investment for the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties. She joined the foundation in 2006 as a program associate and, following subsequent promotions, was named director of community investment in 2010.     > Nina Waters, president of The Community Foundation in Jacksonville, has been honored by two Jacksonville philanthropists who created an endowment in her name at the University of North Florida. The endowment will provide $1,000 scholarships to nonprofit staffers who have been employed for a year and are enrolled in UNF's Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management program.      Jobs Recent job postings on FPN's Jobs Board:      > Controller, Southwest Florida Community Foundation, Fort Myers.     > Development Director, American Optometric Foundation, Orlando.     > Director of Programs & Learning, Florida Philanthropic Network, Tampa.     > Finance Manager, Florida Philanthropic Network, Tampa.     > President/Chief Executive Officer, Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties, West Palm Beach.      Community Health Indicators         St. Johns is Florida's Healthiest County in New Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Rankings St. Johns County is Florida's healthiest county according to new rankings from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, followed by Martin and Collier counties. At the bottom of the list are Washington, Putnam and Union counties. The rankings look at a variety of measures that affect health such as the rate of people dying before age 75, high school graduation rates, unemployment, limited access to healthy foods, air and water quality, income, and rates of smoking, obesity and teen births. The foundation also provides tools to help counties use the ranking data to improve their health.   > New Study Highlights Health Disparities Among Three Central Florida Communities Healthy Central Florida marked its one-year anniversary with the release of the State of Our Health, the first in-depth study of the physical, emotional and nutritional health of residents in Winter Park, Maitland and Eatonville in Central Florida. While the study contains bright spots, it documents the alarming health disparities amongst the three communities. Healthy Central Florida was launched a year ago by Florida Hospital and the Winter Park Health Foundation.        Follow FPN on Twitter @flphilanthropy    Follow FPN on our Facebook page      Follow The Florida Philanthropy Blog      Florida Philanthropic Network is a statewide association of grantmakers working to build philanthropy to build a better Florida.      Join Florida Philanthropic Network.