Community Foundation of Sarasota County Awards More Than $500,000 to Strengthen Local Nonprofits
The Community Foundation of Sarasota County is investing more than half a million dollars into the people and organizations working every day to meet some of the region’s most urgent needs.
The foundation recently awarded $507,255 in grants to 46 nonprofit organizations serving Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte and DeSoto counties. The funding will support programs focused on hunger relief, affordable housing, literacy, mental health, education, services for seniors, support for people with disabilities, and long-term nonprofit sustainability.
For many local nonprofits, the timing is important. Across the Suncoast, charitable organizations are being asked to do more with less as families continue to face rising costs for housing, food, childcare, transportation, and basic household needs. At the same time, nonprofits are dealing with higher operating expenses, staffing challenges, and growing demand for services.
“Nonprofits are navigating rising operating costs, funding shortages and limited staff capacity at a time when demand for their services continues to grow,” said Kirsten Russell, vice president of community impact at the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. “With this latest round of funding, we hope to address some of the sector’s most pressing needs, while also helping them grow their own internal capacity so that their vital work can continue long into the future.”
Grants Supporting Families, Children, Seniors and Vulnerable Residents
The latest round of funding includes Community Impact grants, which are designed to help nonprofits deliver direct services to residents. These grants will support programs that provide food, hygiene supplies, housing assistance, grief support, academic coaching, healthcare connections, literacy services, and more.
Among the organizations receiving support are Arcadia-DeSoto County Habitat for Humanity, which will use funding for Maple Street Village, a multi-parcel affordable housing community, and St. Vincent de Paul CARES, which will support its Delivering Dreams program for families escaping homelessness.
For children and families, the grants will help expand after-school academic coaching through Avenue941, provide hygiene products for children in need through Back Pack Angels, support bilingual arts and education programming through CreArte Latino Cultural Center, and help Children’s Home Society of Florida place a full-time wellness coordinator at Manatee Elementary to connect students with health services.
Education is also a major focus. Manatee Literacy Council will receive support for adult literacy services in Manatee County, while Catholic Charities Diocese of Venice will receive funding for the Casa San Juan Bosco 2Gen Educational Program, which offers coordinated educational opportunities for children and adults in rural DeSoto County. The Community Foundation has also supported local education efforts in the past, including scholarships for Youth Leadership Sarasota students.
Mental Health and Grief Support Receive Needed Attention
Several grants will help organizations address mental health, trauma, grief, and reentry challenges.
Valerie’s House will receive support for peer grief support groups for children in Charlotte, Sarasota and DeSoto counties. Dragonfly Mental Health will use funding for mental health workshops at Ringling College of Art and Design. Replay Outreach will support its Success4Life program, which provides trauma-informed group sessions and mentoring to help youth build self-awareness, communication skills, emotional regulation, and personal responsibility.
Funding will also support Fabulous Arts Foundation, which provides mental health care and community support for LGBTQ+ youth and their families, and G.R.A.S.P., which helps people transitioning from rehabilitation or incarceration with basic needs such as housing, food, clothing and transportation.
Hunger Relief Remains a Priority
Food insecurity remains a serious issue throughout the region, and several grants will directly support hunger relief programs.
Community Harvest SRQ will receive support for its Suncoast Gleaning project, which recovers unharvested food from farms and delivers it to people experiencing hunger. Meals on Wheels Sarasota will receive funding for its Food Is Medicine program, which provides medically tailored meals to clients. Stillpoint Mission will receive support for its weekly food distribution program for underserved families.
These programs are especially important for seniors, low-income families, and residents living with health challenges who may not have easy access to nutritious meals.
Support for Seniors and People With Special Needs
The grant funding also reaches homebound seniors and individuals with disabilities.
AM and FM Enterprise will receive support for an in-home care program for homebound seniors in Sarasota and Manatee counties. Beyond the Spectrum will use funding to support affordable summer camp programming for students with unique learning differences. Loveland Center will receive support for speech, occupational and physical therapy programs, while Dogs Inc will receive funding to help train service dogs for veterans, individuals with vision loss and other medical issues, and children and families with disabilities.
Helping Nonprofits Become Stronger Behind the Scenes
In addition to direct service grants, the Community Foundation awarded Capacity Building grants to help nonprofits improve the way they operate. These grants support areas such as fundraising, communications, strategic planning, professional development, technology, and consultant support.
Capacity Building grants may not always be as visible as food deliveries or housing programs, but they are essential. Strong internal systems help nonprofits serve more people, track results, raise funds more effectively, and remain stable during challenging times.
Organizations receiving Capacity Building support include Architecture Sarasota, Booker Promise, Early Learning Coalition of Sarasota County, Easterseals Southwest Florida, FoodRecovery.org, Lighthouse Vision Loss Center, Manatee Children’s Services, Manatee Education Foundation, MCR Health, Second Heart Homes, Teen Court of Sarasota, Visible Men Academy, YMCA of Southwest Florida, and many others.
The funding follows other regional grant stories across the Suncoast, including Impact100 SRQ’s 2026 grant cycle and earlier Community Foundation support that helped WSLR redevelop its website.
A Central Resource for Local Giving
Many of the nonprofits receiving grants maintain profiles on The Giving Partner, a searchable online database of more than 750 nonprofit organizations serving Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte and DeSoto counties.
The platform is hosted and maintained by the Community Foundation of Sarasota County and is used by donors, foundations, businesses, and community leaders looking to better understand local nonprofit work. Residents who want to learn more about the organizations receiving grants, or who want to support local causes, can visit The Giving Partner. Suncoast readers can also review how the Sarasota Giving Challenge connects local donors with nonprofit needs.
The Community Foundation of Sarasota County was founded in 1979 and has grown into one of the region’s most important philanthropic resources. The foundation manages more than 1,600 charitable funds and reported assets of $605 million. Last year, it awarded $44.7 million in grants and scholarships supporting education, the arts, health and human services, civic engagement, animal welfare, and the environment.
Since its founding, the Community Foundation has awarded $542 million to nonprofits in the community.
For more information, visit the Community Foundation of Sarasota County.
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