- May 4, 2024
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Multiple grants totaling more than $5 million were approved by the board of the directors of the Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation during its quarterly meeting in November.
The funding includes 11 grants to regional nonprofits working in education, mental health, humanitarian causes, and arts and culture. The Barancik Foundation Board also directed significant funding to the Foundation’s First 1,000 Days Suncoast initiative and Affordable Housing initiative. The grants and initiative investments were approved at the Board’s quarterly meeting in early November.
“Across many of these grants, we see the difficulties that families in our region face as they try to remain financially stable,” said Barancik Foundation President and CEO Teri Hansen. “On the whole, we are investing in everything from early interventions to crisis response, and we are grateful to our nonprofit partners that are doing this innovative and necessary work. We also recognized the chance to help launch or grow some innovative and exciting new educational and artistic programs.”
Grants in their respective categories include:
FUNducation Inc., $150,000 to expand its early STEAM programming in Sarasota County. STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics.
Manatee Education Foundation, $150,000 to help fund programs that support at-risk children and families in partnership with local nonprofit organizations and the School District of Manatee County.
State College of Florida Foundation, $429,445 to expand its baccalaureate degree programs in elementary education and exceptional student education as well as its College Reach-Out Program. With enrollment in its four-year education degree programs more than doubling in just a year, SCF Manatee-Sarasota is addressing the teacher shortage in the region. Meanwhile, CROP seeks to increase college admission and success for low-income, educationally disadvantaged students.
Harvest House, $600,000 for improvements to housing units, increase therapy services, and support programs for those in need of safe, affordable housing, addiction recovery, and wraparound support.
Turning Points, $316,000 to expand its navigator program that helps residents in crisis locate and access community services. Turning Points is the central organization in Manatee County providing support and services for individuals and families experiencing or at-risk of homelessness.
Women’s Resource Center, $275,000, which includes a $50,000 matching grant, to enhance its programming to help women in Sarasota and Manatee counties break the cycle of poverty.
Margwine Organization, $95,000 to build its capacity by enabling the all-volunteer organization to hire its first full-time staff member. Margwine, which provides empowerment programming to young girls, seeks to elevate its fundraising, volunteer management, outreach and programming.
Chicago Botanic Garden, $100,000 for Windy City Harvest, which provides nutritious food, job opportunities and training, and access to nature through a network of urban farm sites on Chicago’s south and west sides. As part of this grant, Barancik Foundation and local partners will seek to learn from Windy City Harvest about efforts in nutrition, health equity, and workforce training that could be replicated in Sarasota.
SRQ Strong, $250,000 to build its capacity in transitioning from an all-volunteer program to an independent and sustainable nonprofit organization. SRQ Strong convenes and educates individuals and organizations to promote trauma-informed care and provide opportunities to heal from trauma.
Azara Ballet, $180,000 for operational support to hire staff and build out its dance company as it continues its inaugural season and prepares for its second performance season. Azara is a nonprofit professional dance company that emphasizes mental well-being for dancers, promotes body positivity and inclusivity, and offers outreach programming for neurodivergent communities.
CreArte Latino Cultural Center, $126,000 to build its capacity through staff and operational support and increase revenues to fund its performance and educational programming.
First 1,000 Days Suncoast initiative, $700,000 to serve as matching funds as Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation raises money to sustain the initiative. Launched in 2018 by Barancik Foundation and more than 30 partners, First 1,000 Days Suncoast is now housed within Sarasota Memorial Hospital, where it is operated by a dedicated four-person staff team.
Barancik Foundation’s Affordable Housing initiative, $1.5 million in direct investment in workforce housing units. The initiative employs a variety of tools from policy advocacy to grants for nonprofit service providers to ease the region’s affordable housing crisis.
Also, $200,000 to seed a new evaluation fund to provide training and resources for nonprofit organizations to increase their program evaluation and fundraising capacity.
