The Charles and Margery Barancik Foundation recently awarded the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota and DeSoto Counties a $250,000 grant to support staffing across the organization. The grant will also support efforts to improve the recruitment and retention of quality team members to ensure maximum impact and stability for the youth and families they serve.

Meals on Wheels of Sarasota recently received a $10,000 grant from St. Armands Key Lutheran Church Foundation to support providing frozen meals to clients during six holidays. This will allow staff and volunteers a respite for the holiday while continuing to support the Meals on Wheels mission to continually deliver meals for residents who are homebound and unable to prepare their own meal.

A leadership gift from Willis A. Smith Construction to the Campaign for Marie Selby Botanical Gardens’ Master Plan has seeded a double matching opportunity for new gifts, which will enable the fundraising goal for the project’s first phase to be met. The Willis Smith donation leverages Selby Gardens’ existing Campaign Capping Challenge, which has been matching every gift dollar-for-dollar for Phase One of the Master Plan. Now, any new gifts up to $250,000 will effectively be tripled.

The William G. and Marie Selby Foundation recently awarded $41,600 in “Small and Mighty” grants to area nonprofit organizations with budgets $300,000 or less. The opportunity was created to address the needs of smaller nonprofits in the region, providing access to capital funds in a simplified process. The recipients are Bring on the Ministry, Friends of the Lakewood Ranch Library, Sarasota K-9 Search and Rescue, Sarasota Succulent Society and Sunshine Community Compost.

Impact100 SRQ has announced that 763 members will collectively fund seven grants in the amount of $109,000 each to local nonprofits in its five focus area categories for the 2023 giving year: arts, culture and history; education; environment and recreation; family; and health and wellness.

The Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast recently received a $59,000 grant from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to help create a buffer of managed lands on Conservation Foundation’s Upper Myakka Preserve, which borders Myakka River State Park. This 60-acre, river-front property protects more than a mile of the Myakka River directly upstream of Myakka River State Park and serves as a critical gateway between the sensitive ecosystems of the park and about 30 miles of unprotected river upstream.

The Community Foundation of Sarasota County has awarded six local nonprofit organizations more than $40,000 through grant opportunities aimed at strengthening organizations’ capacity to fulfill their missions. The recipients are The Florida Center for Early Childhood Inc.,  Library Foundation for Sarasota County Inc., WSLR Inc., The Glasser/Schoenbaum Human Services Center, Manatee Children's Services/MCS Child Advocacy Center, Sarasota Parrot Conservatory Inc., Sarasota Film Festival and Making an Impact.

Neal Communities recently made a donation in the amount of $2,000 to Teen Court of Sarasota, Inc. Additionally, Waterscapes Pools & Spas, part of the Neal Communities family of companies, made a donation in the amount of $2,000 to Every Child a Swimmer to support swim lessons and water safety. The donation will fund swim lesson scholarships.

Recent grants totaling $60,000 will support All Faiths Food Bank’s BackPack Program. Funding comes from the Community Foundation of Sarasota ($25,000), Sarasota Yacht Club ($25,000), Venice Golf & Country Club ($5,000) and Florida Winefest and Auction ($5,000).

The Oaks Women’s Club Scholarship Committee today announced that 16 young women receiving diplomas from Sarasota County high schools have been awarded $5,000 scholarships to assist them in their college journey.  They are Marina Rose Berardi, Kaitlyn Haley, Natalie Kisgen, Paige Singleton, Destiny Salomon, Angelicia Anderson, Alora Black, Ambrynn Julius, Maija Boelkins, Kaley Maze, Helen Mosquera, Claire Timney, Rylee Mulhollen, Rebekah Bourque, Alyssa Collier and Leah Kolesnikov.