February 3, 2025
Honor and Achievement
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This past week, I was honored at SRQ Media’s SB2 Luncheon—Philanthropic Agenda and Good Hero Awards—with a Lifetime Achievement Award. The event highlights our generous community and celebrates people who have made an impact in the past year, providing the opportunity to see just how much is accomplished here because of philanthropy.
Standing before a room of people who have made meaningful contributions to our community, it dawned on me that even while I was the recipient of the statuette, the true achievement (as in most cases) was a group effort. It was the effort of people at the luncheon, many of whom themselves were receiving Good Hero awards, and the pursuit of so many in our community who step up, time and again, to move our community towards the ideal of providing opportunities for everyone who lives here to achieve their potential.
The word “philanthropy” is derived from the Greek for “love” (phil) and “humanity” (anthropos), literally translating into “love of humanity.” Since coming to Sarasota in March 2011, I have felt the palpable love of humanity this community exudes. It’s everywhere.
It’s in donations, large and small, we receive every year from do-gooders giving to Season of Sharing to help their neighbors avoid rippling calamities that cause financial upheaval—these donations since 2000 have raised nearly $50 million to help some 53,000 individuals and families.
It’s in the astounding participation in Giving Challenges, which has raised over time a total of $92 million in unrestricted funding for our local nonprofits.
It’s in the vision of philanthropists who entrust their life's works to charity, knowing they themselves will never reap the rewards of these gifts.
It’s in the volunteers, 55,000 of them in our community, who show up to feed the hungry, read to children, provide companionship to the elderly, and help when needed.
It’s in the nonprofit leaders of the more than 800 organizations that enhance our quality of life. These leaders and their teams dedicate their lives to causes that help improve others’ lives.
The love of humanity that is at the heart of philanthropy can be seen in each of these.
This is a community where philanthropy thrives because this is a community of people who look out for one another, dream of a brighter tomorrow, and work towards solutions to pressing challenges.
As our Community Foundation observes our 45th anniversary this year, we are proud that over time, we’ve accumulated $544 million in assets and have invested more than $500 million in grants and scholarships. It’s a tremendous achievement to have played a role in the well-being of our community and the safeguarding of values we cherish. None of this would have been possible without the kind-hearted and compassionate people who have so generously given to the causes they care about.
I am grateful for the opportunity to helm an organization that has, from its earliest days, contributed to the overall good of our community, and grateful to have worked with passionate, talented, visionary people over the past 14 years, both inside of our organization and in our community and beyond. This is a special community, and I have been so fortunate to stand alongside inspiring and dedicated people as we’ve worked, together, to achieve a community where everyone can realize their potential.
It was an honor to be recognized at the SB2 Luncheon with the Lifetime Achievement Award, but the truth is, this award doesn’t belong to me. Like all great achievements, this was the work of so many people, each doing their part to turn the dream of a safe, just, and equitable community into a reality.
See this story as it originally appeared on Feb. 1, 2025, in SRQDaily here.