Community Foundation of Sarasota County President/CEO Roxie Jerde presenting on national Center for Disaster Philanthropy webinar October 31

The free online program addresses how climate change affects traditional disaster grantmaking and offers opportunities for innovation.

SARASOTA, FL – Community Foundation of Sarasota County President and CEO Roxie Jerde will present on Oct. 31 in a national webinar hosted by the Center for Disaster Philanthropy to discuss how climate change affects grantmaking.

The webinar, “Beyond the hurricanes: What climate change means for funders,” begins at 2 p.m. on Oct. 31 and is free and open to the public. The program will address how climate change is altering the playbook for disaster philanthropy, particularly because of the frequency of hurricanes and increasingly impactful secondary perils—storm surge, flash flooding, heavy rainfalls and tornadoes—that are ravaging communities well beyond the initial hurricane. Learn more at www.disasterphilanthropy.org and register for the program here.

The webinar is moderated by the Center for Disaster Recovery’s Tanya Gulliver Garcia, Director of Advisory and Education Services, and will also feature other experts in climate-related social justice including:

• Monica Sanders, Founder and CEO, The Undivide Project and Forbes contributor
• Sarah Labowitz, Nonresident Scholar, Sustainability, Climate and Geopolitics Program, Carnegie, Endowment for International Peace

Jerde was invited to present because of the effective and unique work of the Community Foundation’s Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund, which was established as a response to Hurricane Ian in 2022 and is now transitioning to supporting long-term recovery following 2024’s Hurricanes Milton and Helene and Tropical Storm Debby, which severely impacted the Sarasota-Manatee area. The Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund supports the work that must be done to restore communities after initial relief efforts have concluded, focused on equity, with an emphasis on critical needs like accessible mental health, youth services that help families retain economic stability, and legal aid to help people navigate the challenges of insurance and FEMA claims. It has provided dollars for innovative practices like participatory grantmaking, which empowers communities themselves to determine where investments are most needed to make them whole again.

“We have learned so much in the years since Hurricane Ian, working with great organizations in our community to heal and restore our resilience,” Jerde said. “To be able to share the lessons we’ve learned with the guidance of experts like the Center for Disaster Philanthropy is a real honor. In a sense, it feels like being of service to communities embarking on disaster recovery, maybe for the first time, is a full-circle moment for our community foundation.”

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About the Community Foundation of Sarasota County: The Community Foundation of Sarasota County is a public charity founded in 1979 by the Southwest Florida Estate Planning Council as a resource for caring individuals and the causes they support, enabling them to make a charitable impact on the community. With assets of $489 million in more than 1,580 charitable funds, the Community Foundation awarded grants and scholarships totaling $40 million dollars last year in the areas of education, the arts, health and human services, civic engagement, animal welfare and the environment. Since its founding, the Community Foundation has been able to grant more than $435.8 million to area nonprofit organizations in our community thanks to the generosity of charitable individuals, families, and businesses. For more information, visit www.CFSarasota.org or call (941) 955-3000.

Center for Disaster Philanthropy mobilizes philanthropy to strengthen communities’ ability to withstand disasters and recover equitably when they occur. It provides expert advice and educational resources, supports diverse coalitions and manages domestic and international disaster funds on behalf of corporations, foundations and individuals through targeted, holistic and localized grantmaking. Find out more at disasterphilanthropy.org and on X and LinkedIn.