Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice is the largest community foundation in Florida with assets of $226 million. Founded in late 1995 as a result of the sale of Venice Hospital, the Foundation has awarded grants of more than $63 million in the areas of arts and culture, health and human services, education, civic affairs, and the environment.

As a community foundation, Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice operates under the principle of perpetuity, ensuring that gifts made to the Foundation will grow and have a lasting impact for the community... now and in the future.

In addition to making grants that benefit our region, the Foundation gives donors the power to make a difference in their community. When donors create funds at Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice, they get the resources and expertise of a highly qualified staff... and the service that could only come from a community foundation. They work with donors to make sure that their funds meet their needs and allow them to have an impact on the community and issues they care about.

GULF COAST COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF VENICE
601 Tamiami Trail South, Venice, FL 34285 • (941) 486-4600

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The mission of the Sarasota Manatee Jewish Federation is to ensure the continuity of the Jewish people, enhance the quality of Jewish life and build a strong, secure and unified Jewish community in Sarasota-Manatee, in Israel and throughout the world.

The Federation advances this mission with its partner network by:
• Meeting the human needs of the Sarasota-Manatee Jewish community and of fellow Jews world-wide,
• Promoting a positive Jewish identity,
• Supporting Israel,
• Involving and building community among the Jews of Sarasota-Manatee, and
• Strengthening ties between the Sarasota-Manatee Jewish community and the broader society in which it exists.

SARASOTA MANATEE JEWISH FEDERATION
Klingenstein Jewish Center, 580 McIntosh Road, Sarasota, FL 34232 • (941) 371-4546

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Sarasota County Openly Plans for Excellence, or SCOPE's mission is to engage our community in planning for excellence through a process of open dialogue and impartial research, to establish priorities, propose solutions and monitor change to enhance the quality of life in Sarasota County.

Every year, SCOPE engages a diverse group of people in conversations that focus on what we want our future to be as opposed to problem solving the past. In these conversations, or “community studies,” SCOPE frees people to innovate and create new approaches to change. Topics are chosen by local residents and have included race and cultural relations, affordable housing, school dropout, redevelopment and infill, family violence, traffic flow and congestion, mental health and aging. With each completed study, SCOPE volunteers work as partners with public officials, individuals and organizations to put those ideas into action and create meaningful change in the community.

SCOPE - Sarasota County Openly Plans for Excellence
Center for Arts and Humanity Building, 1226 North Tamiami Trail, Suite 202, Sarasota, FL 34236 • (941) 365-8751

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Ringling College of Art and Design recognizes that artists and designers play a significant role in society. The School's primary mission is to provide programs leading to a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree that prepare students to be discerning visual thinkers and ethical practitioners in their chosen area of art and design.

In addition to its degree program, Ringling College of Art and Design offers courses, lectures, exhibitions and other art-related services to the local and regional community through its gallery, library, continuing education and community service programs.

Ringling School was founded in 1931 and its 13-member faculty included Dr. Laura Ganno-McNeill, the first woman in the United States to earn a Ph.D., and Hilton Leech, a nationally prominent watercolorist. Today, it is one of the premier colleges of art and design in the western hemisphere.

The School's 35-acre campus now includes 69 buildings, and attracts close to 1,100 students from 43 states and 28 foreign countries. It is recognized as being among the best and most innovative visual arts colleges in the United States as well as a leader in the use of technology in the arts. With a better than 2:1 student to computer ratio, Ringling School’s computing infrastructure rivals even that of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT].

RINGLING COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN
2700 North Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL 34234-5895 • (941) 351-5100 • TOLL FREE 800-255-7695

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The University of South Florida is one of the nation's top 63 public research universities and one of 39 community engaged public universities as designated by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

USF was awarded more than $300 million in research contracts and grants last year. The University offers 219 degree programs at the undergraduate, graduate, specialist and doctoral levels, including the doctor of medicine.

The University has a $1.6 billion annual budget, an annual economic impact of $3.2 billion, and serves more than 45,000 students on campuses in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota-Manatee and Lakeland. USF is a member of the Big East Athletic Conference.

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
8350 North Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL 34243 • (941) 359-4200

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The Community Foundation of Sarasota County was created in 1979 by the Southwest Florida Estate Planning Council to encourage philanthropic individuals to leave a charitable legacy to the citizens of Sarasota County.

Since 1979, the Community Foundation has been making the important connection between individuals' personal memories, passions, dreams and the fulfillment of their charitable goals. They help create permanent charitable funds of everlasting impact. These funds ensure that people of vision will have an enduring influence on the life of their community and the charitable causes they hold dear, that is truly For Good. For Ever.®

The Foundation's focus is to be the best in the world at enabling the following:
• Permanent Flexible Charitable Funds
• Nonprofit Organizations' Increased Capacity to Serve
• Donor Focused Scholarships, Grants, Awards

THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SARASOTA COUNTY, INC.
2635 Fruitville Road, Sarasota, FL 34237 • (941) 955-3000
PO Box 49587, Sarasota, FL 34230-6587


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In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed a people-to -people program under the National League of Cities as a "citizen diplomacy." He envisaged persons and organizations in individual U.S. cities interacting on a one-to-one basis with their peers in foreign cities and nations, believing that such personal relationships would lessen the chance of future world conflicts.

President Eisenhower was a man of vision and in 1956 noted at the 10th anniversary conference of Sister Cities International that, "I have served as a General in the greatest military force that the world has ever known and I have had the responsibility of being President of the most powerful nation in history and yet I have been unsuccessful in achieving International peace and understanding. Global conflicts still exist!"

Those in Sister Cities relationships believe that it is only through the people to people concept and through exchanges of people from all walks of life, including young people, in our communities and with programs designed to facilitate better understanding, cultural tolerance and friendship will our countries realize true success in achieving world peace and international good will. The promotion of adult and student international exchange is a vital concept of Sister Cities.

The rapidly growing program became the nonprofit Sister Cities International in 1967. Even before that, in 1963, Sarasota residents had already established the Sarasota Sister Cities Association. Today official relationships have been forged with Hamilton, Province of Ontario, Canada; Perpignan, France; Vladimir, Russia; Tel Mond, Israel; Dunfermline, Scotland; Treviso, Italy; and Siming District, Xiamen, China.

SARASOTA SISTER CITIES ASSOCIATION
1565 First Street, Sarasota, FL 34236

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The Florida Holocaust Museum, Embracing Our Difference's Founding Partner, honors the memory of millions of innocent men, women, and children who suffered or died in the Holocaust. The Museum is dedicated to teaching members of all races and cultures to recognize the inherent worth and dignity of human life in order to prevent future genocides.

FLORIDA HOLOCAUST MUSEUM
55 Fifth Street South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • (727) 820-0100

SARASOTA-MANATEE ARCH FAMILY HOLOCAUST EDUCATION CENTER
578 South McIntosh Road, Sarasota, FL 34232 • (941) 378-8837

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