Elizabeth Brown, president and CEO of the Community Foundation of the Florida Keys, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about the organizaiton.
What does the Community Foundation do?
Brown said, “Our mission is really simple. It’s to make the Florida Keys a better place to live now and in the future, and we do that by connecting people, resources and needs through philanthropy. And when we say philanthropy, what we really mean is charitable giving, really at any level, it all matters. And what we do with the donations that we receive is, instead of just immediately spending them out into the community, although we do that with our annual Future Fund money, we take those dollars and we invest them. And so when people give to the Community Foundation, they’re giving kind of not just once, but that gift builds over time, and it allows us to invest back into the community. So it’s long term, it’s permanent funds. I think the great thing about community foundations is that they’re established by local people in a community for local needs, and it’s local giving. So it’s really locals giving back to locals.”
It’s giving that grows.
Brown said, “I think especially for those donors who have invested funds with us, and that also includes our nonprofit fund holders. But we have businesses, we have individuals, really, from all walks of life. I think the really cool thing is as those investments grow over time, when somebody makes that donation, they set up a fund, then that fund continues to give. Let’s say they’ve got some stock that’s done well, or a house that’s done well, or they have extra funds that they want to contribute, they’re able to do that. And then maybe in years where it’s a little bit tighter, they’re still able to continue their charitable giving because they’ve made that initial investment. So it really is sort of that continual investment back into the community. We’re at about $43 million worth of assets under management right now. So I think that number of a little over 36 million that’s been given out, it’s kind of incredible when you think about that amount’s been given out over time, but where we are today. So it really does speak to that power of growth and investing over time.”
This past year more than $1 million was given out in the annual community grants program.
Brown said it’s “our paradise for good program. During that annual grants process, when nonprofits are submitting their grant requests to the Community Foundation, we have community reviewers from across the Keys that are reviewing those applications. Those are actually not decisions that are made by our staff or our board. It’s a community decision. So that’s also my plug for if you have time in October, reach out to us if you’re interested in serving on that grants committee. It’s a great way to see all the work that’s being done up and down the Keys and our grant reviewers that do it come back to us again and again and say, wow. That was a lot in October, but I’m in for it again, like I want to do it. So while they are reviewing, we’re talking to our donor advised fund holders, and we’re saying, are there any projects here that really speak to you, that you would want to help us with? And what we saw this year is that even though we bring funds to the table, we’re always going to have that grants process, this was the year that our donors have really stepped up a lot in the last couple of years. But this was the year that we really saw some incredible movement, and that took us from about $750,000 roughly in annual grants in ‘24 to over a million in ‘25. Those were people that came in and said, not only do I want to fund this project or this program in my local location, but also I’m really excited about what’s happening in Key Largo, or I’m really excited about what’s happening in Marathon or Key West. And so people were really giving across the Keys, which is really what we want to see too.”
Are the donors and the public at large more aware of the needs of the nonprofit community?
Brown said, “There was a lot of that, and we had a lot of those conversations with donors, because some want to come in at the beginning, when we’re sort of making the cake, if you will, on that process, and then some wait to the end and then say, let me know who wasn’t funded, because I want to make sure that this program continues. So the donors are certainly paying attention. I will say, we have got such an incredible community here. Everywhere I go, in the Keys, everybody talks about how we give back, we take care of each other. And so not only did the donors do that, but I had a couple of conversations with nonprofits recently, as we are looking to do our next strategic planning, who said we were actually good this year. We weren’t affected by some of the cuts that happened, we were well situated, and so we didn’t apply for the grants program last year because we knew there were other nonprofits that had more need than we did, and we didn’t want to find ourselves in competition with them. And I think you wouldn’t see that in a lot of places, and I think that really speaks to the quality of the people in this community to take care of one another.”
What’s the distinguishing factor that helps people decide to ultimately place their trust and funds in the Community Foundation?
Brown said, “We’ve also been talking with donors as part of our next strategic planning process. And what we’re also hearing is that, because we know the nonprofits so well, and because we are in contact with them, we’re looking at the grant applications. We’re getting reports back. They trust our decision making when it comes to, if we’re approving grants to an organization, that they can trust that the dollars are being invested well with that nonprofit. It’s almost like a seal of approval, I guess. I think there’s the governance portion of it, there’s the fact that we are so tied in. So we’re aware of where the needs are. We may be aware of some things that donors, if they’re looking to give, may not be aware of. A lot of times folks will call us and they’re looking to give in a certain area, and we’ll be able to help make those connections between them and a nonprofit that has a program that maybe even the nonprofit isn’t publicly talking about. So making those connections, and I think there’s just a level of trust there. They know the money is being spent well, they know that we’re Keys wide, we’re able to give to, really, any charitable cause. So it’s not solely Health and Human Services or arts, although those are areas that a lot of our funds go to, it’s also the environment, it’s education, it’s youth enrichment. So really, anything that touches our community, we’re able to make that happen.”
What is the legacy society?
Brown said, “A lot of organizations have legacy societies, and we always encourage our nonprofits, that’s a way to really build long term stability. And anybody can be a giver. We’ve got folks who have pledged $10,000, $25,000, to people who have pledged their entire estates, and they know that when they do that through the Community Foundation, that their wishes are going to continue. So if they decide that they want to support a nonprofit, but 10, 20 years down the road, that nonprofit isn’t here anymore, the Community Foundation is going to find the next closest thing to make sure that their intent continues. That’s really, I think, where we play a neutral partner. I will say we had a really moving legacy gift that came to us. It was not necessarily one that we were prepared for recently, but one of our board members passed away in June and left us a legacy gift, and just to give you an idea of how we’re going to be using that, she was out of Key Colony Beach and a couple of years ago, she had started valedictorian/salutatorian scholarships for students at a Marathon High School, and when her legacy gift came in, our board basically set up a quasi endowment, so that’s a permanent fund, so those students are always going to be taken care of from her legacy estate. She was a chair of our grants committee. So there’s going to be money always for those annual grants. So there were some things we were able to do so that Marion’s legacy will continue forward into the future as well. She wasn’t somebody that liked to be out and about and would never toot her own horn, but we are happy to carry her memory and her legacy forward, because of how much she cared about this community.”
The unsung heroes celebration happens annually thanks to the Community Foundation of the Florida Keys, allowing so many nonprofits to give recognition to those who really wouldn’t look for it.
Brown said, “That’s actually one of our favorite days of the year. I mean, we have a lot of favorite days of the year, the grants awards are right up there, but unsung is just, we encourage people get your tickets early. It’s always the first Friday in February down in Key West at the Beachside. It sells out every year, and it is such a fun day, and the energy that comes out of there, you really get to see all of these people doing such amazing work in the community, and we’re already looking forward to planning the next one.”
What is the center for nonprofit excellence?
Brown said, “We have a couple of things that we do under our center for nonprofit excellence. One of them is our leadership success academy that is training for board members and leaders of nonprofits and really how to run a nonprofit, effectively, all the governance that needs to go in there, so that everybody stays on the up and up and the right side of the law and all those things. We rotate that between the Upper Keys and the Lower Keys each year. This year it’ll be in the Upper Keys. Last year it was in Key West. We also have our morning marketing exchange that we do in conjunction with our Florida Keys Funders Alliance, which is Ocean Reef Community Foundation, and United Way. That was something that actually came out of a nonprofit day that we did a couple of years ago with that group. We heard from the nonprofits that they wanted more marketing support, so that was a way that, just as funders in the community, we were able to be responsive to that. We are doing our next strategic planning process, and as part of that, we’ve been talking with the nonprofit leaders about, what do you need? What other training opportunities can we bring? Are there specific topics that we need to look at and also talking about with them about how we can alter some of our grant making processes to make it easier for them as well. And so there are some things in the works. I think we’re going to have some more to report over the summer, but it’s been really good conversations, because at the end of the day, we’re here to support nonprofits. The Community Foundation does not give to individuals outside of our scholarship funds, and those all go straight to the training institution or the college, but all of our funds go out to 501c3’s and so it’s important that we have a healthy nonprofit ecosystem here, because they’re the ones doing the work on the ground. And so we’re here to support them. As we’ve been going through the history of looking through things, and some of our founders are still around, it’s always great to talk to them about how it started and the challenges that they were up against, being told that there wasn’t going to be enough local support to be able to stand up an organization like this and that we should have gone over to Miami and become part of their foundation, and we’ve got friends at the Miami Community Foundation, they do great things, so not taking anything away from them. But the idea is that this was going to be our community, helping our community. And I really give a lot of thanks to those folks who had that vision, and all the folks that have played a part along the way to get us to where we are today. We’re here to stay and we have really great relationships with the other community foundations across the state. We’re not the smallest, I mean, I think for a community of our size that might surprise people, where we really sort of, I think, hit above our weight class in that respect. And so we’re happy to be here and serving the community. We tell people all the time it is really your Community Foundation. And so we would encourage people to reach out to us to figure out ways that they can be involved, whether that’s through giving or serving on a committee. I mean, again, plug in for that grants committee in October. It’s a great way to sort of get involved. But reach out to us because even if you have a question about giving or what nonprofit is doing this or that, we’re happy to make those connections, and we do that all the time for folks, even if they’re not donors through the Community Foundation. Our mission is really again, to make the Florida Keys a better place to live now and in the future. And so if that means that it’s encouraging just more giving in the community. That’s a goal of ours as well. Thank you for the community, for all of the support. We’re coming up on 30 years. We’re really excited about that, and we’re really looking forward to the next chapter, and we look forward to doing that together with everyone else.”
For more information, click here: https://cffk.org/