Community Foundation of Collier County

The Collier County Community Foundation (CCF) has four ultimate goals: 1. Leverage CCF's influence and resources to grow assets. 2. Provide grants to meet high priority community needs. 3. Gather, use and broadly share knowledge about the community and its needs. 4. Educate donors and the community about the needs in Collier County.

Four broad strategies are based on the Foundation's major goals: 1. Fully engage with CCF's donors to understand their needs and interests, to influence and be influenced by their interests, and to increase their total giving. 2. Undertake a specific, focused and sustained plan to strategically reach out to professional advisors who support planned giving. 3. Align CCF's grantmaking programs to strategically impact highest priority community needs according to the most recent Community Needs Assessment. 4. Improve marketing and communication efforts to attract donors who will create endowed funds. The transfer of wealth in the U.S. by 2052 is expected to be $1.4 trillion dollars. In Florida, it is expected that $322 billion will change hands by 2020. In Collier County, it is expected that $14.7 billion will change hands by 2020. If $734 million of the transfer (approx 5%) was endowed, $34 million would be available each year for community improvements - forever. In order to capitalize on this transfer, the Foundation must engage donors in community issues and involve professional advisors - estate planners, attorneys, financial planners and accountants who work with charitable individuals - in the work of the Community Foundation. Donors with advised funds will be introduced to hundreds of nonprofits serving Collier County in a variety of ways, such as donor briefings on issues, site visits and through their introduction to Vital Signs - collected by the Community Foundation to measure the impact of its grantmaking. Highest priority needs are evaluated annually. Donors are encouraged to create unrestricted or field of interest funds to address local needs.

The Community Foundation of Collier County has 33 years of experience serving as a public charity in Collier County. It currently holds approximately $250 million dollars and manages 850 philanthropic funds, including 70+ local Agency Endowment Funds. The Foundation has granted approximately $230 million to nonprofits from its funds including  approx. The Foundation also launched multiple community leadership initiatives during past 33 years and engaged thousands of donors in supporting community issues.

For the past 38 years, the Collier Community Foundation has grown as a philanthropic resource for donors and nonprofits in our community. In 2019, the Foundation's board launched a new strategic plan which sharply focused its efforts on building a community endowment and providing data-driven grants and leadership that help solve community problems and improve the quality of life in Collier County. Over 70 nonprofit agencies have established endowment funds at the Community Foundation, further ensuring their long-term sustainability. The Foundation wants to continue to build endowed funds for donors and nonprofits and encourage donors to become more involved in community issues. By building on our past success, we will continue to increase grants to community organizations and improve the life of residents of Collier County. All goals of the 2019 strategic plan were met or exceeded. In 2023 the Community Foundation is updating its strategic plan.