Community Foundation of Collier County
Informed giving. Powerful results.™
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Donor Services
The Foundation currently manages over 700 funds established by charitable individuals, corporations, and organizations. Fund assets are managed professionally with oversight from an investment advisory committee to sustain grantmaking and community leadership into the future.
Our team of philanthropic experts can provide information related to the needs of the community and in-depth knowledge of many nonprofits located in Collier County. The Foundation also maintains an online directory of nonprofits that provide services to the citizens of Collier County. This directory assists donors in identifying the organizations they might be interested in supporting.
The Foundation also provides customized community needs reporting to our fund holders, research to assure that all beneficiaries are qualified charities, and detailed grant evaluations.
Community Grantmaking
The Collier Community Foundation operates a wide-ranging grants program that is not limited to a single focus or cause or exclusively to the interests of a particular constituency and includes over 60 scholarship opportunities to support students of all ages.
The Foundation selects focus areas and grantees based on community needs and gaps in services as identified by the data contained in annual community indicator reports and the Community Needs Assessment. Moreover, the Foundation strives to mobilize community resources by engaging donors and other funders to co-invest in the grant and/or scholarship process.
The Foundation awards some grants from its discretionary resources through open, competitive processes that address the changing needs of the community and widely disseminates grant guidelines to ensure the fullest possible participation from the community it serves.
Women’s Foundation of Collier County Fund
The Women’s Foundation of Collier County (WFCC), established in 1996, is a field-of-interest fund administered by the Community Foundation of Collier County whose mission is to be a catalyst for change in the lives of women and girls in Collier County through grantmaking, advocacy and education. WFCC has granted almost $900,000 to local women and girl’s programs and organizations.
Where we work
Accreditations
External reviews

Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of organizations applying for grants
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Children and youth
Related Program
Community Grantmaking
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Measures the number of nonprofits that are "reviewed" in the NONPROFIT DIRECTORY, or applying for grants for program dollars or capacity building dollars.
Median grant amount
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Children and youth
Related Program
Community Grantmaking
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
The average amount of dollars awarded as Program Grants for Program Grant requests
Total dollar amount of grants awarded
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Children and youth
Related Program
Donor Services
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Total grants from all funds. Donor Advised Fund and Designated grants comprise more than half of all dollars granted
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
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.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
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.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
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.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
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.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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Who are the people you serve with your mission?
We serve the entire community, with a focus on populations most in need as identified by data. We collect data on our community in several ways: 1) Conducting focus groups for the Community Needs Assessment; 2) Collecting information via detailed surveys distribute by dozens of nonprofits to those they serve for the Community Needs Assessment; 3) Conducting "On The Table" talks and online surveys with thousands of residents; 4) examining published data; 5) working with the data host MySidewalk to examine hundreds of data sets on our community, some of which we publish on our website.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals, To invest dollars where they will mke the greatest impact in the community
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What significant change resulted from feedback?
A few examples: We began to focus more on granting dollars to those nonprofits serving individuals with disabilities and Veteran status. We work more closely with our local government and other funders to address one of our greatest challenges, which is availability of affordable housing for essential employees such as law enforcement, teachers, nurses, etc. We worked closely with our local government to distribute public dollars for food insecurity throughout the pandemic.
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Community Foundation of Collier County
Board of directorsas of 04/10/2023
Mr. James Morey
Jerry Tostrud
James F. Morey
Lynn Martin
Myra Williams
David Watson
Todd Bradley
Brad A. Galbraith
John M. Costigan
Allyson Richards
William Barker
Jeffrey Diermeier
Elizabeth T. Frank
R. Robert Funderburg
Judy Jorgensen
Dolly Bodick Korest
Kathleen Ludwig
Vladimir Mathieu
Thomas Oliveri
Giselle Wagner
Vladimir Mathieu
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Not applicable
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data