Sarasota and Manatee counties are built on generosity. Each year, philanthropists break funding records, championing people and communities in need and paving the way for future generations. In a region where giving is the norm, it’s hard to pinpoint the best of the best—but these 10 philanthropic moments from the last 12 months will have a major impact on the quality of our lives.

Healthcare

A $25 Million Gift Made the Kolschowsky Research and Education Institute Possible

In 2008, Karen Kolschowsky was diagnosed with late-stage ovarian cancer. Her first thought was, “Am I going to die?” But Kolschowsky survived and is thriving, thanks in large part to the care she received from Dr. James Fiorica, a Sarasota gynecological oncologist, and Sarasota Memorial Hospital. In April 2025, Kolschowsky, her husband Gerald, and their son Tim, the president of the Gerald A. and Karen A. Kolschowsky Foundation, celebrated the opening of the Kolschowsky Research and Education Institute on Sarasota Memorial’s Sarasota campus, which was made possible by the family’s $25 million cornerstone gift. The 82,000-square-foot, $75 million center will encompass research, clinical education and residency programs. It’s a “transformational” gift, say hospital leaders, and one that will attract even more top-tier medical talent to the hospital. The institute will feature advanced medical simulation labs, several classrooms, a medical library, a 360-degree immersive training room and a 400-seat auditorium, which will be used for medical conferences, education events and Sarasota Memorial Hospital board meetings.

ARTS

Sarasota Orchestra Receives Two Large Gifts for Its New Music Center

Six years ago, the City of Sarasota shocked the Sarasota Orchestra—the longest continually running orchestra in Florida—and its supporters by rejecting the organization’s proposal to build a dedicated music hall in downtown Sarasota’s Payne Park. Forced to rethink its plans, the orchestra has now secured a 32-acre property at the corner of Fruitville and Cattlemen roads, where it will open its new 250,000-square-foot facility, called the Music Center, that will house an 1,800-seat concert hall and a 700-seat recital hall. Much of the project will be made possible thanks to an anonymous $60 million donation the orchestra received in February, one of the largest gifts ever to a U.S. orchestra, and the largest gift ever made in Sarasota. Then another major donation rolled in, this time a $10 million gift from Sarasota philanthropists Jack and Priscilla Schlegel. “These two gifts underscore our two pillars at the orchestra: education and performance,” says Joe McKenna, Sarasota Orchestra’s president and CEO. “They benefit the community in ways that didn't seem possible even five years ago.” The new facility will open in time for the orchestra’s 2029-2030 season, and McKenna says it will also enrich Sarasota’s live music offerings and education through its Sarasota Youth Orchestras and Summer Musical Camps. The orchestra will also expand its current 100-concert lineup to include performances beyond acoustic concerts through partnerships with other arts organizations.

DISASTER RELIEF

Nonprofits Provide Quick-Response Hurricane Disaster Recovery

When Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton ripped through Sarasota and Manatee counties last year, the Community Foundation of Sarasota County, Gulf Coast Community Foundation, Manatee Community Foundation and United Way Suncoast immediately activated plans to allocate grants to dozens of area nonprofits to aid in long-term recovery. After raising more than $10 million, the organizations channeled several million dollars into grants to nonprofits like the Center of Anna Maria Island, Meals on Wheels PLUS and the Early Learning Coalition of Sarasota County, which kept residents fed, clothed and housed while also working toward broader repairs throughout Southwest Florida. For example, Rebuilding Together Greater Florida received funds to begin making home repairs in Sarasota’s Newtown neighborhood, Charlotte County and DeSoto County after it received grants from the Community Foundation of Sarasota County and United Way Suncoast. “We invest recovery dollars in what families need now, and also invest in the resources that may be needed for the future,” says United Way Suncoast’s disaster resilience officer Heather Koester. “Today, we’ve distributed more than $1.2 million to organizations like Rebuilding Together.”

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Veterans Find a Home at Heroes' Village

In April 2025, the doors opened to Sarasota's Heroes' Village, the first affordable housing complex dedicated to veterans—a result of creative thinking that combined private funding, local and federal grants, and government and community partnerships. Local gifts included $400,000 from Peter Soderberg of the Peter and Elsa Soderberg Charitable Foundation and Skip and Gail Sack of the Sack Family Foundation. Gulf Coast Community Foundation directed $300,000 in grants to the $3 million project, and the land in north Sarasota was donated by the City of Sarasota. St. Vincent de Paul Cares—a Florida-based nonprofit that aims to eliminate homelessness—manages Heroes’ Village and offers its 10 residents other kinds of assistance like mental health counseling, transportation and job readiness training. Each two-bedroom unit provides permanent housing at a fixed rental rate of no more than 30 percent of the resident’s monthly income. “Everything was based around one word: dignity,” says Jon Thaxton, director of policy and advocacy for Gulf Coast Community Foundation.  “We built a home that honors our veterans’ commitment to our democracy,” Thaxton says.

ARTS

The Herrig Center for the Arts Enriches Bradenton’s Cultural District

What began as an idea sparked by six artists in the 1930s has grown to inspire an entire district dedicated to keeping the arts alive in Manatee County. Thanks in part to a $2 million donation from the Steve and Natalee Herrig Foundation, the Herrig Center for the Arts, which opened this May, replaced ArtCenter Manatee, the visual arts organization founded in 1937. The new center is a curvy, long-lined green building with a park and sculpture garden, and, at 28,000 square feet, more than doubles the space of the old ArtCenter, allowing for more exhibits and art classes, and adding jewelry and pottery studios and event space. “It’s so fun to see people come in who say, ‘I can’t draw a stick figure,’ and within months of training at our classes learn to create beautiful art,” says executive director Carla Nierman. Situated close to the Bradenton Riverwalk, Manatee Performing Arts Center and Bishop Museum of Science and Nature, the $15 million project has solidified Third Avenue West—now known as Avenue of the Arts—as a vibrant cultural corridor. “It’s a beautiful entrance into downtown Bradenton over the Green Bridge from Palmetto,” says Nierman. “It feels like home.”

MEDIA

Suncoast Searchlight Launches Investigative News Coverage for Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto Counties

Thanks to nearly $1.1 million in seed-granting from the Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation last year, Suncoast Searchlight’s mission to “shine a light on critical issues facing the Suncoast region” is in full swing. The nonprofit newsroom partners with other local news outlets (like Sarasota Magazine) by providing its investigative reporting for republication and co-producing stories about government transparency, the environment and affordable housing, just to name a few. Suncoast Searchlight’s executive editor-in-chief, longtime journalist Emily Le Coz, says that investigative journalism still exists on the Suncoast, but there are fewer resources—and therefore fewer journalists—dedicated to digging deep. “We’ve made the strategic decision to focus on the important stories that may have fallen through the cracks,” she says. Suncoast Searchlight’s independent board of directors has attracted media veterans from NPR, The Poynter Institute and The New York Times, which Le Coz credits to the Barancik Foundation and its extensive reach. “It lends heft and credibility to [our] organization,” she says. Suncoast Searchlight originally launched in 2023 as the Community News Collaborative, but reorganized as its own 501(c)(3) in 2024 after receiving grants from the Barancik Foundation. It will need more funding in the future to continue after the Barancik seed money runs out. “We’ll hopefully be adding a development director soon,” Le Coz says, “and we’ll continue to explore donations from philanthropic groups, individuals and granting institutions.”

DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES

The Haven Receives More Than $1 Million to Purchase Neighboring Land for New Residences

Born from a group of caring parents who wanted better opportunities for their four developmentally disabled children, the Sunshine Day School began in a rented airplane hangar near Sarasota Bradenton Airport in 1954. Now called The Haven, it has grown to serve more than 600 people and provides services and residences to individuals with developmental disabilities. Soon, The Haven will open several more residences on a new 2.24-acre property, a purchase made possible by a $1.05 million gift from Karen and Steve Shapiro, who have an adult son on the autism spectrum. Called The Residences at UTC, the property will provide independent housing for approximately 40 adults on The Haven’s growing waitlist. “There’s nothing like [Haven Residences at UTC] in the country,” Karen Shapiro says. “I’ve looked, and it’s a unique model.” Earlier this year, the organization also added two new group homes, Michael’s Place and Brad’s Place, to its 32-acre main campus on Desoto Road, which houses 67 adults. Residents live together, share meals and flourish alongside their peers. "The most exciting part of every new housing community we build is move-in day—seeing the joy on our clients' faces as they step into their own space, many for the first time,” says Carol Jones, The Haven’s director of residential services. “It’s in those moments that we witness true growth, independence and the incredible pride that comes with calling a place home," Shapiro adds.

CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

A Successful All-Volunteer Campaign Protected The Ringling

When New College of Florida announced last February that it planned to take over its next-door neighbor, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, it shocked museum leadership and supporters. Since 2000, Florida State University has been a strong financial and professional steward of the museum, which is located on a beautiful campus along Sarasota Bay that includes John and Mable Ringling’s home (Ca'd'Zan), and a circus museum. The museum’s supporters had no confidence that tiny, controversial New College, with no experience or infrastructure in running a museum and nagging reports of financial issues, could manage the official state art museum of Florida. Enter Nancy Parrish, a former board chair of The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art Foundation, who understood the ins and outs of lawmaking from her time working for the Florida Senate and from her public affairs consultancy firm. She immediately formed Citizens to Protect the Ringling, which attracted 2,500 members, created a website, and began mobilizing. Parrish galvanized former board members, trustees and community donors to write a letter to lawmakers, sent press releases to the media, convened a town hall that attracted more than 350 people, launched an email campaign to all state legislators that hit inboxes twice a week, and focused her message on fiscal responsibility. She welcomed supporters of the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee (USFSM), also fighting a takeover by New College, to join the campaign. The efforts were victorious. The Florida Legislature did not fund the takeover of The Ringling or USFSM—at least for this year. “The lesson is that grassroots campaigns still work,” Parrish says. “If citizens, neighborhoods and the community come together and speak in one voice about an issue that greatly impacts them, even the most powerful forces have to listen.”

PARKS

The Bay Receives a $1 Million Gift, Marking $50 Million in Private Funding

Since opening in late 2022, The Bay has welcomed more than 650,000 visitors to a 53-acre downtown site along Sarasota Bay–and it’s only completed  Phase 1. Described as “one park for all,” The Bay has transformed its formerly unused land into lush green space for the public to enjoy. The park hosts nearly 500 family-friendly events and programs throughout the year, including outdoor yoga, live music, movie nights, guided paddles and more. Overseen by its parent organization, The Bay Park Conservancy, The Bay announced this year that it has raised $50 million in private funding. Much of that has been incentivized by The Patterson Foundation, which has provided $10 million since 2016—including a $1 million cap earlier this year that will go toward The Bay’s second phase, scheduled to be completed in 2026. Phase 2 will focus on 14 acres that are divided into three segments: a “cultural district,” “resilient shoreline” and “canal district.” The “cultural district” includes plans to rehabilitate the historic Garden Club, Municipal Auditorium and Chidsey Library, which are on the National Register of Historic Places. The “resilient shoreline” initiative, meanwhile, will restore nearly one mile of wild intracoastal shoreline to buffer potential flooding and storm surge, and will also be accessible via walkways. Finally, the “canal district” will increase water access by way of day docks (where boats can dock for the day) and a restructured seawall.

NATURE

The Quad Parcels receives a $1 million gift.

A campaign from Big Waters Land Trust and Sarasota Audubon Society to re-wild the quad parcels at Sarasota’s Celery Fields is gaining momentum after an anonymous $1 million gift in May. Developers had been in talks with Sarasota County officials about building residential projects on the county-owned land, located off I-75 and Fruitville Road—that is, until the Sarasota Audubon Society stepped in to advocate for its protection. Sarasota Audubon launched the campaign’s first phase in January, with plans to add habitat for birds and wildlife by expanding wooded areas and adding a pollinator meadow on 11 acres of the 33-acre conservation easement protected land. “We didn’t want commercial buildings on these sites, so we and many others petitioned the county, which agreed to put them under a conservation easement,” says Jeanne Dubi, Sarasota Audubon’s director of special projects. “[The county] could have sold these parcels for $3 million apiece, so it’s an extraordinary agreement.” The newly protected land will also create a buffer between the Celery Fields and any future development nearby. Because the Sarasota Audubon Society is a fully volunteer-led organization, it works in conjunction with Big Waters Land Trust (formerly Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast), which holds the conservation easement and alleviates the administrative burden for the Sarasota Audubon Society. Sarasota Audubon, in turn, manages the property and will restore the parcel’s soil quality and vegetation. “We’ll add a variety of habitats,” says Sarasota Audubon Society president Sara Reisinger. “We're creating a forest for woodland birds, but there are some birds that prefer low, dense, heavy vegetation, so we’ll also be creating a thicket for those birds to escape into.” Once complete, the parcels will include footpaths among 1,000 soon-to-be-planted trees and plants, along with viewing platforms for the public. Reisinger calls it a “gentle impact” and hopes that the re-wilding will encourage even more species to come to rest while enthusiastic birders catch a glimpse of their favorite species.