Karen Watson & Tasheekia Perry
FORT MYERS, Fla. (Oct. 21, 2016) – The Southwest Florida Community Foundation has established the Impact Dunbar Fund as part of the Women’s Legacy Fund, a fund of the Southwest Florida Community Foundation.
Similar to the Women’s Legacy Fund, this new fund will include a group of women who foster the immersion of women in philanthropy and develop Dunbar’s next philanthropic leaders.
The Impact Dunbar Women’s Legacy Fund, founded by Karen Watson, MSW, executive director of Our Mother’s Home and Tasheekia Perry, of Crowning Daughters for Success, was established this year to empower young women and girls in the Dunbar community.
“We welcome the ladies of Dunbar who want to make a difference and create change in our region starting in their own neighborhood,” said Sarah Owen, president and CEO of the Southwest Florida Community Foundation. “We look forward to working together and learning from one another.”
The founding contributors to the fund are dedicated to providing experiences to young women and girls that broaden their exposure to careers, opportunities and community. The focus area for grant dollars from this fund will be targeted to programs and opportunities that will build, inspire and challenge the women and girls that call Dunbar home to be their best.
“After researching and interviewing a number of women’s foundations, we chose to establish this new fund under the Southwest Florida Community Foundation due to its long history in Southwest Florida and funding infrastructure,” said Watson.
Annual contributions of $250 or more to Impact Dunbar will be pooled to collectively award grants to nonprofit organizations. The cause area for the grant will be determined each year by the contributors. All $250 and more contributors will a vote on the cause for the following year’s grant. During the next year, Impact Dunbar will inspire contributors to join the fund and raise resources for a 2017 grant cycle. As the fund grows and Prima Donors join Impact Dunbar, the focus will expand to include an endowment fund. Additionally all giving levels of the Women’s Legacy Fund are available to the Impact Dunbar Fund.
The Southwest Florida Community Foundation, founded in 1976, cultivates regional change for the common good through collective leadership, social innovation and philanthropy to address the evolving community needs in Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Hendry and Glades counties. Last year, it partnered with individuals, families and corporations that created more than 400 philanthropic funds. Thanks to them, the Foundation’s invested $5 million in grants and programs to the community. With assets of more than $93 million, it has provided more than $67 million in grants and scholarships to the communities it serves since inception. The Community Foundation is the backbone organization for the regional FutureMakers Coalition and Lee County’s Sustainability Plan.
Based in Fort Myers, the Southwest Florida Community Foundation has satellite offices located on Sanibel Island, in LaBelle (Hendry County) and downtown Fort Myers. For more information, visit www.floridacommunity.com or call 239-274-5900.
