FORT MYERS, Fla. (Jan. 26, 2017) – The Southwest Florida Community Foundation recently hosted more than a dozen of its Women’s Legacy Fund’s Prima Donors for dinner and conversation on Impact Dunbar, a new fund established by women of Dunbar.
Christina Harris Schwinn, Connie Lizak, Lynne Birdt & Dawn-Marie Driscoll
Prima Donors are local women who have contributed $10,000 or more to the Women’s Legacy Fund endowment and are committed to making an impact in their community through charitable giving.
Conversation leaders were Impact Dunbar Founders Karen Watson, a prima donor, and TaSheekia Perry. 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 fund was established in 2016 to empower young women and girls in the Dunbar Community.
The WLF Prima Donors are now made up of 44 women from across the region. The WLF also offers a contributor-giving level at $250 a year. The WLF was established in 2007 by the Community Foundation to enable women in Southwest Florida to direct their giving in focused, strategic ways. The Fund’s mission is to engage women in affecting change in our community through collective philanthropy.
Gail Markham, Diana Willis & Elaine Hawkins
In nine years of existence, the WLF has been able to provide more than $122,000 in grants to benefit people and communities in Southwest Florida. Currently, the Fund has $547,000 in endowment that will continue to help fund local issues now and in the future.
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.
Carolyn Conant, Adrina White & Elaine Ehmann
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, call 239-274-5900 or visit www.floridacommunity.com.
