Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation recently approved grants for 13 local nonprofits that support the community in the areas of education, humanitarian causes, mental health treatment capacity, arts and cultural growth and strengthening the environment. Three of the grants will help grow capacity for highly successful organizations that are improving youth mentoring, creating the best chance for new babies from challenged communities, and educating children living with autism.
In the area of education, Barancik Foundation approved:
Support for worker training
- Our investment: A $150,000 grant to The Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce Foundation for the organization’s CareerEdge program.
- Helping improve workers’ prospects: The Chamber’s CareerEdge program assists unemployed/underemployed individuals unable to adequately earn livable wages to support themselves and their families because of a lack of skills or credentials needed to launch their careers.
Helping adult learners
- Our investment: A $225,000 grant to Project Light of Manatee to increase organizational and program capacity.
- Investing in motivated adult learners: Project Light will provide stipends to qualified instructors, update/replace technology, add a part-time administrative support position, and continue to support students in a myriad of ways.
Supporting growth to mentor more children
- Our investment: A $650,000 grant to Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Sun Coast to consolidate two offices and create a 100-person capacity mentoring center.
- Reaching more children with mentoring: This grant will help Big Brothers Big Sisters serve 500 more children and meet the more complex needs of the organization’s youth and their families.
Operational support for aid to children and families
- Our investment: A $1 million grant to the Florida Center for Early Childhood to invest in staff and infrastructure.
- Support a team of professionals: The Center continues to grow into a broad provider specializing in early intervention, collaborating with community partners to provide preschool education, diagnostic and therapeutic services, parent education, and more.
To support humanitarian causes, Barancik Foundation is investing in:
Supporting guide dogs for youth
- Our investment: A $50,000 matching grant to Southeastern Guide Dogs for its fundraising campaign.
- Support for children and teens with vision loss: Southeastern Guide Dogs provides guide and service dogs for children living with disabilities and trauma. This program fills a critical gap in the working-dog industry by being the first and only service dog school in the United States to offer guide dogs to children and teens with vision loss.
Capacity to help more homebound seniors
- Our investment: A $130,000 grant to Meals on Wheels of Sarasota to expand its workforce and its grow fundraising capability.
- Remaking an operation and growing capacity: This grant will enable Meals on Wheels to hire full-time development and operations staff as it seeks additional funding to renovate its administrative office which will maximize the space and efficiency.
Supporting analysis of the affordable housing crisis
- Our investment: A $230,000 grant to the Florida Policy Institute to support a regional and statewide housing analyst.
- Addressing a crisis: FPI launched this position in 2022 at the behest of the Barancik Foundation to help policymakers at all levels of government and in private and philanthropic institutions to figure out ways to combat the dearth of workforce housing.
Helping children in crisis
- Our investment: A $550,000 grant to Child Protection Center to support existing staff and to add capacity.
- Maintaining staff helping kids facing trauma: With the support of this grant, the center will hire additional staff, continue to increase compensation and benefit packages, offer additional professional development, and demonstrate a commitment to staff morale, wellness, and self-care.
Helping nurture healthier babies
- Our investment: A $650,000 grant to CenterPlace Health for expansion of its obstetrics program.
- All life starts are not equal: Most expectant mothers come to the federally qualified health center uninsured or undocumented from environments that are impoverished. 42% are uninsured and 42% have Medicaid. 45% are low income (up to 200% of the federal poverty line) and 32% live in poverty (at or below the federal poverty line). This expansion will improve maternal and infant health outcomes, especially to those vulnerable populations who are at risk and have little to no prenatal care, especially in the first trimester.
With a focus on mental health, Barancik Foundation approved:
Growing much-needed mental health counselors
- Our investment: A $400,000 grant to Samaritan Counseling Services of the Gulf Coast to support the organization’s Future Community Counselors strategy.
- Building an intern team with eye toward the future: This organization has the ability to attract, motivate, supervise, and retain highly qualified interns. This grant will allow Samaritan to expand and improve that program and keep new counselors in our region.
Growing a unique educational institution
- Our investment: A $750,000 grant to Easterseals Southwest Florida to grow the Autism Center for Excellence.
- Reaching even more children living with autism: Easterseals has reduced waiting times and consolidated case management, diagnostic, mental health services, and a full array of therapies together under a single program. To best serve the needs of the families in our community, the organization will expand the center and grow capacity.
In the area of arts and culture, Barancik Foundation is investing in:
Protecting Freedom of Artistic Expression
- Our investment: A $150,000 grant to Westcoast Black Theater Troupe for finding and funding trained production staff.
- A unique offering for black, Indigenous and people of color: This grant establishes a fund that will help the organization mentor and train entry level personnel critical to continuing the growth and success of the troupe while contributing more skilled artistic production talent who would be available to the organization and the important theatre arts sector in the larger community.
To support the environment, Barancik Foundation approved:
Strengthening environmental stewardship
- Our investment: A $265,000 grant to Sunshine Community Compost to grow its personnel and reach.
- Critical to the Environment: Food entering landfills accounts for about 7% of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere. This grant will allow Sunshine Compost to increase staff capacity by adding a full-time program manager and increasing the hours of the executive director to a full-time position, in addition to other growth to reach more clients.
Additional Investments
An additional $155,000 in grants was awarded for annual operating costs and programs of organizations that Chuck and Margie held close to their heart.
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About Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation
The Charles and Margery Barancik family has long believed in the power of philanthropy to shape our world and enrich the lives of all people. It was the expression of this belief that led them in 2014 to establish Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation—a private, family foundation located in Sarasota, Florida. Barancik Foundation creates initiatives and awards grants in Sarasota and beyond in the areas of education, humanitarian causes, arts and culture, the environment, and medical research. For more information, visit www.barancikfoundation.org.
