In this season of giving, the Tampa Bay Chamber is proud to spotlight a member making a positive impact in the region far beyond November and December. It is the Community Foundation of Tampa Bay, quietly at work connecting people in game changing ways.
“We are a public, grant-making organization dedicated to galvanizing philanthropic support across our region. We partner with our fundholders to invest charitable assets into nonprofits and initiatives that address community issues and expand on regional opportunities,” said Marlene Spalten, President and CEO of Community Foundation Tampa Bay. “The result is a community that’s interwoven, cooperative, connected, and all aimed at the same strategic goals of a community that’s vibrant and works for everyone who lives here.”
A public grant making organization, Community Foundation Tampa Bay is dedicated to improving the community through philanthropy. Founded in 1990, the foundation has invested more than $382 million into the community since its inception.
“Philanthropic dollars are very precious,” Spalten said. “We have a whole team dedicated to staying in touch with, knowing and learning about, all the nonprofits in the area across the spectrum, from homelessness to arts and culture, so that when our donors ask us for advice on how to make their philanthropic investments, we have information we can share with them.”
An important area of focus for the foundation is to increase access to quality educational opportunities. One example of this is the LEAP Tampa Bay College Access Network, an initiative of Community Foundation Tampa Bay and its 16 founding partners. As a Hillsborough and Pinellas County joint initiative, LEAP partners with school districts, local colleges, the business community, and local government to promote post-secondary education completion with the goal of 60% of working age adults in the Tampa Bay area with a degree or high-quality certificate by 2025.
This program has had significant success since it began, including the launching of Complete Tampa Bay, a college success coaching program that works with students on completing their degree, and the creation of college and career centers in Pinellas and Hillsborough high schools that help students with college research and application processes. LEAP partners also created the Fuse program, comprised of pathways for students to use when transition seamlessly from Hillsborough Community College, St. Petersburg College and Pasco-Hernando State College into the University of South Florida and provides students with scholarships to support their education.
“We see the joy of people who support students through scholarship funds and the gratitude from those who receive them,” Spalten said. “Scholarships are lifechanging, enhancing the lives of the recipients and the workforce that they enter with their education.”
There are many ways to become a philanthropic partner with the Community Foundation Tampa Bay, including creating a donor advised fund, using the flexibility of the foundation for estate planning, creating an endowment to benefit nonprofits, and more. The foundation can accept gifts in many forms from cash and securities to complex gifts like property and businesses.
“Many business owners don’t realize that when they’re planning to sell their business, they can actually gift their business,” Spalten said. “We can accept complex gifts like that and monetize them for the donor and help put more money toward charity.”
Members of the Tampa Bay Chamber since 2015, Community Foundation Tampa Bay is deeply involved in the business community. Several employees of the foundation have been involved in various chamber committees and programs such as Leadership Tampa. Spalten also serves on the Chamber’s board of directors.
“I have learned a great deal from my colleagues at the chamber,” Spalten said. “I hope we are equally valuable to them as experts in the field of philanthropy.
