Indian River Community Foundation

Indian River Community Foundation's business is philanthropy. We work to expand and deploy financial capital, primarily through grants to local nonprofit charitable organizations to improve the community.

Indian River County is one of the wealthiest counties in Florida. It also has one of the highest wealth disparities among all counties in the United States. Almost half of all households in the county live either in poverty or one paycheck away from it with incomes that are not high enough to cover basic needs. While progress is being made to improve the status of several community challenges, problems persist. According to a comprehensive Community Needs Assessment conducted in 2019 and completed in 2020, there are still:
• Too many children who are not prepared for kindergarten, not reading on grade level by third grade and not graduating high school.
• Too many children engaged in risky behaviors such as vaping and unprotected teen sex, or who do not obtain mental health or substance abuse recovery services.
• Too many families who cannot secure employment that supplies a living wage.
• Too many residents who lack affordable medical and dental care.
• Too many residents who engage in risky behaviors, such as binge drinking, or who do not obtain mental health or substance abuse recovery services.
• Too many families who cannot afford safe, quality housing.
• Too many senior citizens who live alone or are isolated from essential social interactions, and too many seniors who engage in risky behaviors such as binge drinking or smoking.

The Community Foundation has three key strategies:
• Helping individuals and families to organize and carry out their charitable giving, primarily through donor advised funds.
• Inspiring our customers to create and leave a charitable legacy, primarily through donor-supported permanent endowment funds.
• Generating and sharing knowledge about Indian River County's nonprofit sector that can be used by our customers and other stakeholders to practice effective philanthropy.

The Community Foundation and its clients practice philanthropy so that all residents might live healthy, prosperous lives. We do this by growing, stewarding and deploying grant dollars and by developing and sharing community knowledge that can:
• Inspire social innovation and bring new ideas to market.
• Build promising practices.
• Sustain anchor institutions and proven programs.
• Inform and advocate for systems change and improvement.

• An engaged, invested, connected and capable Board of Directors.
• An experienced staff team dedicated to providing excellent service to our customers and other stakeholders.
• A knowledge of the nonprofit sector, and a history of effective grantmaking to local charitable organizations.
• A reputation as a trusted partner to a growing network of local professional advisors.
• A sound financial position and operating structure positioned for growth.

Organization: In order to effectively carry out its mission and do this important work, the Community Foundation is working toward achieving its own financial sustainability by June 30, 2020. We will do this by maintaining a manageable operating budget, by growing assets and by securing an operating endowment.

Community: Indian River County households are generous, and contribute nearly two times the national average as a percentage of household wealth. In spite of this generosity, 90 percent of the nonprofit charitable organizations located in Indian River County hold less than 12 months of operating expenses as savings on their balance sheets.

According to the recent report, Transfer of Wealth in Indian River County, we know that between 2010 and 2060, an estimated $48 billion will transfer from one generation to the next among Indian River County households. The Community Foundation believes that we can encourage a community of donors to contribute five percent of this amount to long term endowment funds to benefit local charitable organizations. If we are successful in this effort, the annual payout would be nearly $120 million beginning in 2060, and the result of this effort would support forever the good work of our community's most effective charitable organizations.