A new report by the Center for Effective Philanthropy places the Community Foundation of Sarasota County in the upper echelon of community foundations across the country, giving the organization high marks for donor satisfaction and community impact and knowledge.

The Community Foundation scored 6.55 out of a total of 7 in overall donor satisfaction as part of a donor perception report conducted earlier this year by surveying current donors working with the foundation. This figure ranks in the top 3 percent of community foundations nationwide and also represents an increase from the results of a similar survey conducted by the center in 2019.

The foundation achieved similarly high scores when donors were asked if they would be likely to recommend the foundation to a friend or colleague (in the top 5 percent nationwide) and when they were asked to rate how responsive the organization is (in the top 7 percent). When donors were asked to evaluate the foundation’s impact on the Sarasota County area and how well the staff at the foundation understands the region, the foundation ranked at the very top of the center’s national rankings—setting new high-water marks for not only the Community Foundation of Sarasota County, but for community foundations across the nation.

“We’re pleased with the results of this year’s Center for Effective Philanthropy survey for many reasons, but above all, we’re proud to see that our scores have increased since 2019,” says Jay Young, vice president of philanthropy at the Community Foundation. “Over the past six years, we’ve taken a number of steps to improve our operations, and it’s gratifying to learn that our donors recognize that growth and that the changes we’ve implemented are making a noticeable difference.”

According to Young, the foundation will use the feedback gathered through the survey to inform future efforts: “The reason we conduct surveys like this isn’t to focus on what we’re doing well—it’s to identify areas where we can improve in partnership with our donors.”

The Donor Perception Report was created by the Center for Effective Philanthropy, a national organization with offices in Massachusetts and California that provides data and feedback for foundations and donors throughout the United States. To study donors’ perception of the Community Foundation, the center anonymously surveyed hundreds of foundation donors. The center then compared those results to its database of survey findings nationwide, as well as to a smaller selection of community foundations of a similar size to the Community Foundation.

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About the Community Foundation of Sarasota County: The Community Foundation of Sarasota County is a public charity founded in 1979 by the Southwest Florida Estate Planning Council as a resource for caring individuals and the causes they support, enabling them to make a charitable impact on the community. With assets of $544 million in nearly 1,600 charitable funds, the Community Foundation awarded grants and scholarships totaling $56 million last year in the areas of education, the arts, health and human services, civic engagement, animal welfare and the environment. Since its founding, the Community Foundation has been able to grant more than $500 million to nonprofits in our community thanks to the generosity of charitable individuals, families and businesses. For more information, visit cfsrasota.org or call 941-955-3000.