Community Foundation of Sarasota County

Community Foundation of Sarasota County

The Southwest Florida Estate Planning Council founded the Community Foundation of Sarasota County in 1979 to offer a permanent charitable structure for local donors. Roxie Jerde has been President and CEO since 2011, overseeing growth to more than $544 million in assets (Altss estimate). Board Chair Paul G. Hudson, a Market Leader at Northern Trust, provides institutional investment governance alongside a board drawn from the region's professional and philanthropic leadership. The foundation pools donor-advised, designated, and endowment funds into a unified portfolio. Its investment strategy combines a fund-of-funds approach with mezzanine allocations, sourcing commitments through external managers. Positions include a stake in Makena Capital Splitter X, L.P., and the foundation accepts non-traditional assets through its cryptocurrency donation program. Geographic deployment concentrates in Sarasota and Manatee counties, with grants flowing to more than a hundred local nonprofits annually. The team operates from a single headquarters on Fruitville Road in Sarasota. Roxie Jerde is set to retire in June 2025, marking the end of a 14-year tenure. The foundation partners with The Patterson Foundation, which provides matching funds for the biennial Giving Challenge — a community-wide fundraising event that channels millions to local causes. Professional affiliations include the Florida Philanthropic Network and Philanthropy Southeast, connecting the institution to regional grantmaking peers. Where most community foundations follow a conservative, plain-vanilla allocation, Sarasota County layers a mezzanine sleeve onto its fund-of-funds base — a yield-oriented posture uncommon among its regional peers. That structure, combined with its cryptocurrency acceptance and partnership with The Patterson Foundation's matching architecture, creates a funding flywheel that amplifies donor contributions beyond standard grant cycles.