Florida State College at Jacksonville Foundation

Florida State College at Jacksonville Foundation

The Florida State College at Jacksonville Foundation was established in 1972 as a separate 501(c)(3) to fill funding gaps that state aid and tuition cannot cover. It operates alongside the college, with President John Avendano and Chief Investment and Advancement Relations Officer Cleve Warren guiding strategy, while a board stacked with regional executives — Brent Lister of First Florida Credit Union and Michael Corrigan of Visit Jacksonville — sets fiduciary direction. Warren’s investment team runs a diversified pool that spans real estate, multistrategy hedge funds, venture capital, natural resource funds, and ETFs. Direct property holdings include the 20 West Adams mixed-use building and campus-adjacent commercial parcels, while the venture sleeve touches seed, early-stage, and growth exposures through fund commitments. The foundation also derives revenue from the FSCJ Artist Series, which books touring Broadway productions at Jacksonville’s Center for the Performing Arts — a revenue stream unusual among community-college endowments. Confirmed donor partners include the Fidelity Foundation ($600,000 grant), the Jessie Ball du Pont Fund ($242,401), and the PGA Tour. The foundation reports into the NACUBO-TIAA Study of Endowments, with an estimated pool of $58 million as of 2026. The board draws on Jacksonville’s corporate base: Michael Burns of CSX, Paige Hakimian of Hakimian Holdings, and real-estate attorney Christopher A. Walker of Lippes Mathias all hold seats. In the last two years, standard stewardship activity — grant disbursements, scholarship awards — has continued without a publicly disclosed flagship commitment or vehicle launch. What separates this foundation from a typical community-college endowment is its management of a live performing-arts series and a physical real estate book that includes downtown commercial space, rather than outsourcing all non-financial assets to the college’s operations. That dual operating-and-investment posture gives Warren’s office a broader P&L remit than most peer foundations, though the absence of a dedicated investment office suggests most manager selection still runs through the board’s finance committee.