GWCF donors support nonprofits that are making an impact.
GiveWell Community Foundation champions charitable giving to improve the quality of life in Polk, Highlands and Hardee counties, both now and for future generations. The Community Foundation is home to a variety of charitable funds created by generous donors for purposes ranging from the specific: providing annual grants to their favorite nonprofit organizations, to broad: addressing the changing needs of our community.
GiveWell Community Foundation is grateful for our donors, past and present who co-invest in our mission. We are committed to using their gifts to make grants to effective nonprofits supporting both proven programs and promising new practices addressing community needs. Here are some examples of how we do that:
We address community needs as they evolve.
- Anticipating COVID-19’s effect on our communities, GiveWell Community Foundation partnered with the United Way of Central Florida to establish the United Community Relief Fund. The fund has remained active to support those impacted by hurricanes and nonprofits providing vital relief services. More than $1 million has been raised and rapidly distributed from the fund in Polk, Highlands and Hardee counties.
- When Polk County was designated as a Health Care Professional Shortage Area by the Health Resources and Services Administration, a grant from GWCF enabled Florida Southern College to establish an endowed pediatric nursing chair to train future nurses who will support the growing under-18 population.
- A study unveiled by the local economic development council found equity and access issues to be a major hindrance in our public education system. A series of grants totaling $4.5 million enabled Academy Prep and IDEA Charter School to establish campuses in underserved areas of Lakeland which provide academically rigorous curriculum to students from low-income backgrounds.
We enable proven, effective nonprofits to scale their operations.
- Boys & Girls Clubs of Polk County provides a safe haven and quality programs to help kids succeed and grow. With our support, Boys & Girls Clubs was able to expand into more rural areas and renovate their facilities to double the number of students served from 5,000 to 10,000.
- Since 1965, RCMA has offered free childcare and VPK to the children of migrant farm workers and rural, low-income families. Our grants have enabled them to establish a dual language school in Mulberry currently serving grades K-2, adding a grade each year until they become a K-8th grade school.
We help remove barriers to self-sufficiency, paying for things that others can’t or won’t.
- Our grants to Polk Training Center allow adults with developmental disabilities the opportunity for community inclusion, skills development, basic adult education and vocational training.
- The Women’s Resource Center is a critical resource for women who have experienced domestic or sexual abuse. With the help of grants from the Community Foundation, they are able to teach valuable life skills focused on mental wellness and financial fitness that help clients achieve independence.
- By supporting the mission of Lighthouse for the Blind, clients experiencing gradual vision loss are equipped with the skills and equipment to navigate that transition to continue to work and be self-sufficient.
We support economic development.
- Recognizing the need to support entrepreneurs, we invested more than $10 million to build a business incubator to foster the growth of startup business and help founders build scalable businesses.
We provide leverage to bring government funding to our community.
- Our grant to Polk State College Haines City-Davenport Campus helped leverage $8.1 million from the State of Florida to construct a 75,000 square foot facility that will include Central Florida’s first public higher education interdisciplinary simulation hospital.
- Our $1 million lead grant to Junior Achievement was matched by state and school district funds to establish a local Junior Achievement BizTown campus which will introduce economic concepts, workplace skills and personal business finances to students in a simulated economy built just for them.
