Community Foundation of Tampa Bay

The Community Foundation of Tampa Bay ("Community Foundation" or "Foundation") is a trusted administrator of endowment funds and is supported by a broad spectrum of individuals, families, corporations, and private foundations.

We connect donors who care with causes that matter. And we
are proud to report that Foundation expenses are significantly
less than one percent of total Foundation assets.

Grant Making: The Heart of Our Business

Grandma Diaz, Seniors in Service volunteer, reads with students at Tampa Bay Boulevard Elementary School.

Seniors in Service - Foster Grandparent Program

If you want to see some heroic examples of the Greatest Generation in action today, go to one of the underperforming schools in Hillsborough or Pinellas County and ask to observe a Foster Grandparent working on reading, behavior, and study skills with a young elementary student. Brace yourself. You may see some activity going on that will ultimately reduce unemployment, crime, drug use, even our prison population. Did you know that the government uses third grade literacy rates to determine how many new prisons to build?*

The beauty of this program is it dual benefit. Well-trained, minimally paid ($2.65 per hour), thoroughly vetted and monitored seventy-five year olds are feeling vital, needed, and productive.

The teachers who...
     • identify the needy students,
     • prepare the Child Care Plan for each youngster, and
     • evaluate the the Grandmas and Grandpas along with
       the students
...LOVE their Foster Grandparents.

In the words of one teacher among many. "I love my Grandma.
I can't work without her. She helps the students and me. She is kind and loving. Student love when she reads with them. She is a gift to [our school]". There is hope here.

For 19 years, your Community Foundation has enabled residents and organizations to make a positive impact on our communities

	-	by safeguarding the funds entrusted to it, valued at $115 million in assets as of December 31, 2008, and
	-	by distributing earnings to many needy programs and projects deemed worthy by our donors, grants committee, and trustees.

The Community Foundation is a vehicle that supports new and existing programs of local nonprofit organizations in addition to its own community- focused programs. Its endowment is a flexible source of capital used to meet the changing needs that time and growth bring to a community.