The Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation in Sarasota, Florida, has announced commitments totaling $5 million in support of efforts to address community needs and support organizations working in the areas of education, mental health, humanitarian causes, and arts and culture.

The funding includes investments of $700,000 in its First 1,000 Days Suncoast initiative, a $1.5 million in its Affordable Housing initiative, and $200,000 in a new evaluation fund to provide training and resources to help boost nonprofit organizations’ program evaluation and fundraising capacity. The foundation also awarded grants to 11 nonprofits, including FUNducation, Inc. which will receive $150,000 to expand its early STEAM programming in Sarasota County; Harvest House, which will receive $600,000 to make improvements to housing units, increase therapy services, and support a range of other programs for those in need of safe, affordable housing, addiction recovery, and wraparound support; and SRQ Strong, which will receive $250,000 to build its capacity in transitioning from an all-volunteer program to an independent and sustainable nonprofit organization.

“Across many of these grants, we see the difficulties that families in our region face as they try to remain financially stable,” said Barancik Foundation president and CEO Teri A Hansen. “On the whole, we are investing in everything from early interventions to crisis response, and we are grateful to our nonprofit partners that are doing this innovative and necessary work.”

For a complete list of recipients, see the Barancik Foundation website.

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Dean Mitchell)