COMMUNITY FOUNDATION PRESENTS SECOND ANNUAL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN NONPROFIT LEADERSHIP

Pictured are Stewart Stearns, president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County; Carl Weinrich, president and CEO of the Sarasota Family YMCA, Award Recipient; Margaret Callihan, chairman, president and CEO of SunTrust Bank, Event Sponsor; Christie Lewis, vice president of nonprofit capacity building, The Community Foundation of Sarasota County; and Sophia LaRusso, board chair, The Community Foundation of Sarasota County.

(Sarasota - September 29, 2006) During the 6th Anniversary celebration of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County’s Nonprofit Resource Center at the Leila & Michael Gompertz Center on Wednesday, September 27, 2006, Stewart W. Stearns, president & CEO, presented the second annual Award for Excellence in Nonprofit Leadership to Carl Weinrich, president and CEO of the Sarasota Family YMCA. Last year’s inaugural award went to SCOPE’s CEO, Tim Dutton. The event, hosted by Christie Lewis, vice president of nonprofit capacity building at the Community Foundation, welcomed a large crowd and celebrated the NRC’s diverse services to area nonprofits. Carl Weinrich has had a distinguished record at the helm of the Sarasota Family YMCA, which touches more than 100,000 lives through its four fitness branches and more than 60 youth and family development programs in six counties. Stewart Stearns praised Weinrich for his leadership in founding the community-based care initiative in Florida and for motivating and organizing community agencies to come together as a coalition to care for Florida’s most needy children. Weinrich leads a nonprofit organization with more than 1,000 employees and a budget that exceeds $83 million. “Carl is a true leader,” Stewart Stearns said. “He uses his abilities as a leader to take innovative ideas and turn them into action, knowing that none of these issues are easy to solve. Yet, like a true leader, he has the courage to stick with these projects and make them work because he knows that is the right thing to do for our community.” Stearns also praised Weinrich for bringing together diverse nonprofit organizations to solve some of our community’s most pressing issues. In addition to his success with Community Based Care, Weinrich instituted the first shelters for runaway and delinquent teens and created partnerships that have raised the level of childcare throughout Sarasota County. Recently, Weinrich used the resources of the YMCA to develop a comprehensive community-based educational program in Newtown that impacts families with children from ages 3 to 12. The Excellence in Nonprofit Leadership award was created to annually honor a nonprofit executive in Sarasota County who has served as an example and stimulated others to act in ways that significantly improve the quality of life in our community. It is made possible by the Stewart Stearns Leadership Fund of the Community Foundation, a fund created by the Board of Directors in 2004. Carl Weinrich was selected by a volunteer committee made up of distinguished community leaders. The Community Foundation of Sarasota County is a public charity founded by the Southwest Florida Estate Planning Council in 1979 to meet the needs of their clients interested in leaving a charitable legacy of lasting impact. With assets of more than $140 million in 520 different funds, the Community Foundation awards grants and scholarships totaling more than $5 million annually. Sophia LaRusso is board chair. The Nonprofit Resource Center is a program of the Community Foundation, providing a wide array of workshops, trainings, programs, consultation and services that strengthen charitable agencies and their boards of directors in Sarasota and Manatee Counties, enabling them to better fulfill their missions.