The Community Foundation Martin - St. Lucie

Place of Hope recently marked a meaningful milestone for the Treasure Coast with the opening of its new Bender Family Campus in Stuart, a place where foster children, families and young people aging out of foster care can find stability and support right here at home.

We are proud to partner with Place of Hope in support of this work, and we are honored to share in this moment alongside them.

To learn more about philanthropy on the Treasure Coast, visit tcfmsl.org.

Good health changes everything. When a neighbor can see a doctor or a dentist without worrying about the cost, they can keep working, care for the people they love and stay rooted in our community.

Right here at home, Fundholders who give through The Community Foundation Martin-St. Lucie have helped expand health care access across Martin and St. Lucie Counties, much of it through the free and reduced-cost clinics that so many families quietly depend on. It is one more way we strengthen the community we share.

Learn more at tcfmsl.org

Photo: Volunteers in Medicine Clinic

The best way to understand what we do is to hear it from the people who partner with us.

Our Fundholders come to The Foundation with something close to their heart. It may be a scholarship for future tradespeople, a giving plan built around their family, a program designed to change students’ lives. We help bring it to life and handle all the details along the way.

Swipe to hear a few of them, in their own words.

Start your story at tcfmsl.org

Recently, we gathered nonprofit leaders from across our region for an honest conversation about the state of Florida's nonprofit sector and its importance, both socially and economically, led by the Florida Nonprofit Alliance.

Florida ranks 48th in the nation for households living below the ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) threshold, which means the need in our communities has never been greater and our nonprofit organizations are more essential than ever. At the same time, the nonprofit sector is facing rising costs, leaner reserves, and fundraising that grows more difficult with each year.

But here is what we know to be true...this sector is powerful.

In addition to the vital services that Florida's nonprofits offer to at-risk communities, they are an economic engine, making up more than 5 percent of the state's workforce and helping drive what is now the world's 15th-largest economy. For every direct job in our sector, nearly two more jobs are supported. Nonprofits are not a cost. They are a multiplier.

What stayed with us most was the call to lead differently. To be transparent about our realities. As a community to choose collaboration over competition. To equip our boards, our volunteers and the people we serve to tell our story with both heart and data.

We are stronger together, and we are just getting started. Thank you to everyone who showed up, leaned in and said yes to building a collective voice for our region.

This conversation continues this summer.

Every May, students across Martin and St. Lucie Counties open envelopes carrying scholarships funded by people who decided, years earlier, that their giving should keep going long after they were the ones directing it. Nonprofits in our community stay steady because someone, somewhere, built a Fund to anchor them through whatever the years ahead might bring.

The Community Foundation Martin-St. Lucie helps families build plans that carry their intent forward, whether through a scholarship Fund, a donor-advised Fund or an agency endowment created to support a specific cause for generations to come.

If you are ready to think about what your generosity should continue to do, we would love to talk.

www.tcfmsl.org

The places that hold our community's story do not preserve themselves.

This May, in recognition of Historic Preservation Month, The Community Foundation Martin-St. Lucie is awarding micro-grants to local organizations working to safeguard nine historic sites across Martin and St. Lucie counties.

Some of these places still serve their original purpose, like the Lyric Theatre in Stuart and the Sunrise Theatre in Fort Pierce. Others have been thoughtfully reimagined as spaces for education, social services, community gatherings and historical remembrance, including the Apollo School Building, the Banner Lake Club, the House of Refuge, Golden Gate Center, the Old Salerno Schoolhouse and the Gomez Pioneer and Washington Memorial cemeteries.

These grants are made possible through the Frances Langford Fund for Martin County. A celebrated singer, actress and devoted philanthropist, Frances Langford cared deeply about the Treasure Coast she called home and her legacy continues every time one of these places welcomes a new generation through its doors.

The Community Foundation is proud to play a part, alongside the Fundholders and partners who make this work possible.

Learn more about the Foundation's work at TCFMSL.org.

Here's a peek at what's been going on at The Community Foundation Martin-St. Lucie last month.

We celebrated the dedication of the Carol M. Jacobsohn Foundation Waterworks Exploration Zone at Florida Oceanographic Society, a Fundholder-supported project that brings hands-on water and conservation education to students, families and visitors on Hutchinson Island.

We were proud to stand alongside Impact100 Martin100 Martin for both signing day and the annual grant ceremony, serving as the collective giving partner that helps transformative grants reach the nonprofits making a difference here at home.

Scholarship award season also kicked off, with celebrations honoring graduating seniors at Martin County High School, South Fork High School, Jensen Beach High School and Clark Advanced Learning Center. We also recognized our Copper Key Scholarship recipients, students whose academic journeys we have walked alongside since middle school.

To the Fundholders, partners and community members who make this work possible, thank you for a remarkable month.

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Last week, something remarkable happened.

For the first time in nearly a decade, the Copper Key Scholarship Promise honored its very first graduating seniors. Three young people we have walked beside since middle school, who are now stepping into the futures we always believed they could build.

On April 28, scholars, families, partners, and donors filled the Flagler Building of Stuart to mark the moment. There was laughter, there were stories, and there was the unmistakable feeling of watching a long-held promise finally come full circle.

Congratulations to our 2026 Copper Key graduating seniors:

Jonathan, headed to Indian River State College Ava, headed to Florida State University D'Asia, headed to Indian River State College

We also welcomed five new scholars into the Copper Key family: Anthony, Trentin, Jenni, Allison, and Natalie. Their journey is just beginning, and we cannot wait to see where it takes them.

This program exists because of a partnership between The Community Foundation Martin-St. Lucie, House of Hope, and Nina Haven Scholarships, and because of the visionary Fundholders who believed that scholarship support should arrive earlier and stay longer. To every scholar honored this week, you carry our pride and our unwavering support into whatever comes next.

Right here at home.

On April 22, The Community Foundation Martin-St. Lucie celebrated the recipients of this year's scholarships at Jensen Beach High School, awarding a total of $185,500 in scholarships, with 12 students receiving $3,500 per year over four years through the Sailfish Point Foundation. We also had the joy of celebrating three Copper Key scholars whose tuition will be fully covered as they head off to college this fall.

Congratulations to:

William, recipient of the Joseph A. Catrambone Scholarship, awarded in honor of a 35-year champion of Martin County's workforce and economy.

Danielle, Jaxen, and Leilani, recipients of the Jack and Dorothy Smouse Scholarships, named for a beloved Martin County educator whose legacy continues to support students pursuing careers in education, nursing, and social service.

Jonathan, Ava, and D'Asia, our very first Copper Key Scholarship graduating seniors. Years ago, each of them was given a lucky penny and a promise. This week, that promise was kept. This unique program, built collaboratively between TCFMSL Fundholders, House of Hope and Nina Haven Scholarships, follows students from middle school through high school graduation, supporting not just the scholar but the entire family that nurtures their growth.

Behind every scholarship is a vision. Behind every recipient is a community that believes in their future. Right here at home.