Donors have a new opportunity to significantly increase their positive effect on residents of the Middle and Upper Keys.
Contributions to a new granting fund established at the Community Foundation of the Florida Keys (CFFK) will be matched dollar-for-dollar, up to $25,000, to support nonprofits for community needs and to benefit residents in Marathon, Key Colony Beach, and other Middle Keys communities.
Contributions to the Middle Keys Future Fund will be matched 1-to-1 by CFFK and could provide $50,000 or more in total grants to nonprofits based in and serving the Middle Keys communities. Money from the fund will be channeled directly to local nonprofits through an open grant process. A new Middle Keys Advisory Council is being appointed to help identify needs and potential grantees and provide input into the grant review.
“This is a significant opportunity to build a granting fund to enhance the future of the Middle Keys for residents and visitors,” said Marian Buccafurni, CFFK board member and chair of the Middle Keys Advisory Council for CFFK. “Donor gifts to the fund will be matched, doubling the impact of giving, assisting even more people, and helping meet pressing community needs.”
Funding will support projects in health and human services, arts and culture, environment, education, and more, specifically serving residents in the Middle Keys. Application information and deadlines will be announced later this year.
In addition, the Community Foundation recently created a new granting fund to serve Upper Keys communities. Donations to the Upper Keys Future Fund will also be matched 1-to-1 by CFFK up to $25,000, for a total grant pool of as much as $50,000 or more to nonprofits based in and serving Key Largo, Islamorada, and Tavernier.
A philanthropist and business and legal professional for many years, Buccafurni is CFFK’s first board member from Key Colony and joins the nonprofit’s governing board for a three-year term.
“We are truly honored to have Marian accept our offer to join the board,” said CFFK chair Susanne Woods. “She brings incredible business, leadership, fund raising, and community foundation board experience to CFFK. She will be key to the board’s ongoing efforts to broaden outreach and further philanthropy throughout the entire Keys.”
“Donor gifts to the fund will be matched, doubling the impact of giving, assisting even more people, and helping meet pressing community needs.”
— Marian Buccafurni
Buccafurni moved to Key Colony Beach in 2007, and spends part of the year in Monterey, California, where she is active with the Community Foundation for Monterey County. She is a former board president and a major donor of the Women’s Fund there, a field of interest fund financially supporting opportunities for women and girls. She created several annual fund raisers in Monterey and helped establish programs to benefit girls’ health and those in need of small loans.
A law school graduate in 1979, Buccafurni’s business background in the medical, science and legal fields includes work as a litigation attorney for a Philadelphia law firm; serving as general counsel for SmithKline, a pharmaceutical company in England; and creating with her husband a biotechnology company, Litmus Concepts, Inc., in California. She served as executive vice president, general counsel and CFO at Litmus, as well as a member of the board. She and her husband raised more than $30 million in private equity over 15 years while maintaining a majority interest in the company. They sold the firm in 2000 to devote their time to philanthropic interests.
Buccafurni is one of 11 members on CFFK’s board.
