Danita R. DeHaney, President and CEO of the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties; Adam Hasner, President of Florida Atlantic University; and Jennifer O’Flannery Anderson, President and CEO of the Community Foundation of Broward.
Danita DeHaney, president and CEO, of the Community Foundation, recently opened the 2025 Arreva Driven by Cause Philanthropic Summit at Florida Atlantic University, giving the first keynote address to hundreds of participants who attended the two-day event to learn about what’s shaping philanthropy today.
She shared the stage with Jennifer O’Flannery Anderson, president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Broward during the first presentation of the summit.
In a wide-ranging, interactive discussion, the leaders of two major community foundations in South Florida provided the audience of philanthropic leaders, local changemakers, national thought leaders, funders, educators and nonprofit staffers an insider’s view community foundations are and how they work.
“They are place-based institutions that are rooted in identifying and addressing the needs in their community through philanthropy,” DeHaney told the audience.
There are three basic models for community foundations, she explained.
The donor-centric model is how the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties got started. Under this model, the foundation facilitates philanthropy for wealthy families.
The community-centered model places the foundation at the center of what’s happening in the community, which puts it in a position to raise funds to address needs.
“We want to be the convener, the mobilizer of businesses, philanthropists, civic organizations, and families,” she said. “We want to be the ones to bring people together to drive collective philanthropy to address issues that no other entity is positioned to address.”
Anderson and DeHaney talked about the foundations’ roles in grant making, helping families leave lasting legacies, the various funds foundations administer, working with philanthropic partners, such as family foundations, and nonprofit organizations.
They also addressed how nonprofit organizations can partner with the community foundations.
“We need to know you,” DeHaney said. “We need to know how you help the community, what your mission is and how you do it.”
That way, when the community foundations are in front of donors, they can access that information quickly, she said.
The summit held on FAU’s Boca Raton campus was organized by Arreva, a technology company that works with nonprofits; the Spirit of Giving, a network that supports South Florida nonprofit; and the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters School of Public Administration.
