This story first appeared in the November 2025 issue of Palm Beach Illustrated
Danita R. DeHaney remembers crying in her car on two occasions.
Both times involved the people she fights for the most: the local community.
Entering her fifth year as president and CEO of the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties, DeHaney is hitting a stride, as evidenced by the projects she has championed. Take, for example, the Florida State University-backed program she brought to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County that addressed children’s mental health.
Ten students who were identified as having social or behavioral setbacks entered a class with instructors ready to teach them cognitive-behavioral tools, art, and play-based techniques. What DeHaney saw unfold was inspiring.
“The kids began learning how to identify emotions,” DeHaney says. “At the end of class, a little girl walked up to an instructor and said, ‘I’m feeling sad because I miss my home.”
In a different session, a young boy began coloring a picture of himself, using red to cover his hands and feet. When the facilitator asked him why he colored those body parts with red-the color of anger — the boy said that when he gets upset, he punches and kicks.
“This gave the facilitator a chance to break down that emotion with the boy and why he felt that way,” DeHaney adds. “And as she did that, I went out to my car and started to cry.”
Philanthropy has been ingrained in DeHaney from a young age; her earliest memories include contributing as a member of Girl Scout Troop 1349 in Fort Meade, Maryland.
She worked for 25 years in higher education, first as associate vice president of alumni relations and development at the University of Maryland, then at the University of Florida as the executive director of its alumni association and then in external affairs. She later became the vice president for institutional advancement of Florida Atlantic University (where she also earned a PhD in business administration and management) and CEO of the Florida Atlantic University Foundation, achieving record-breaking fundraising figures.
At the Community Foundation. DeHaney has worked with area donors to advise them on how to give responsibly to nonprofits, as well as furthered community partnerships. One such partnership is the building of the African American Museum and Research Library in West Palm Beach’s Coleman Park neighborhood, for which the Community Foundation is raising support and providing leadership. Another initiative is improving Palm Beach County’s literacy rate by introducing University of Florida’s Literacy Institute curriculum to nonprofits that work with children at risk for falling behind in academics.
Above all, DeHaney is a firm believer that philanthropy can change lives. As she notes: “I think this is what I am here to do.”
