Substance Awareness Center Indian River Community Foundation awarded grants totaling $162,000 to six nonprofit charitable organizations serving Indian River County. The grants were reviewed by a Grants Committee comprised of volunteers Suzanne Bertman, Pat Brier, Dale Jacobs, Toni Hamner, Wanda Lincoln, Dawn Michael, Angelia Perry,...

United Against Poverty works to inspire and empower people living in poverty to lift themselves and their families to economic self-sufficiency. The organization serves those in poverty by providing crisis care, case management, transformative education, food and household subsidy, employment training and placement, personal empowerment training...

Jeff Pickering, Carrie Maynard-Lester, & Irene Cauwels The Substance Awareness Center of IRC (SAC) works to reduce the impact of substance misuse and behavioral health disorders in Indian River County, through prevention, education, treatment and recovery support. Recently, Indian River Community Foundation awarded SAC $25,000...

Smart Asset, an online source for consumer financial information, preformed a study in 2022 to determine which counties make the most charitable contributions. Indian River was ranked as the 8th most charitable of Florida's 67 counties. In addition, Indian River was ranked in the top...

The Learning Alliance is a vision-driven, emergent learning organization dedicated to uniting a community and building a pipeline of support for children birth - 3rd grade. They strive to transform our community's future and become a model for the nation by cultivating a culture in...

The purpose of the Foundation's Endowment Partners Program is to help local charities plan for long-term sustainability by growing a permanent endowment fund. The term “endowment” is broadly used to describe funds set aside for the long-term benefit of the nonprofit (rather than for current...

In partnership with Vero Beach Magazine, Indian River Community Foundation’s President and CEO, Jeff Pickering, writes a monthly column called Indian River Insights. These articles explore the root causes of community needs, celebrate successes, analyze meaningful solutions, and offer insights into persistent challenges. In the...

After several years of continuous growth and impact, Indian River Community Foundation’s most recent fiscal year ended with mixed results. Unfavorable market conditions limited donations into charitable giving accounts which led, in part, to lower total assets. On the contrary, a generous response by both...

In 2020, the hospitalization for depression rate among youth and children under age 18 was 1,003 per 100,000 in Indian River County. In comparison, Florida's average hospitalization for depression rate among youth and children was 446 per 100,000. Per the most recent community needs assessment,...

Vero Beach Opera (VBO) strives to enrich the cultural lives of our community and promote an increased awareness and deeper appreciation of opera to expanding and diverse audiences of all ages.  One way VBO carries out their mission is through the Opera in the Classroom...