VERO BEACH — Florida Power & Light Company today announced its plans to make a $25,000 gift to the United Way Foundation of Indian River County, the largest outright gift from a corporate partner the foundation has received to date. The foundation announced a $10 million endowment campaign earlier this year.
“At FPL and our parent company NextEra Energy, we are longtime partners of the United Way, and we see the positive impact of that partnership across the state of Florida,” said FPL President Eric Silagy.
“We also support the United Way because we see others in our community who need our help. Here in Indian River County, more than 30 partner agencies of the United Way are doing terrific work to help address some of the long-term needs in our community,” Silagy added.
FPL and its employees in the last 10 years alone have contributed more than $224,000 to the annual campaign in Indian River County, and the company’s partnership with United Way dates much further back.
This gift to the foundation is a way for FPL to help build a permanent endowment that will grow over time and serve as a continuous stream of resources for years to come.
“The economic environment in recent years demonstrates the need we see for this foundation,” explained United Way Chief Executive Officer Michael Kint.
“When human service demands rise, the endowment will help us stabilize funding for important programs and provide much needed help to people in our community.
We know organizations focused on both the short-term and long-term needs are the most effective. We have a 52 year history of looking out for the future of this community,” Kint added.
Each year, the annual campaign generates much needed funding that’s immediately deployed in support of 42 programs at United Way’s 32 partner agencies in Indian River County. It also helps support United Way initiatives like FamilyWize prescription assistance and Voluntary Income Tax Assistance programs.
United Way manages an emergency/crisis and special projects fund and a disaster relief fund, poised as the County’s Emergency Support Function 15 and designed to play a significant role when a hurricane strikes our community.
United Way is engaged in a number of different collaborative partnerships all designed to address priority issues in Indian River County, like mental health and 3rd grade literacy.
“The foundation supports United Way’s work in this community over the long-term by applying a percentage of the endowment each year to the work that’s being done. While both the annual campaign and the foundation are critically important in enabling United Way to fulfill its mission, a gift to the annual campaign helps today and a gift to the foundation helps in perpetuity,” said Kint.
“This gift displays FPL’s commitment to Indian River County and to the health and well-being of our community for generations to come. We are grateful for their support and, as is our pledge to all of our partners and supporters, will invest these dollars wisely in programs and services that are effective and efficient.”
Working with corporate partners and individual donors, the United Way Foundation of Indian River County, led by a separate Board of Directors with highly specialized skill sets and organized as a supporting organization to the United Way of Indian River County, seeks to build the endowment by $10 million in the next five years through a combination of outright and planned gifts.
Planned gifts include testamentary gifts, like including the foundation in one’s will, and gifts of life insurance. The foundation currently has $2.6 million in assets and almost $800,000 in deferred commitments made to date.
About United Way Foundation of Indian River County
The United Way Foundation of Indian River County is a non-profit supporting organization that is solely focused on building an endowment that will forever generate resources in support of the United Way of Indian River County’s mission.
It works with both corporate partners and individual donors in helping them achieve their charitable objectives and shape the future of health and human services in our community.
For more information, visit www.UnitedWayIRC.org or call Michelle Malyn, Chief Development Officer, at (772) 569-6777.