Established in 1988, The Martin County Community Foundation is a publicly supported charitable foundation consisting of named funds established by many separate donors primarily for the benefit of Martin County. The Foundation's grants include the arts, education, health, and social services.

Although the general public is less familiar with community foundations than with private foundations, community foundations have a similarly long history in this country. From the first community foundation in Cleveland in 1914, the field has now grown to more than 665 organizations nationwide.

Community foundations like The Martin County Community Foundation are funded by many people and groups -- individuals, families, corporations, and nonprofit organizations -- to support a wide range of charitable activity in the communities the foundation serves. Community foundations resemble private foundations because their main activities express their donors' charitable goals by financially supporting other charities.

Because The Martin County Community Foundation receives support from such a broad range of donors, the IRS considers the Foundation to be a publicly supported charity. Gifts to the Foundation accordingly qualify for the most favorable tax treatment possible and the Foundation simultaneously avoids the complicated regulations that govern private foundations.

Meet Our Board Members:

Bridget Dugan Baratta

Bridget Dugan Baratta joined the Martin County Community Foundation in May 2003 as Executive Director. In this role, she is responsible for donor cultivation and communications and oversees investment performance, public relations, and grant making.  Bridget serves on the board of The Pine School and on the advisory board of The Lyric Theater. She is a past-president of the Junior League of Martin County and winner of the Martin County Soroptimist Women of Distinction Award (2007) and The National Philanthropy Day Volunteer Fundraiser of The Year (2008). Bridget holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from George Washington University and a Master's of Education with a major in Policy and Administration from the University of Pennsylvania. .

Ann Crary

Board member Ann Crary served the Martin County Community Foundation in the capacity of Executive Director from 2000 to 2003. Before this, she was an account executive for Achieve Global, where she was responsible for recruiting Fortune 500 companies interested in developing more customer focused organizations through the concentration of customer loyalty and retention programs. Representative clients included Citibank, Fidelity Investments, and GMAC. Before graduating from the University of South Florida with a Bachelor of Arts in Marketing, Ann was a professional ballerina and a former member of The Australian Ballet Company. She has taught beginning and advanced classical dance, and supervised and choreographed dance productions.

Lawrence 'Evans' Crary, Jr.
Emeritus Member

Evans Crary, Jr. was born in Stuart, FL in 1930. His contributions to the Martin County area are numerous and include serving on the boards of the Nina Haven Charitable Foundation, Martin Memorial Hospital, Martin County Bar Association and Stuart Rotary. Evans retired as Partner from the law firm of Crary, Buchanan, Bowdish, Bovie, Beres, Elder & Williamson in 1993. He currently serves as one of two trustees for the Frances Langford Foundation.

T. Michael Crook

T. Michael Crook, CPA, is a lifelong resident of Martin County and a partner at Proctor, Crook & Crowder, a Stuart-based CPA firm with a staff of over 50, which has served clients mainly from the Treasure Coast and Palm Beach County since 1974. In addition to his practice, which specializes in corporate, partnership and individual taxation; accounting and auditing services and profitability enhancement services, Mr. Crook has been an adjunct professor in the master degree program at Florida Institute of Technology. He currently serves on the boards of Seacoast National Bank and the St. Lucie River Initiative. He is a past board member of the Economic Council of Martin County, president in 1990 and treasurer in 1987; the Stuart/Martin County Chamber of Commerce; Barnett Bank of Martin County from 1986 - 1997; past chairman of the Indian River Community College Accounting Advisory Committee; Kiwanis Club of Stuart, serving as president in 1987 an 1988; and past treasurer and board member of the Arts Foundation of Martin County. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Florida Institute of CPA's, where he served as a legislative contact. He received his B.A. from Mercer University where his is president-elect of the Alumni association.

Bill Fowler

Bill Fowler is President of JS Capital Management, a privately held real estate and venture capital investment firm, which invests in commercial real estate and provides capital for private equity transactions. Before joining JS Capital in 1997, Mr. Fowler spent 18 years in public accounting with local, regional and national firms. He was a principal with Proctor, Crook and Crowder in Stuart. He is Florida Certified Public Accountant and a licensed Florida Realtor. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the AICPA Tax Section, the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the National Realtors Association and the Realtor Association of Martin County. Mr. Fowler is a graduate of the University of Central Florida.

Nancy B. Crowder-McCoy, CPA

BACKGROUND:
Nancy B. Crowder-McCoy, CPA, Tax Principal, joined Proctor, Crook & Crowder, P.A. in November 1977 and has over thirty years experience in public accounting. Certified Public Accountant, 1980, Florida

B.S.B.A. (Accounting) from Florida Atlantic University – Phi Kappa Phi

EXPERIENCE: Business Planning and Consulting, Corporate, Partnership and Individual Taxation/Planning , Internal Revenue Service Representation, Florida Department of Revenue Audit Representation, Foreign Tax Issues, Estate and Trust Taxation/Planning, Guardianship Accounting, Litigation Support Services, Expert Witness Testimony in United States District Courts (Fort Pierce and West Palm) and Martin County Circuit Court, Complex Real Estate Accounting and Tax Issues, Instructor – Professional Continuing Education in Taxation,

AFFILIATIONS:
Community Past Board Member and Treasurer, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Martin County, Martin Memorial Foundation Community Council, 1989 Charter Revision Committee – City of Stuart, Florida, Past Finance Committee Member, First United Methodist Church, Stuart, Florida, Past Board Member, Stuart Main Street Association, Inc., 1995 Martin County “Woman of Distinction” – Private Sector, Leadership Martin County – Class III, Board Member – Humane Society of the Treasure Coast, Board Member – 100 Club, 
Professional American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Tax Division – American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Past President – Martin County Estate Planning Council, International Group of Accounting Firms, 93/94 N. American Tax Conference Chairman – International Group of Accounting Firms – Peer Review Team – Taxation

 

Kenneth A. Norman

Born: Bethesda, Maryland, September 8, 1954
Education: Old Dominion University, B.A., summa cum laude, 1976, University of Virginia School of Law, J.D., 1979
Practice Areas: Corporate Law; Tax Planning; Estate Planning; Business Succession Planning; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Law; Communications Law; Contracts; Employee Benefits; Finance; Estate Administration
Membership: The Florida Bar (Member, Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section); Virginia State Bar (Member, Tax Committee, 1982-1984) Business Law Section.
Admissions: 1979, Virginia, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit and U.S. Tax Court; 1988, Florida
Miscellaneous Information: Member, Board of Directors, Past Chairman, Stuart/Martin County Chamber of Commerce. State Government Affairs Committee, Chairman, Congressional Legislation Committee, Board of Directors, Past President, Business Development Board of Martin County. Author and Presenter: "Selling the Small or Family-Owned Business in Florida," National Business Institute, 2005; "Is an LLC Right for You?," National Business Institute, 2006; "Limited Liability Companies," National Business Institute, 2007; "Mastering Mergers and Acquisitions," National Business Institute, 2008. Umpire, Little League Softball World Series, 2003.

Tom Weber

Tom Weber is publisher of Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers. He began his career as a reporter when The Stuart News was a weekly. Today, the company publishes four daily editions with a total circulation of 100,000. The papers are The Stuart News, Port St. Lucie News, Fort Pierce Tribune and the Indian River Press-Journal. The company also publishes two weeklies, The Jupiter Courier and The Sebastian Sun, and publishes the Treasure Coast Business Journal and produces TCPalm.com.

Weber was president for the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors and he served two terms as chairman of the Florida Press Association. He was president of the Martin County Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the board of directors of the Martin County Community Foundation and a member of the St. Lucie County Economic Development Council and the Advisory Board of the Salvation Army in Martin County.