Jill Gass, VP of Philanthropy at Easter Seals Southwest Florida, traces the organization's name back more than a century to a Rotarian in Ohio who used decorative seals, sold like stamps, to fund care for children affected by polio, before the American Disabilities Act existed. Today the Sarasota-based affiliate has grown far beyond that origin: it serves clients from six weeks old to their mid-80s, one of the few Easter Seals affiliates in Florida to serve the full lifespan rather than focusing narrowly on early childhood.
Gass details the organization's 12 programs, including an on-site preschool serving about 90 children where therapists come to the classroom rather than requiring working parents to pull kids out for separate appointments, and a 62-acre equine therapy ranch in North Port with 16 therapy horses, whose gait, she explains, mimics human hip and leg movement closely enough to build core strength in children with limited mobility. The ranch also runs Operation One Stride, a free six-week program pairing veterans with horses for stress relief and mental health support. The organization has grown from 55 to about 200 staff over five years, now serving roughly 2,500 people a year on a $20 million budget split roughly a third state funding, a third insurance and private-pay reimbursement, and 40 percent community philanthropy.
Building the Malcolm Family Autism Center of Excellence
The organization is three years into a capital campaign, roughly $12 million, ten years in conception, to build a 30,000-square-foot Autism Center of Excellence on its Sarasota-Manatee border campus. Construction was set to start this summer after groundbreaking, and the building will expand the preschool by 150 children and the K-12 Easter Seals Academy program by 50, while also housing a training center meant to teach the next generation of therapists and teachers. A $500,000 matching pledge was active for donations through the end of the year. Gass frames the goal explicitly as setting a statewide model other Easter Seals affiliates could replicate.
Roundabouts, adventurously
Asked the show's recurring roundabout question, Gass calls herself an adventurous driver and takes a lighthearted view of Sarasota's roundabouts, joking that they bring together bad drivers from every state that has relocated here. She has lived in Sarasota 25 years, arriving from Minnesota after a corporate hospitality job moved her, and says growth, whatever its downsides, keeps her donor pipeline full.
What you'll take away
- Easter Seals Southwest Florida is one of the few affiliates in the state serving the full lifespan, from six-week-old infants to clients in their 80s
- The organization runs 12 programs, including an on-site preschool therapy model and a 62-acre equine therapy ranch with 16 horses in North Port
- Staff grew from 55 to about 200 over five years, now serving roughly 2,500 people a year on a $20 million budget
- A $12 million capital campaign is funding a 30,000-square-foot Malcolm Family Autism Center of Excellence, meant to expand preschool and academy capacity and serve as a replicable statewide model
- The budget splits roughly a third state funding, a third insurance and private pay, and 40 percent community philanthropy
“It's not hard raising an autistic child, it's hard having an autistic child in a community that isn't fit for them.”
“You don't have to be a million-dollar philanthropist to make change.”
Places mentioned: North Port, Whitfield, Sarasota-Manatee border, The Aura