What if one of the most meaningful charitable gifts you could make isn’t cash?
It might be a business you spent decades building. A piece of property that’s been in your family for generations. An investment that has grown substantially over time. Sometimes, the assets that carry the most financial value also carry the most personal meaning—and with thoughtful planning, they can become part of a legacy that is uniquely yours.
That’s what happened with Kirkland Ranch.
For generations, the working cattle ranch in Pasco County was part of the Kirkland family’s story. When family members began planning for its future, the question wasn’t simply what would happen to the ranch. It was how this asset could continue to reflect what mattered to their family.
Through careful estate and charitable planning, family members ultimately gave interests in the family company that owned Kirkland Ranch to charitable funds at Community Foundation Tampa Bay. Jack Kirkland’s gift established a permanent fund supporting organizations focused on children and education. Years later, his sister Elizabeth “Betsy” Kirkland Holloway’s gift created a charitable fund designed to carry forward the causes and values important to her.
Together, those gifts meant Community Foundation Tampa Bay held a two-thirds interest in the company that owned the ranch. When the opportunity emerged in 2025 to sell nearly 1,000 acres to the State of Florida for permanent conservation, the Foundation worked alongside the family’s advisors and other partners to help bring the family’s vision to fruition.
The sale generated more than $20 million in charitable assets now held at Community Foundation Tampa Bay. Nearly 1,000 acres of historic ranchland will be permanently conserved, while approximately 4.5 additional acres were gifted to the Pasco County School Board for a new middle school.
The result was something unique to the Kirkland family: land preserved for future generations, a place for future students to learn, and significant charitable resources dedicated to continuing the family’s impact.
It’s an extraordinary story. But you don’t need to own a 1,000-acre ranch—or have a $20 million charitable gift—to learn something from it.
The question worth asking is not whether you can do something of this magnitude. It’s: What could your legacy look like?
Perhaps you own real estate that has appreciated significantly. Maybe much of your wealth is tied up in a closely held business. You may have investments, retirement assets, or other property that you’ve never thought of as charitable resources. Or perhaps you’re beginning to consider how the wealth you’ve accumulated can reflect your family’s values for another generation.
Philanthropy can be much more personal—and much more flexible—than many people realize.
That’s also why these conversations are best started early. A charitable plan doesn’t exist separately from your financial and estate planning. Done thoughtfully, the pieces work together.
At Community Foundation Tampa Bay, we work alongside individuals and families and the professional advisors they already trust—their attorneys, CPAs, and wealth advisors—to translate charitable intentions into plans that can endure. Sometimes the solution is straightforward. Other times, as with Kirkland Ranch, it unfolds over many years and requires patience, expertise, and collaboration.
Sometimes that means accepting an asset other than cash. Sometimes it means creating a fund that will carry a family’s values forward. And sometimes it means having Community Foundation Tampa Bay as a partner years later, helping ensure that what someone envisioned actually happens.
Because a legacy isn’t defined by the size of the gift. It’s defined by what you want that gift to accomplish.
The Kirkland family knew what mattered to them: family, community, the land, and causes they cared about. Their planning created a legacy distinctly their own.
What matters enough to you that you’d like it to be part of your legacy?
That may be the most important question to start with. And when you’re ready to explore the answer, Community Foundation Tampa Bay is ready to be part of the conversation.
Sheila Kinman, CAP®, serves as Chief Philanthropy Officer at Community Foundation Tampa Bay. A seasoned expert in philanthropic solutions, she is dedicated to helping donors experience the joy of giving. Sheila specializes in helping individuals, private foundations, nonprofits, and corporations direct their charitable giving in impactful and financially strategic ways. Her expertise also includes facilitating unique non-cash gifts, such as donations of closely held business interests and real estate.
Sheila Kinman, Chief Philanthropy Officer, Community Foundation Tampa Bay