Save the Date
13th ANNUAL FOUNDERS LUNCHEON
FEBRUARY 11,
2026
11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
KRAVIS CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
About the Event
The Founders Luncheon is the Community Foundation’s signature annual event, rallying hundreds of donors, nonprofit partners, and community leaders around a key community issue each year.
Established in 2014 as the Founder’s Award Luncheon, the event was launched as an opportunity to convene our donors and nonprofit partners on important issues facing our region, and to celebrate their collective impact.
McIntosh Award
In addition to raising awareness, the Founders Luncheon showcases the importance of philanthropy with a special award ceremony. Each year, the McIntosh Award – named after Winsome and Michael McIntosh, who founded the Community Foundation in 1972 – is presented to an individual or organization who has made significant contributions to our community.
2025 McIntosh Award Recipients
Sherry and Tom Barrat
As their family gathered for Thanksgiving 15 years ago, Sherry and Tom Barrat had a proposal for them. With the goal of supporting their family’s spirit of helping others, Sherry and Tom would make $1,000 available to each of them to give to a charity of their choice. There was one provision: each needed to describe the work of the nonprofit organization and why they wanted to support it.
And so, the “Thanksgiving Fund” was born. At every Thanksgiving since, each family member discusses what they learned about their charity’s work and makes their case for the organization they have chosen.
A few years in, their two young grandchildren made a proposal of their own. They would pool their contributions with their parents and give a $4,000 scholarship to a local high school senior.
The Barrats wanted to improve on the early challenges their family encountered: the high school guidance counselors chose the recipients, de-personalizing the experience; the recipients rarely reported their progress; they thought adding layers of requirements would help but resulted in administrative headaches.
The Community Foundation became the ideal intermediary. The couple set up the Barrat Scholarship Fund in 2022, focusing their scholarship on local students majoring in computer science, artificial intelligence, or applied data science, topics especially close to Tom’s heart.
The couple has been active in the interviewing and selection process for their Barrat Scholarship, which makes a significant four-year commitment to each scholar. Truly a family affair, their daughter, Denise Rivas, also serves as an advisor on the fund.
2025 Sponsors
Leading Sponsors
Sherry and Tom Barrat
DiPaula Family Fund
Julie and Peter Cummings
Stoops Family Foundation
Partner Sponsors
Susan and Peter Brockway
William A. Meyer
Community Sponsors
Timothy and Karen Burke
George T. Elmore and Marti LaTour
Jim Robo and Meredith Trim
Supporting Sponsors
Eileen Berman and Devin Krauss Family Foundation
Beth Neuhoff and Steve Frank
Phyllis M. Gillespie of the Gillespie Law Firm
Shawn M. Donnelley and Christopher M. Kelly
Table Sponsors
The Honorable Sheree Davis Cunningham (RET)
Earnie Ellison, Jr.
Kevin and Marsha Powers
Gabriela and David Porges
Scott and Lisa Morgan
Raymond McGee Family Foundation
Media Sponsors
