Foundation CEO is determined to make long-term systemic change

When Teri Hansen was brought on as president and CEO of the Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation, she knew she was going to tackle big things.    “Money helps, but it’s not really what makes the change,” she says.    Created in 2014 by philanthropists Charles and Margery Barancik, the Sarasota private family foundation has $487.04 million in assets — and is growing that quickly. It works with a host of partners to address challenges in education, humanitarian causes, arts and culture, the environment and medical research that impact the Sarasota community. The organization has grown and matured since Hansen took the position in 2015, including adding staff members and increasing assets.    Part of the added assets came after the founding couple died in 2020 following a car accident on Longboat Key. A donation of nearly all of their wealth was made to the foundation upon their passing. Hansen says the funds will be available by the end of next year. At that point, the foundation’s assets will be worth about $700 million. 

'Some foundations sit on the money. We try to be responsive.' Teri Hansen, Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation 

  “That’s seven- or six-fold from what we were,” she says. In addition, the growth has allowed Hansen to broaden the scale of the foundation’s work. Her overarching goal with the foundation? Work toward long-term systemic change. “We don’t want to put Band-Aids on things,” she says.    When Hansen, for example, saw Florida holds the infamous title of having the highest number of children aged three and under being removed from homes for six years in a row, she didn’t sit idly by.    The first thing she did was ask questions —one of her hallmarks of facilitating change in any organization or situation. “What are the root causes?” she says. “How can we help or change this?”    Then she involved Sarasota, Manatee and Desoto counties to get to the bottom of the situation, following another changemaking hallmark: collaboration.     “That’s the kind of work we like to do,” Hansen says, noting the foundation works on grants and initiatives, but that’s not the only work the team focuses on.    Something like this type of change requires interviews, research and data collection. Then Hansen brings in partners and they go over the findings together. “We figure out what can be done,” she says.    Hansen credits her parents for why she’s passionate about her work today. “I didn’t really know any different,” she says.    Growing up, she remembers helping her father load up the family station wagon with food, clothes and other essentials and driving to Tijuana. When they arrived, her father would open up the supplies to children living around there. They did this at least once a month.