FGCU entrepreneurs receive $4 million gift from the Rist Family Foundation
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Florida Gulf Coast University’s Daveler & Kauanui School of Entrepreneurship is celebrates a $4 million gift from the Rist Family Foundation. Led by the entrepreneur’s entrepreneur, Brian Rist, and his wife, Kim, the foundation is no stranger to FGCU. This is its second substantial gift to the university in the last two years.
“I got involved with the university almost a decade ago,” said Brian Rist. “I’ve watched it grow. I’ve watched the things they’ve done and how they’ve changed Southwest Florida. That motivates my family and me to get more involved.”
The school’s institute will now be known as the Rist Family Foundation Institute for Entrepreneurship in recognition of the gift. The institute is responsible for the Daveler & Kauanui School of Entrepreneurship’s outward-facing community engagement, including the Runway Program and the Veterans Florida Entrepreneurship Program. The funds will be distributed over several years, focusing on specific needs within the school.
In 2020, the foundation pledged $1 million toward construction of the entrepreneurship school's building, Lucas Hall, with a portion designated for the Newton Ethical Leadership Initiative to help expand ethics-based education.
Rist founded Storm Smart, a hurricane protection products company. As the business grew, so did his interest in philanthropy.