Each year, the Southwest Florida Estate Planning Council invites a local organization to provide a meaningful update about issues affecting our community and programs making a positive impact. This annual event is known as our "Charity Night."
On October 14th, we look forward to learning more about Big Waters Land Trust (formerly known as the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast). This local nonprofit is committed to protecting land and water for the benefit of people and nature.
President Christine Johnson looks forward to sharing details about how Big Waters Land Trusts saves land throughout its service area, encompassing Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, Collier, and parts of Hillsborough, Hardee, DeSoto, and Glades Counties, with a special focus on the Manatee, Myakka, Peace, and Caloosahatchee River areas. To date, the organization has permanently protected over 20,000 acres across 63 properties with the support of our dedicated and growing conservation community.
Charity Night with Big Waters Land Trust
Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Time: 5:15 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Location: Michael’s On East,
1212 East Ave South, Sarasota, FL 34239
Registration Deadline: Friday, October 10
This program is free for SWFEPC members, with guests of members encouraged to attend! Members are welcome to include their guests when registering. Guest Fee: $60
About Big Waters Land Trust
At Big Waters Land Trust, we envision a future in which the human and natural worlds flourish together.
To help bring this vision into reality, together with our conservation community we work every day to protect the land and water for the benefit of people and nature.
Through strategic collaborations with individuals, groups, organizations, and government, we help ensure all people have access to clean water, fresh air, nutritious food, abundant wildlife, beautiful natural areas to enjoy, and all the other physical and mental benefits nature provides. Our vital work strengthens the region’s resilience to storms and floods, enriches lives, and helps safeguard our community for generations to come.
About Our Speaker: Christine P. Johnson
President, Big Waters Land Trust
Christine P. Johnson is a fifth generation Floridian who shares the Big Waters’ vision for the human and natural words of Southwest Florida to flourish together. After earning a BS in Business Administration from the College of Charleston and an MBA from the University of Florida, Christine worked in management and consulted with Fortune 500 companies in fields ranging from manufacturing to media. Her Florida roots run deep though and this Manatee County native couldn’t stay away for long.
Christine has worked in our region’s nonprofit sector since 2004. She successfully completed the Girl Scouts of Gulfcoast Florida’s $7M capital campaign to build a regional headquarters and then served as Director of Development for Ringling College of Art and Design overseeing their largest fundraising campaign, leading a team of five to raise over $100M. In October of 2011, she was named President of Big Waters where she works to save land, ensure good land conservation public policy, and that all have access to natural places. She is past chair of the Science and Environment Council, past chair of Visit Sarasota County, board member of Crowley Museum & Nature Center, past chair of the Partnership for Gulf Coast Land Conservation, vice chair of the Florida Alliance of Land Trusts, on the national Land Trust Alliance Leadership Council, and a member of the International Women’s Forum. Nature is where Christine’s family spends their time together. Her husband, Bill, and their college-aged children, Grace and Tommy, enjoy hiking, camping, backpacking, and being anywhere there is water to swim, fish, sail, or scuba.
