Second Chance Foundation

Donor Finds Ideas, Mentors Through ASF

A late-night conversation between two good friends led to the founding of Second Chance Foundation in Naples, FL.

Bruce Conley and friend Lloyd Taylor “started talking about how we could do more to help others. That led to the idea of scholarships for service-minded people who didn’t quite qualify for other scholarships. We thought of our scholarships as second chances.”

Conley readily acknowledges that he and Taylor launched Second Chance without knowing the philanthropic ropes. “I thought that we must be reinventing someone’s wheel,” he says. Then he learned about ASF and knew: “I’m the perfect candidate.”

Conley went to ASF events, “looking for better wheels, creative energies, and ideas.” He found them and, 11 years after Second Chance joined ASF, he still does.

“I continue to be stimulated by the terrific members who are often mentors. And the ASF staff either answers my questions or directs me to others who can help,” says Conley. “We’ve evolved from being alone to recognizing that we have a great support network allowing us to focus on what’s important to us.”

Second Chance is influenced by the passions of its inner circle. Conley’s assistant has an equestrian background; the foundation supports therapeutic riding programs. His wife has a background in music; Second Chance organized a music therapy program at Southwest Regional Children’s Hospital in Ft. Myers, FL. And Conley’s own love of the sea moved the foundation to purchase dinghies that people with physical challenges can sail.

Today the foundation is introducing children to giving by supporting the Charity for Change™ School “Giver” Program. It helps young students understand the needs of others and the value of investing their dimes, quarters, and efforts to help make their communities better. “We believe the pilot curriculum we support could be the model for a national program,” Conley says.