$10 million gift from Jay and Patty Baker extends the impact of a multiyear capital and modernization effort of theater

The Naples Players’ annual gala is known for surprises, but even seasoned insiders did a double take when longtime benefactors Jay and Patty Baker quietly turned a festive night of theater into a transformative moment for Southwest Florida arts, unveiling a $10 million sustaining gift that effectively secures the company’s future and cements their own status as the defining cultural philanthropists of modern Naples.

The donation, announced as a surprise during the 2026 fundraiser, will anchor The Naples Players’ endowment and extend the impact of a multiyear capital and modernization effort that has already reshaped the historic Fifth Avenue venue into one of the most advanced community theaters in the country.

The gift arrives less than two years after The Naples Players completed a $22 million renovation and expansion that reimagined almost every inch of its downtown footprint, adding more than 10,000 square feet of space, a third theater dedicated to education and wellness programming, a new balcony with additional seating, and state‑of‑the‑art upgrades to acoustics, lighting, accessibility, and backstage infrastructure.

That campaign, launched in 2023 and completed in 2024, was itself fueled by major philanthropic support, including earlier leadership giving from the Bakers, who have been woven into the theater’s donor history since at least the mid‑1990s and whose names now bracket multiple Naples cultural landmarks.

With the physical rebuild complete, the urgent question facing The Naples Players was how to sustain the larger, more ambitious institution it had created; the Bakers’ $10 million infusion answers that question decisively by underwriting the endowment so that operations, programming, and community outreach can grow without the constant pressure of year‑to‑year fundraising.

For observers of Naples philanthropy, the scale and structure of the Bakers’ new commitment feel less like a one‑off windfall and more like the logical next move in a long string of strategic bets on institutions they believe can anchor an evolving city.

Jay Baker, the retired co‑founder and former president of Kohl’s Department Stores, and Patty Baker, a Tony Award–winning Broadway producer, have spent the past two decades reshaping the civic map of Naples by deliberately backing organizations that sit at the intersection of culture, health, public space, and quality of life.

Their imprint already includes Baker Park on the Gordon River, the Baker Museum and associated cultural facilities, the NCH Baker Orthopedic Center and NCH Baker Hospital, and the Baker Theatre and Education Center, among others—an integrated portfolio of gifts that has effectively branded Naples as a small city with big‑city cultural and medical infrastructure.

The Naples Players, which has evolved from a beloved community troupe into a sophisticated regional arts engine, has long been one of their favored stages for this philosophy, culminating in the establishment of the Patty & Jay Baker Performing Arts Circle in 2024 for donors giving $10,000 or more annually in support of the newly renovated Kizzie Theater.

The $10 million pledge announced at the 2026 gala builds on that existing framework but shifts the focus from bricks‑and‑mortar transformation to long‑horizon stability, a pivot that many arts executives view as the holy grail of regional cultural fundraising.

Positioned as a sustaining gift for the endowment rather than a campaign naming opportunity, the Baker commitment is designed to throw off annual income that can underwrite everything from mainstage programming to youth education, wellness offerings, and subsidized access for underserved residents.

In practical terms, that means The Naples Players can program artistically ambitious seasons, invest in new work, and take more risks with casting, commissioning, and community partnerships, knowing that a portion of their baseline revenue is secured in perpetuity rather than subject to the volatility of ticket sales and annual drives.

It also sends a strong signal to peer donors: if the couple who already helped build the facility are willing to endow its future at this level, then the institution has graduated into the tier of community assets—like hospitals, humane societies, and signature parks—that sophisticated philanthropists treat as generational responsibilities rather than episodic causes.

Within the walls of the freshly rebuilt theater, the timing of the gift is particularly resonant. The 2024 renovation was not a cosmetic refresh but a near‑total gut and rebuild, replacing aging infrastructure “from below the foundation to the rafters above” in order to create a modern, fully accessible, and technologically capable performance hub that could serve artists, audiences, and students “for decades to come.”

The addition of a third venue specifically dedicated to education and wellness programming signaled that The Naples Players saw itself as more than an entertainment provider; it aspired to be a social and emotional resource for a rapidly growing community, using theater as a vehicle for learning, healing, and connection.

By choosing to endow this expanded mission rather than underwrite another capital project elsewhere, the Bakers are effectively validating that broader civic role and ensuring it has the resources to mature, scale, and respond to emerging needs—from post‑pandemic youth mental health to intergenerational engagement and arts‑based workforce development.

The Bakers’ philanthropic style has always blended high‑visibility leadership gifts with an insistence on institutional excellence, a pattern evident across their Naples portfolio. At NCH, they have made gifts ranging from $5 million for a six‑story patient tower to a $20 million matching grant to create the Patty & Jay Baker Pavilion at the North Naples hospital, establishing world‑class orthopedic services in the region.

In 2025 alone, they backed the RM Schulze Family Heart and Stroke Critical Care Center with a $10 million gift, reinforcing the health system’s cardiac and stroke capabilities. Outside healthcare, their $5 million contribution to Humane Society Naples—now the Patty Baker Humane Society Naples—marked the largest in that organization’s history and underwrote expanded rescue, rehabilitation, and adoption work across Collier County.

In the arts sector, they previously gave $10 million to Gulfshore Playhouse to support the creation of a 56,000‑square‑foot professional theater complex, a project expected to double seating capacity and house new rehearsal, educational, and gallery spaces to help the company compete among the nation’s top regional theaters.

Those moves have not gone unnoticed. In February 2025, The Naples Players presented Jay and Patty Baker with its inaugural Heart of the Arts Award, recognizing not only their financial support but their “steadfast” personal involvement in advancing performing arts locally.

The following month, they were named Naples Daily News Outstanding Citizens of the Year, a civic honor that effectively codified their status as the community’s de facto first family of philanthropy.

The new $10 million endowment gift loops those narratives back together: a theater that has already honored the Bakers for their catalytic role in its growth now becomes the beneficiary of their most consequential cultural grant to date, while the couple’s reputation as champions of “community, culture, and care” extends from press clippings to permanent balance sheets.

For the Bakers, who have framed their giving around the idea that “in a smaller community it’s far easier to make a bigger impact,” the moment serves as both a capstone and a new baseline; for The Naples Players, it is a once‑in‑a‑generation vote of confidence that could alter its trajectory for the next half‑century.

At a civic level, the announcement underscores a broader inflection point in Naples, a city whose population and wealth have grown rapidly but whose cultural infrastructure has scrambled to keep pace. The completion of a rebuilt, three‑theater campus on Fifth Avenue gives Naples a downtown performing arts complex that rivals those in much larger cities, featuring advanced technical capabilities and dedicated educational spaces.

By permanently strengthening the theater’s finances, the Bakers’ endowment gift increases the likelihood that the institution can function as a genuine cultural anchor, driving evening foot traffic for surrounding restaurants and retailers, attracting visiting artists, and offering a continuous pipeline of performances, classes, and community events that make the core more vibrant year‑round. As more affluent seasonal residents choose to make Naples a primary home, the presence of such institutional anchors—alongside the Baker Museum, the healthcare system’s expanded specialty centers, and other Baker‑backed assets—will be a critical factor in whether the city is perceived as a full‑fledged cultural and medical hub or simply a luxury enclave with good weather.

For arts fundraisers and nonprofit leaders beyond Collier County, the structure and symbolism of the Bakers’ latest gift will also be closely studied. It illustrates how a single family, working over several decades with a consistent philosophy, can build a cohesive ecosystem of institutions that reinforce one another: parks and public spaces that encourage gathering, medical centers that deliver top‑tier care, humane services that reflect civic compassion, and arts organizations that serve as both mirror and meeting ground for the community’s story.

It also highlights a critical evolution in donor behavior at the top of the wealth spectrum: after funding capital expansions and marquee naming opportunities, many sophisticated philanthropists are turning their attention to endowments and sustainability, recognizing that the next great challenge is not building beautiful facilities but ensuring that they thrive, innovate, and remain accessible long after the ribbon‑cutting photos fade.

In that sense, the Bakers’ $10 million sustaining gift to The Naples Players is about more than ticket revenue or backstage budgets—it is a statement about what kind of city Naples intends to be, and a reminder that in the right hands, community theater can become a central pillar of civic life rather than a peripheral amenity.