The largest corporate foundations in Orange County combined for $821.4 million in charitable giving during their most recently reported fiscal years, a jump of nearly 20% from the sum of their respective year-earlier donations.
This week’s Business Journal list includes 33 foundations and charitable arms of businesses that have headquarters or significant operations in OC. The latest increase comes after two straight years of modest growths of about 5% each and a 13% drop three years ago.
The list ranks the corporate foundations by total amounts given, regardless of the location of the receiving organizations. The rankings are based on the most recent data available, and the fiscal timelines for the entries vary. Eleven of the organizations reported for the full 2012 year, while 13 reported data for 2011. Nine others have 12-month periods ending at different times throughout the year.
More than half of the entries—19—increased donations, while 13 cut back. One organization held contributions steady.
The group of foundations also had a 15% increase in total assets to $757.7 million. That follows a 10% reflected in last year’s Business Journal list.
The Business Journal is adding a new criterion to the list this year: contributions made to charities in OC. Figures for OC-specific donations for 17 entries were either provided by the foundations or determined by the Business Journal based on data from the organizations’ tax reports. Others wouldn’t disclose numbers for local charities. Donations made locally, based on available data, totaled about $17.5 million, up about 15% from a year ago.
The two largest givers overall—Wells Fargo & Co. and Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc.—combined for $566.4 million, accounting for 69% of the total amount of gifts.
n Wells Fargo topped the list, with $368.2 million in donations in 2012, up 39% from 2011. The San Francisco-based national foundation gave $4.4 million to OC charities, slightly more than 1% of its giving.
Overall donations increased “significantly” last year, thanks to a newly initiated program called “NeighborhoodLIFT,” according to Wells Fargo’s OC Regional Banking President, Ben Alvarado.
The program, which aims to support home ownership, funneled $77 million into nonprofits to offer financial education and assist qualified buyers in the homebuying process.
“This is a one-time expenditure, but Wells Fargo will continue our philanthropic donations,” Alvarado said.
He added that the bank’s donations in Orange County went to more than 4,000 nonprofits.
“Almost 75% of our giving goes to the categories of community development, education and human services,” he said. “The remaining approximately 25% of our giving goes toward the categories of arts and culture, civic and environmental causes.”
n Bank of America’s charitable unit gave $198.2 million in 2011, the latest report available. That’s up slightly from its year-ago total of $197.2 million. It contributed $2.5 million in OC, the same as last year.
The foundation’s assets grew nearly ninefold to $86.4 million.
n No. 9 Irvine-based Edwards Lifesciences Corp., through its Edwards Lifesciences Fund, gave $4.5 million last year, up 22% from a year earlier. Beneficiaries included medical centers and social outreach organizations throughout the U.S. and abroad, including neuroscience programs in Puerto Rico and prosthetic clinics in Tonga and Micronesia.
More than $1.1 million, or about 25%, of Edwards’ donations, went to charities in OC, including the Hoag Hospital Foundation and the El Viento Foundation. That’s more than twice the year-earlier figure of $528,560.
n GSF Foundation, part of Irvine-based Golden State Foods Corp., ranked No. 14, with $2.9 million given in 2011. That’s up more than 68% from a year earlier.
Employees run the foundation, and donations come from their paychecks, according to Chuck Browne, its executive director.
Giving is “pretty consistent” year to year, but “the one anomaly in 2011 was a large gift” to Orangewood Children’s Foundation of about $1.1 million, according to Browne.
About $2.2 million of 2011 giving went to OC charities, primarily those focused on education for children.
“We have programs where we go to elementary schools in at-risk areas, providing shoes, backpacks and bikes,” said Shellie Frey, a vice president at Golden State Foods. The GSF Foundation last week took some 300 backpacks to Lowell Elementary School in Santa Ana, part of a year-round effort for many schools that could amount to more than 60,000 backpacks delivered each year.
n The Masimo Foundation in Marina del Rey more than doubled its total giving last year to $2.3 million, including $242,728 to organizations in OC. The charitable unit of Irvine-based patient-monitoring systems maker Masimo Corp. gave to the Newborn Foundation in Washington, D.C., and to the Japan Society of Anesthesiologists, among others. Locally, Masimo Foundation gave to Saddleback Church for a Haiti mission trip, as well as to Meadow Park Elementary School in Irvine.
n Some foundations that saw annual declines included the Angels Baseball Foundation in Anaheim, which gave $585,800 in 2011, the latest figure available, down from more than $1.5 million the prior year. It didn’t disclose how much of the contributions went to OC charities.
The assets of the Angels foundation, which slipped three spots to No. 22, stayed about even at $2.1 million.
n Newport Beach-based Simon Foundation for Education and Housing decreased its overall giving while boosting its OC-focused giving more than threefold. The foundation gave $646,590 over the 12 months through June 2012, compared with $1.7 million in the first half of 2011, when it changed its accounting period to end in June instead of December. Part of the higher total for 2011, despite the shorter period, was a “significant contribution” made to America’s Promise Alliance in Washington, D.C., in January 2011, according to Executive Director Sandra Bensworth.
The Simon Foundation contributed $366,100 to OC charities, up from $105,000 a year ago.
This week’s list includes two newcomers.
n The Boeing Co. debuted at No. 3, with $137 million in donations through its corporate citizenship arm, an increase of about 25% increase year-over-year. Chicago-based Boeing has significant operations in Huntington Beach and has long been the largest aerospace and defense contractor in OC, with more than 6,800 workers here.
n The Marconi Automotive Museum and Foundation for Kids ranked No. 28, with $258,002 in donations last year, about 76% of that going to local charities.
The foundation supports a host of organizations focused on children’s causes, including the Boys & Girls Club, Children’s Hospital of Orange County and the Orange County High School of the Arts. It primarily uses money raised through renting out the museum facility, which houses a $30 million collection of race cars and performance street cars donated by the museum’s founder, Dick Marconi.
Download the 2013 OC’s LARGEST CORPORATE FOUNDATIONS list (pdf)