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Private Foundations Give More for First Time in Years

Orange County’s largest private foundations combined to increase their charitable giving by 12% in their latest reported fiscal years to $135.4 million, the first significant increase since 2008.

This week’s Business Journal list ranks the county’s 38 largest individual and family foundations based on the most recent data available on their annual cash contributions. The timeline is not the same for all, as some reflect full-year results for 2012, while the majority of the entries go back to 2011.

The mix of data over the past two years shows the foundations also had a 5% decline in total assets during the same time period, to $1.1 billion.

Private giving in recent years has been flat at best. Numbers held steady on two of the past three Business Journal lists, while one marked a 9% decline. The list from 2009 showed the last giving increase, a 40% growth to $140 million.

This year’s list is a mix of ups and downs in giving, and a big increase from one organization accounted for the net growth. About half of the foundations—20—increased their total contributions, while 16 cut back. Two saw their donations stay flat year-over-year.

This year is the first time the Business Journal is extracting the amount of contributions made to charities in Orange County. Not every foundation provided their OC numbers, and when possible, the Business Journal calculated the breakdown based on information from the foundations’ tax reports. OC-specific giving, shown for about two-thirds of the entries, totaled $21.6 million, up 68% from a year earlier.

n The Marisla Foundation was No. 1 on the list again, with a total of $47 million given last year, including $4.1 million to OC charities. That’s a 5% increase in total giving from a year earlier, while the OC numbers declined by about 3%.

n No. 2, William and Sue Gross Family Foundation, more than tripled its donations last year to $25.5 million, an increase of $18 million, the biggest amount on the list.

The foundation gave to Doctors Without Borders and the Special Olympics, among others. Locally, the Gross Family Foundation gave $5.5 million last year, versus a year-ago total of $210,000. Beneficiaries included University of California, Irvine’s Stem Cell Research Center, which bears the couple’s names, and the Laguna Beach Community Clinic.

n The Beall Family Foundation in Newport Beach gave $6.8 million in 2011, the most recent data available. That’s more than double the year-earlier total of $3.1 million, an increase that moved the foundation up two spots to No. 5. The foundation had a 38% decline in assets to $11.2 million.

n The Ueberroth Family Foundation in Corona del Mar was No. 10, with $2.4 million in total cash contributions in the 12-month span through November, marking a 16% year-over-year increase. The foundation had about $41.2 million in assets at the end of November, up 3%.

n No. 13, the Dhont Family Foundation in Santa Ana, gave $1.7 million in 2011, up 10% from the year prior. Most of the total went to OC charities, including the Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County and The Salvation Army Orange County in Tustin.

The foundation pledged in late 2011 to donate $3.6 million to Chapman University over the following seven years to help establish a documentary film center in the school’s Marion Knott Studios.

Other grants the foundation approved for future payment include donations to University of Southern California’s Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center.

n No. 14, Paul & Elisabeth Merage Family Foundation, gave $1.5 million in 2011, up 22% from 2010. All of the donations went to charities in OC, including the UC Irvine Foundation and Children First.

n The Henry T. Nicholas III Foundation in Aliso Viejo increased its contributions by 70% in 2011 to $1.4 million, pushing it up four spots to No. 16.

Gifts to local charities accounted for 92% of the $1.3 million total, which compared with $436,934 a year earlier. The spike in 2011 was primarily due to a $1.2 million donation to the Henry T. Nicholas Educational Foundation in Santa Ana, which provides youth education programs.

n No. 21, the David & Julianna Pyott Foundation, gave $722,403 spread across more than 30 organizations. OC charities accounted for about 8% of the total, while the recipients of the largest checks were the American Friends of London Business School and Fountain Valley School of Colorado.

n The Ahmanson Charitable Community Trust debuted on the list at No. 35. It gave $58,461 in 2011, the latest data available, compared with no gifts in the prior year. The money went to two recipients: the Museum of Biblical Art in New York, which got $57,504, and the Fieldstead Charitable Trust in Irvine, which received $957.

Download the 2013 OC’s LARGEST PRIVATE FOUNDATIONS list (pdf)

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