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Private Foundations Give More in OC, Less Overall

Private foundations based in Orange County spent more money in their own backyard last year as they trimmed their overall giving.

The foundations on this week’s Business Journal list gave just over $145 million overall, 6.3% less than the $155 million they donated in 2013, according to data compiled by the Business Journal. Orange County charities still saw added benefit as the listed foundations’ local giving increased 22.8% from $34.6 million to $42.4 million. That followed a 9.3% drop in local giving in 2013.

The Business Journal ranks the county’s 41 largest individual and family foundations based on the most recent available data charting cash contributions. Most numbers are based on tax figures and foundation reports, and organizations have fiscal years that are different from each other.

Total cash contributions dropped last year, though 25 of the foundations reported an increase—some of them significant.

Only two of the top 10 private foundations reported a notable decrease in total contributions.

• Irvine-based Tiger Woods Foundation reported an 812% increase in total cash contributions from $467,190 in fiscal year 2012 to nearly $4.3 million in 2013. It jumped from No. 27 to No. 6 on the list—the biggest change this year by a large margin.

• The Aliso Viejo-based Henry T. Nicholas Foundation, No. 11 also reported a significant increase in charitable contributions, up nearly 60% to $2.4 million in total contributions, nearly that entire amount going to Orange County charities.

The foundation was called the Henry T. and Stacey Nicholas Foundation until the couple’s 2006 separation, when it adopted its current name and Stacey Nicholas established her own foundation—the Opus Foundation in Irvine.

• Opus Foundation dropped from No. 24 to 32 this year due to a 55% decrease in total contributions for the fiscal year ending December 2013.

It made all of its $279,000 in contributions to Orange County charities, including to Costa Mesa-based Junior Achievement of Orange County, Santa Ana-based The Wooden Floor, and Santa Ana-based Women Helping Women Inc.

The Business Journal reported a $9.5 million gift by the foundation to the Henry Samueli School of Engineering at University of California-Irvine in June 2014.

• The Costa Mesa-based Argyros Foundation stayed at No. 4 this year, reporting a 27% increase to $13.4 million in total cash contributions and $11.8 million in contributions in Orange County. The local figure represented a 127% increase.

Its main project has been a $13.5 million donation given to the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in support of helping rebuild the center’s central plaza in Costa Mesa, according to a representative of the foundation. The spot will be named the Julianne and George Argyros Plaza and is expected to be finished in the fall of 2016.

• Dana Point-based Optivest Foundation is the only newcomer to the list. It made $604,058 in total contributions last year, with $302,497 of that given to Orange County charities. Optivest is ranked No. 25. It was founded in 2007 and is funded by 10% of the gross revenue of Optivest Inc., Optivest Properties LLC, and Optivest Investment Banking, according to the foundation’s website. It has invested more than $2.3 million in local and international areas since 2007.

Trish Van Mourick, who founded the Optivest Foundation with her husband, Mark, said the rise in contributions can be attributed to the Optivest companies’ increased profitability in recent years. The foundation donates mostly internationally, with some local giving, and to Christian-based causes.

“We have multiyear projects in Rwanda, Zambia, and India, and focus on projects that will be sustainable in the future” Van Mourick said. “We are passionate about international projects because we really see our investment dollars go so much further.”

One of the current projects listed on the foundation’s website is the Freedom Climb, an annual event when women from around the world climb Mount Kilimanjaro to “raise global awareness, prayers, and funds for women and children who are oppressed, enslaved, exploited, and trafficked throughout the world.”

• The Newport Beach-based Donald Bren Foundation reported a 73% decrease in contributions and a 93% decrease in Orange County contributions—it gave one $100,000 gift to Santa-Ana based nonprofit Think Together. The foundation dropped from No. 10 to No. 26. It meanwhile increased its total assets by almost 20% to nearly $137.5 million. The foundation is one of Bren’s numerous philanthropic outlets. His Irvine Company donated 2,500 acres of open space near Orange and Anaheim Hills last year on land that had been approved for 5,500 homes.

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