When Rob Lambert was 10, his typical boyhood life suddenly changed.
His parents separated, leaving him, his 8-year-old brother and stay-at-home mom in a precarious financial position. The security he had always known in what had been a well-off Southern California family was gone.
Over the course of the following two years, Rob said his parents divorced and his family struggled, hovering at the poverty line and eventually losing their home. He said the boys’ education was in doubt until the private school they attended forgave their tuition cost until their mother could get back on her feet.
The Lambert family pulled itself out of the situation with the help of relatives and friends.
Now, 23 years later, with a law degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, Lambert is a director in the Irvine office of Cushman & Wakefield Inc., a commercial real estate services firm.
But he said the experience of his formative years—and the accompanying doubt, stress and feelings of helplessness—stayed with him.
That’s why the 33-year-old Lambert said he donated $100,000 of his commissions this year to Families Forward, an Irvine-based nonprofit organization that helps families in financial crises achieve and maintain self-sufficiency.
“For the most part, these families have experienced a sudden change in their life circumstances,” he said. “Believe me, it can happen to anyone.”
Families Forward’s programs, Lambert said, have a high rate of success. Eighty-three percent of the homeless and near-to-homeless families the organization serves move on to self-sufficiency within a year, according to the organization.
Lambert has served as a board member for the group for the past three years, helping guide its strategic vision and financial plan, and he is one of many little-known and well-known Orange County philanthropists.
Personal Connections
People who donate large sums of money to nonprofit groups typically have some sort of life experience that’s shaped their core values, said Dan McQuaid, president and chief executive of Santa Ana-based OneOC, which connects volunteers to nonprofit groups.
When they decide to make a financial donation to a nonprofit, he said, it’s because that group reflects their values.
Business leader and philanthropist Victoria Collins, co-founder of wealth management firm First Foundation Inc. in Irvine, was recognized with the Business Journal’s Women in Business award in 1997 and was keynote speaker for the event in 2001.
As a younger woman, challenging times led her to recognize the importance of educating women about finances, how to succeed in a business environment, and how to move beyond unhealthy relationships to a place of self-reliance.
She said the common thread that runs through all of the nonprofits she supports is helping women realize their full potential.
“How do you live your values?” she said. “Philanthropy is the way to show that.”
Donors contribute to nonprofit organizations in a variety of ways. Some donate stock, others make large financial contributions, and others donate valuable items the nonprofit can use in ways they deem best.
Orange County residents Brian Murphy, a pilot for Southwest Airlines, and his wife, Melissa, a teacher, donated more than 7,000 rare and antique books to the Orange Public Library Foundation in 2007, when the new Orange Public Library & History Center was under construction.
The couple inherited the collection from a family friend, but rather than sell the $30,000 worth of volumes through a rare-books dealer, the two decided to donate nearly the entire collection to the foundation to use in the new library.
“We strongly believe in making literature available to everyone,” said Melissa, an avid reader.
“The [foundation] supports that idea, so it was a good choice for us.”
The donated books included a 200-year-old Bible and several first-edition books.
Upper-Level Donors
Some people seek out nonprofits to donate to, but in most cases, the groups must actively reach out to the public for its support.
John Forsyte, president of the Pacific Symphony in Costa Mesa, said fostering the connection between potential donors and a nonprofit is essential.
“So much of philanthropy is about building personal relationships,” he said, describing a scenario in which someone with an interest in orchestral music may have his or her passions flamed when they understand the mission of the Pacific Symphony.
The key is identifying who those people are by finding out who attends shows regularly; whether they’ve made smaller donations to the symphony; and whether they’ve donated to or been actively involved with other arts organizations.
Then the symphony invites them to private receptions, premiers and other special events designed to further expose them to the organization and to create a sense of identification with its mission.
Forsyte said potential donors particularly enjoy observing the symphony during practice and are often otherwise unaware of how intricate the music is, how measured the notes, how methodical the composition.
When executives from The Boeing Co. attended a practice, he said their eyes lit up, and they were immediately drawn to the logic of the symphony.
After the visit, Boeing started regularly supporting the symphony, Forsyte said.
“There is a close connection between music and math.”
The symphony’s supporters include Orange County’s top philanthropic families and individuals, he said.
The Hal and Jeanette Segerstrom Family Foundation supports the organization to the tune of several hundred thousand dollars a year. Philanthropist Sandy Seger-strom Daniels is an ardent supporter, as is her husband, John Daniels, a music aficionado who serves on the board of directors’ executive committee.
The foundation made a $400,000 challenge to the public this year to make new or increased gifts to the symphony’s annual fund campaign, Forsyte said, resulting in more the 850 such contributions.
All About the Donor
Actively identifying donors and maintaining strong relationships with them is becoming more important as the number of nonprofit organizations in the county grows.
Between 2000 and 2010, the total increased 68% to 3,181, all supported largely by donations, according to the Gianneschi Center for Nonprofit Research at California State University, Fullerton.
The organizations that are most successful in garnering the attention of high-worth donors are those that work to uncover a potential donor’s connection to the organization’s mission, said fundraising consultant Phyllis Freedman of New York-based Smart Giving.
Alisa Driscoll, communications and events coordinator for Girls Incorporated of Orange County in Costa Mesa, said she’s perfected the art of making such connections.
“It is very important to recognize what their true passion is,” she said. “It may start as small talk over a cup of coffee.”
She said she’ll take a potential donor on a site tour and explain the group’s various programs, engaging them in conversation to glean from their responses where their interests lie. She may then offer suggestions of ways they can get involved.
The connection is personal to each donor, she said.
“There is definitely a ‘wow’ moment when that connection is made.”
Girls Inc. has enjoyed long relationships with most of its donors, Driscoll said.
Gena Reed, founder of Paragon Biomedical Inc. in Irvine, has been involved with the group for more than a decade and this year donated $500,000 to the organization for scholarships.
The first scholarship was awarded this year to 18-year-old Maribelle Maldonado, who begins college at Cal Poly Pomona this month, where she will study veterinary science.
The organization nurtures long-term relationships with donors by continually communicating the value their support brings to the program. Driscoll said it invites donors to special events and even sets up one-on-one conversations with some of the girls who’ve benefited from the donor’s contributions.
“We let them know how special they are to us and that we can’t do it without them,” she said.
Freedman of Smart Giving expressed similar sentiments.
“Corporate communications is about how great the organization is,” she said. “Donor communications are about how great the donor is.”
