Behind every nonprofit, there’s a story.
The tale behind Santa Ana-based Think Together is one of Newport Beach businesspeople and churchgoers, concerned Costa Mesa moms, needy students, an ambitious actor turned governor and Donald Bren.
All of them have turned Think Together, which runs after school tutoring programs for mostly poor, urban kids, into the largest operator of free after school programs in the state.
“We’re showing huge strides in test scores,” founder and Chief Executive Randy Barth said. “That is starting to spread with school districts.”
Think Together also has won over big donors with its focus on helping the most needy of Orange County do better in school.
Irvine Company Chairman Donald Bren is the group’s biggest supporter. He gave $1 million to Think Together in 2006 and $8.5 million in 2008.
Other donors include Marion Knott; Ranney Draper, chairman of Spring Creek Investors LLC; Bank of America Corp.; Peter Ueberroth and family; and Bill Podlich, retired cofounder of Newport Beach’s Pacific Investment Management Co.
“Bill in a lot of ways has been a mentor to me,” Barth said.
Think Together has its roots in St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, where Barth and many backers attend.
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The flashpoint for the group came in the mid-1990s after a gang shooting in the Shalimar neighborhood of Costa Mesa, where Think Together opened its first after school center.
After the shooting, Shalimar moms organized to push for a safe, quiet place for their kids to go after school.
The shooting and the efforts of the moms got coverage in the Daily Pilot newspaper.
Barth, a former stock broker for E.F. Hutton & Co. and other companies, followed the events.
He enlisted the help of Jerome Karcher, a Catholic priest then at St. Joachim Parish in Costa Mesa and one of Carl Karcher’s sons. They organized volunteers, many of them Newport Beach businesspeople from St. Andrew’s, and teamed with the mothers.
The result: Think Together’s Shalimar Learning Center. It had about 100 students on its first day, according to Barth.
The group’s programs now are in about 200 schools and a handful of community sites, serving 35,000 kids in Orange and Los Angeles counties and in the Inland Empire.
Think Together’s annual budget is about $35 million. It employs some 1,700 workers.
Santa Ana Unified School District is Think Together’s largest district.
Santa Ana, the county’s largest city by population, is seen by many philanthropists as crucial to the overall well-being of OC, said Darrel Anderson, a board member.
“Santa Ana is a core of our greater community,” he said. “You can’t allow it to fail.”
Anderson is retired from Knott Anderson Enterprises. Knott’s Berry Farm heiress Marion Knott is his mother.
Academics
Think Together’s emphasis is on academics. The program is run as an extension of the school day. It gives lagging kids a chance to catch up and even surpass their peers.
In Santa Ana and elsewhere, Think Together works with children of Spanish-speaking immigrants, who may not be able to offer much homework help to their kids.
Think Together is looking to go beyond tutoring to services such as parenting classes and dental care. It plans to do so by working with other groups.
The Think Together model is similar to Geoffrey Canada’s Harlem Children’s Zone, which has received accolades for improving the lives of poor children by offering comprehensive services.
In 2003, Think Together was in danger of closing.
“We had a crisis,” Barth said. “We ran out of money.”
Barth stepped in from the board and has run the group since.
Think Together has gotten some key help along the way.
It’s been a big beneficiary of 2002’s Proposition 49, which Arnold Schwarzenegger spearheaded as a prelude to his run for governor in 2003.
Think Together opened as many as 100 sites in a single day once money from the proposition started flowing.
About 90% of Think Together’s funding last year came from Proposition 49. This year, about 60% is from the measure.
The federal No Child Left Behind program also has helped. Barth said he is optimistic the Obama administration could double funding for the program started by President Bush.
That could help offset declining Proposition 49 money, he said.
Think Together’s ability to raise private money is notable.
Sat Tamaribuchi, a founding board member, originally pitched the group to Irvine Co. when he was vice president of environmental affairs for the real estate owner and developer. He’s now retired.
“Mr. Bren very quickly recognized the value of the program,” Tamaribuchi said.
Bren’s wife, Brigitte Bren, joined the board in October.
She said she hopes to help market Think Together in Los Angeles, where she practices entertainment law.
“Historically, Think Together invested its relatively scarce discretionary funds on program quality and more recently on evaluation of those programs,” Brigitte Bren said. “As a result, the organization has developed powerful programs with great results. But not enough people know about it.”
Kathy Braun-Lewis, former president of Lake Forest-based Western Digital Corp., has been a board member for eight years.
She’s another recruit from St. Andrew’s. She left the board for a while to tutor kids.
“It was heartwarming and gratifying,” Braun-Lewis said.
Think Together uses volunteers as well as paraprofessionals who make $12.50 an hour.
Retired drug executive Sam Anderson got involved through St. Andrew’s as well.
“I wasn’t sure I had anything to offer these kids,” he said.
Since getting involved, Anderson not only has tutored, he’s mentored kids and helped put some through college. He’s stayed close with some.
“This has been very rewarding for me,” he said.
As with other nonprofits, raising money has gotten tougher for Think Together.
Barth divides donors into segments. The hardest hit in the downturn are the ones in the middle. That includes business owners and the real estate people.
Those worth $100 million or more still can give, according to Barth. But they may not be giving at the same level.
Think Together is working to drum up smaller donations.
“That’s what Obama really tapped into,” Barth said, referring to the president’s campaign.
Giving from those with average household incomes make up the bulk of donations, he said. But they give in smaller amounts.
Think Together’s first small donor campaign, Miles of Change, is set for March. Schools and businesses are collecting pennies (and e-mails for future fundraising).
The group plans to have about 5,000 students lay 100 miles worth of pennies on the Auto Club Speedway track in Fontana. It’s hoping each school collects a mile, or $845 in pennies.
Publicity
The fundraiser also doubles as a publicity bid to promote Think Together in the Inland Empire, Barth said.
The group has grown so quickly many aren’t familiar with the name, he said.
Leona Aronoff-Sadacca, an Orange County resident who made her money operating the largest beer and beverage distributor in San Bernardino, is helping the Inland Empire push.
“My role on the board is to be part of the Inland Empire thrust,” she said.
Aronoff-Sadacca sold Gate City Beverage Distributors, the business her father-in-law started 75 years ago, to Harbor Distributing LLC of Anaheim a couple of years ago.
That’s when Sam Anderson recruited Aronoff-Sadacca to the board.
“Each time he came to me with something I said, ‘no,’ until this,” she said. “Education is my thing. If we as individuals can do anything to change the course of this world, it’s through our kids.”
Think Together also wants to grow in Los Angeles, which is Fran Inman’s territory.
“She’s very wired out there,” Barth said.
Inman, senior vice president of Majestic Realty Co. of City of Industry, is board chair of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.
“I’m a connector,” Inman said. “I’m just excited by the potential.”
Think Together plans to grow by taking over some of the state’s struggling after school programs.
“We pick up some every year,” Barth said.
In the past year, Think Together grew from 13 schools in Santa Ana to 45.
“We’re talking to four districts for next year,” Barth said.
