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OC’s Largest Gifts Soar 92% to $393M

Orange County’s collection of hospitals, schools, performing arts centers and other nonprofits in 2021 enjoyed a bonanza year for receiving donations.

The six largest donations on the Business Journal’s list of top charitable gifts for 2021 all topped $20 million or more. That result handily beats last year’s largest single donation of $12.9 million.

Altogether, the list shows 88 donations valued $1 million or more that totaled $393.3 million in 2021, a 92% increase from the prior year.

The number of seven-figure and higher gifts was up 35% up from 65 in 2020.

Late Arrival

The largest donation made in 2021 was $57.8 million, from Audrey Steele Burnand to the University of California, Irvine, to study depression (see story, page 1).

The funding deal, the largest in OC in four years, wasn’t announced until earlier this month.

For the second straight year, UCI led the donor list, receiving 36 donations totaling $177.7 million, which is almost triple the amount it received in 2020.

Seven of the nine largest gifts went to universities. California State University, Fullerton, received five gifts totaling $48 million (see story, page 1), while Irvine’s Concordia University got four gifts totaling $29 million.

The second largest gift for 2021 was $50 million, from the Lennar Foundation, the charitable arm of homebuilding giant Lennar Corp., to the City of Hope Orange County to help build a new hospital and clinic in Irvine.

The Miami-based homebuilder’s West Coast operations are run out of Irvine.

Lennar’s gift is a reflection of the company’s belief that “we hold in high regard giving back to the community we’re able to make our careers in, our living in,” company co-CEO Jon Jaffe told the Business Journal following the announcement.

While the Lennar Foundation’s name will adorn the comprehensive cancer center, Jaffe stressed the organization isn’t seeking name recognition. It believes “it’s important that the news of the gift [and its] size is out there to encourage others to give.”

Notables

Besides the universities, other notable gifts included:

• $7.7 million for Hoag Hospital Foundation from Gail and Roy Jones. The gift supports Hoag’s area of greatest need, which helps maintain the hospital’s infrastructure and enhancing patient care.

Altogether, the Hoag Hospital Foundation received five gifts totaling $13.2 million.

• Sandy Segerstrom Daniels, co-managing partner of C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, owner of South Coast Plaza, one of the world’s biggest malls, donated $5 million to the CHOC Foundation to help establish a new mental health inpatient center.

Segerstrom Daniels has long been involved in charities for children, having founded the nonprofit Festival of Children Foundation in 2003 and then in 2008 spearheaded the effort behind National Child Awareness Month each September.

“Mental health is that subject that doesn’t get talked about,” she said in a video on CHOC’s website. “It’s that closet conversation that people don’t want to discuss if your child has a mental problem.”

“There’s no place for these children to get help” in Orange County, she said.

Altogether, CHOC received four gifts totaling $13.2 million.

One of those gifts was $1 million from the estate of Harold and Henrietta Lee, who started giving to CHOC in 1989. Harold Lee died in the 1990s while Henrietta died a couple years ago.

“They gave $10 million in total over the years,” said Doug Corbin, chief development officer at the CHOC Foundation. “They always gave for the greatest needs of the hospital. This is their last donation.”

• Robert and Karen Kerbs donated $3 million for a capital campaign at the Ronald McDonald House Orange County.

“We both grew up in Orange County and were looking for an OC charity that would provide a long-term direct impact to families in need,” the couple told the Business Journal. “The RMHOC building expansion was the perfect opportunity to make a difference for generations to come so we chose it.”

• Bill and Sue Gross, who were divorced in 2017, both made generous donations via separate foundations. The Sue J. Gross Foundation gave $3 million to UCI for nursing Ph.D. scholarships and the construction of a high-tech, state-of-the-art simulation center for team-based interprofessional exercises.

The William, Jeff and Jennifer Gross Family Foundation, meanwhile, donated $2.5 million to a capital campaign at Newport Beach’s Harbor Day School.

• Lugano Diamonds donated $2.5 million to the Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) to provide free entry for 10 years once the museum opens on Oct. 8.

“OCMA is entering a new era with Heidi Zuckerman’s leadership and this magnificent new building,” Lugano co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Idit Ferder said. “It is an honor to help welcome people to OCMA’s stellar collection, exhibitions, and programs.”

• The Pacific Symphony received six gifts totaling $7 million from the likes of notable donors such as the John and Mary Tu Foundation and William J. Gillespie, a prominent Laguna Beach supporter of the arts who died in 2020.

• Stacy and Steve Jones, who built Santa Ana-based Allied Universal into the world’s largest private security firm with more than $18 billion in annual sales and 800,000 employees, donated $1.4 million for residential drug rehab facility Teen Project/Vera’s Sanctuary.

“Human trafficking is such an important issue as it has a devastating impact on individual victims, who often suffer physical and emotional abuse, threats against self and family and even death,” Jones, who is Allied’s chairman and CEO, told the Business Journal. “Organizations like Vera’s Sanctuary helps women receive everything they need to get their lives back on track.” 

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Peter J. Brennan
Peter J. Brennan
Peter J. Brennan has been a journalist for 40 years. He spent a decade in Latin America covering wars, narcotic traffickers, earthquakes, and business. His resume includes 15 years at Bloomberg News where his headlines and articles sometimes moved the market caps of companies he covered by hundreds of millions of dollars. His articles have been published worldwide, including the New York Times and the Washington Post; he's appeared on CNN, CBC, BBC, and Bloomberg TV. He was awarded a Kiplinger Fellowship at The Ohio State University.
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