Witnessing the growing demand of their communities, local nonprofits have expanded programming and increased outreach efforts to try and match these needs.
The 107 organizations headquartered in OC on the Business Journal’s list of largest nonprofits, with annual revenue higher than $3 million, reported their combined revenue rose 10% to $2.7 billion for the year ended June 30. A year ago, they rose 6%.
However, clients served in OC fell 12% across this year’s group of nonprofits.
“One possible reason is there were significant amounts of COVID relief dollars that flowed through to communities,” Randy Barth, chief executive of Think Together, noted.
“As the last of that funding begins to peter out, it is likely that nonprofits are returning to service levels that reflect their pre-pandemic state,” CEO Shelley Hoss of Orange County Community Foundation (OCCF) added.
Christy Ward, CEO of Share Ourselves, said that with rising demand in the county, a few organizations may have reinstated some pre-COVID restrictions that lowered the utilization of different services.
“What we were able to provide became less,” Ward told the Business Journal. “There’s a lot we don’t capture too.”
The local organizations recorded a total of 108,563 volunteers in OC as of October and saw a 14% jump in paid staff to 16,423.
Additional Clients and Gifts
Think Together, ranked No. 1 with OC revenue of $234.9 million for 12 months ended June 30, helps more than 50 school district partners across California using state funding to create universal expanded learning programs.
Showing an increase of 27% in revenue, the Santa Ana-based organization credits its growth to California’s recent investments in educational programming as well as its own expanded services.
Think Together has served over 24,000 people in OC as of October, an increase of 75%.
CEO Barth said several school districts this year have adopted some of Think Together’s newer programs.
One currently in the works is an institute for California school superintendents to coach and develop more leaders, called Leadership for Student Success.
Rising to No. 2 this year, OCCF jumped 41% in OC revenue to $213.4 million as of June 30.
CEO Hoss pointed to a few gifts that the nonprofit, which connects local donors with other philanthropic partners, received.
“We received an unexpected estate gift of $12 million from a donor who entrusted OCCF with the stewardship of his philanthropic legacy,” Hoss said.
She added that a donor couple, who’s contributed to OCCF for five years, decided to terminate their private foundation and distribute its $60 million in assets to the nonprofit.
New Stores, New Wealth, New Leaders
In the past 13 months, Goodwill of Orange County opened three new stores, including its first in Fountain Valley.
Although the organization saw only a slight increase in revenue to $170.7 million, Goodwill’s growth was seen in its local impact. The No. 3 ranked Santa Ana-based organization attributed its 17% rise in local clients served to its new Career Pathways program, an expansion of its Good Market food pantry, a broadened re-entry program and additional outreach to veterans.
To double our mission impact, “we have established more doors, more avenues and entry points for people in Orange County to access important career development and support resources,” CEO Nicole Suydam said.
The nonprofit also saw a drop in local volunteers partly due to less court-appointed volunteers, Suydam noted.
The National Christian Foundation, capturing 15% revenue growth to $135.5 million, plans to further explore the giving potential among the transfer of wealth to second and third generations of high-net-worth families.
“We are seeing wealth transferred at an accelerating rate,” President Bryan Feller said. “And innovative approaches to giving are changing the landscape of generosity.”
For Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties, No. 6, last year was about increasing weekend appointment availability which resulted in a notable increase in patient volume.
The Anaheim-based unit reported OC revenue of $114 million for 12 months ended June 30, up 11%, with clients served growing 12% to 271,415.
“In addition to continuing to offer needed care to patients who travel to our health centers from other states, this year we broadened our community education efforts to include the Orange County Juvenile Hall, probation system and jails,” CEO Jon Dunn said. “We also added the provision of reproductive health services to the OC jails.”
The local Planned Parenthood is expanding its Anaheim health center to offer more appointment availability and to include a new state-of-the-art lab for faster test results.
Dunn will retire next June after 31 years with the organization. Segerstrom Center for the Arts added John Phelan as its new chairman in July.
Nonprofit Newcomers
Santa Ana’s Cristo Rey High School, a newcomer to the list, more than doubled its annual revenue, as well as staff and clients served in OC.
“We have experienced remarkable growth in our second year, expanding from 69 freshmen in our inaugural class to over 140 freshmen and sophomores,” President Stephen “Steve” Holte said.
“Enrollment will nearly double again next year as we welcome a third class of at least 100 students eventually becoming a school of 400 to 450 students.”
Other nonprofit organizations that debuted on the list this year with revenue above $3 million include: Food Finders based out of Los Alamitos, Garden Grove’s food rescue Bracken’s Kitchen, Beyond Blindness from Santa Ana and Chrysalis in Anaheim.
