Newport Beach-based Pacific Life Foundation, affiliated with the largest private company headquartered in OC, Pacific Life Insurance Co. with $10.7 billion in annual revenue, is the biggest cash giver locally, at $4.7 million.
The foundation’s 2018 total is 21% higher than the prior year, and topped last year’s biggest local giver, Wells Fargo & Co.
The PacLife boost came in a year when the foundation’s assets declined by 7% to $94.4 million.
That’s among the more notable takeaways from this year’s Business Journal list of corporate and foundation giving.
Foundations, along with a smattering of corporate givers, were ranked by their giving to local entities and charities, if they provided data or a 2018 Form 990, filed by U.S. charitable foundations and which includes financial information such as the group’s giving and total assets.
Up Town
PacLife Foundation President Tennyson Oyler said via email the increase was connected to the company’s 150th anniversary, but didn’t say where the increases touched.
The increase “provided more opportunities for our employees to be actively engaged” with local charities, he said.
In February, the Business Journal featured the foundation’s $2 million gift to a financial literacy program for teenagers, called Lifevest. It is run by the University of California-Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business’ Center for Investment and Wealth Management.
The increase foundation-wide for PacLife was 12%, from $6.25 million to $7 million.
Two-thirds of the foundation’s giving was in OC and its local total rose by $804,000—OC growth outran growth in foundation-wide giving.
Oyler said its budget this year stayed at $7 million.
Other Bigs
No. 7 Edwards Lifesciences Foundation in Irvine increased its giving by 50% to $1.45 million. Heart valve maker Edwards Lifesciences Corp. is OC’s largest public company, with a $45 billion market cap. A spokesperson said 2019 giving will rise, also.
No. 9 Angels Baseball Foundation in Anaheim grew its giving 24% to $1.2 million. Chairman Mark Merhab attributed the increase to growth in its funding of college scholarships.
No. 15 Sunwest Bank Charitable Foundation in Irvine upped its giving 22% to $118,000.
Local increases by prominent givers came in a slightly down year for the practice: Business Journal research shows a 2% drop in local foundation and corporate giving to $22.6 million as their assets fell by 13% to $868.3 million.
Still High
No.18 Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation in Arlington, Va. gave a small amount—$26,000—but it represented a 36% jump over last year’s total and helped drive the corporate giving arm up seven slots.
A smaller bump came from No. 11 Broadcom Foundation in Newport Beach, but the chipmaker’s giving group looks for a big impact from its 10% hike to $630,000.
The increase was for the International Science and Engineering Fair set to be held May 2020 at Anaheim Convention Center.
The Business Journal has previously reported on ISEF. Broadcom co-founder, foundation chairman, and philanthropist Henry Samueli is a big booster of the event, a STEM student gathering that’s never landed locally.
The week-long effort—essentially a global, competitive science fair—next year pits more than 1,800 competitors from 80 countries against each other for some $4 million in prizes.
Down Shift
Downshifted local giving was reported by Wells Fargo, 9%; Irvine Co., 5%; and foundations affiliated with Capital Group Cos., 8%; Masimo, 23%; PIMCO, 29%; Allergan, 16%; Opus, 40%; Mazda, 54%; and Taco Bell, 4%.
