Congratulations to the Boys & Girls Club of Laguna Beach for achieving a milestone in the growth of their endowment fund, which has reached $500,000—an exciting step on the path to their ultimate goal of raising $6 million. Gifts to the endowment of the Boys & Girls Club of Laguna Beach help ensure that the organization’s award-winning art programs support the art and creativity of Laguna Beach youth for years to come. The Boys & Girls Club of Laguna Beach was one of OCCF’s 2009 Legacy Partners, and in addition to providing training and support in endowment development to the organization, the Foundation also gifted the Club with a grant in order to employ a specialist to build the endowment. To read the AmericanTowns.com article about the Boys & Girls Club of Laguna Beach reaching this endowment milestone, click here.

The Orange County Community Foundation’s Legacy Partners program helps foster the long-term stability of local charitable organizations by working with them to broaden their base of support through the development of endowment and planned giving programs. To learn more, visit the Legacy Partnership section of our web site.

Image courtesy of AmericanTowns.com.

I am moved by the outpouring of compassion demonstrated by the donors of the Orange County Community Foundation in the wake of the devastating magnitude 7.0 earthquake that took place in Haiti on Tuesday, January 12 and the magnitude 6.1 aftershock that followed one week later. I am overjoyed to announce that OCCF donors have responded phenomenally in this time of great need by directing a total of $123,700 to date to organizations providing immediate aid to victims of the disaster. Thank you to our partners in philanthropy for your heartfelt generosity to the thousands who have been left injured and homeless after the worst earthquake to hit Haiti in 200 years.

If you are interested in learning more about recommended agencies doing work on the ground, please visit the Orange County Community Foundation's homepage, www.oc-cf.org, for a list of excellent nonprofit organizations providing relief to those affected by this tragic natural disaster.

Image courtesy of UNICEF.

You have been directed to the Shelley Shares blog while the Orange County Community Foundation’s web site, www.oc-cf.org, is temporarily down for scheduled maintenance this afternoon. The site will be down for approximately two hours. We appreciate your patience as we work to ensure that our web site is as efficient as possible in serving your philanthropic goals.

Please feel free to browse the blog postings as well as the Orange County Community Foundation’s Facebook Fan Page and Twitter Profile for the latest OCCF news, events, and resources.

Happy New Year from the Orange County Community Foundation! We hope 2010 finds you and your family happy and healthy. What better way to start off a new decade than with news of the thoughtful and generous granting by the Foundation’s 2009 Next Generation Philanthropy Group?

Comprised of emerging leaders in their 20s to 40s with an interest in philanthropy, the Orange County Community Foundation’s Next Generation Philanthropy Group focused their yearlong program on seeing the work of local nonprofits first-hand. The group took quarterly site visits to local nonprofits to learn about our community’s most pressing needs. As their exploration came to an end in December, the group decided to award $6,000 in grants to four local nonprofits providing critical support for vulnerable families impacted by the economic crisis, older adults, education and domestic violence. Grants of $1,500 were extended to each of the following agencies: Share Our Selves, Age Well Senior Services, Human Options and El Sol Science and Arts Academy.

I thank the Class of 2009 for sharing their knowledge and participating in productive discussions, and I congratulate them for making exciting philanthropic strides!

For more information on OCCF’s 2010 Next Generation Philanthropy class, please contact Jeff Swanson, vice president of development and gift planning, at 949.553.4202, ext. 39 or via email at jswanson@oc-cf.org.

On behalf of all of us at the Orange County Community Foundation, I wish you and yours a wonderful holiday season. OCCF awarded $21.3 million in grants and scholarships this fiscal year, making 2009 the highest granting year in OCCF history. This record-setting response to the needs of our local community was made possible by the generosity of you: our friends and partners around the county. Please click here for a special holiday greeting from OCCF.

Please join me in welcoming Anoosheh M. Oskouian to the Orange County Community Foundation’s Board of Governors. We are thrilled to add to our board such a distinguished environmental entrepreneur who has reached out to make a difference in Southern California and beyond.

Anoosheh is the president and co-founder of Ship & Shore Environmental, Inc., an engineering and manufacturing company that provides customized green energy industrial solutions. Anoosheh serves on the boards of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra and the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which works to protect the health of residents in Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Passionate about improving the lives of children, Anoosheh is a co-founder of Children’s Hope International Literacy & Development (CHILD), established in 2004. The agency provides needy children in a variety of countries with nutritional, medical, and educational staples so that they may continue attending school, enhancing their lives now and into the future. Visit CHILD’s web site for more information.

The Orange County Community Foundation board and staff is delighted to welcome Anoosheh to OCCF. We know her environmental expertise and widespread community work will be great assets to our mission of encouraging, supporting, and facilitating philanthropy in Orange County.

To learn more about Anoosheh M. Oskouian, view the press release here. 

November was a busy and exciting month for the Orange County Community Foundation! This fall marks the Foundation’s 20th year of encouraging, supporting and facilitating philanthropy in Orange County. We celebrated this milestone in many special ways: A beautiful Annual Report chronicling OCCF’s 20-year journey with images of some of the most breathtaking scenes in our county; a 20th Anniversary video featuring local philanthropic and nonprofit leaders, their reflections on OCCF’s history, and their hopes for its future; and our best-attended Annual Meeting to date!

One of the personal highlights of the Annual Meeting was presenting Orange County Community Foundation founder and executive director emeritus, Judy Swayne, with the 2009 Excellence in Philanthropy Lifetime Achievement Award in front of over 350 guests. If it weren’t for Judy’s vision and unwavering passion for philanthropy, the Foundation would never have come to life 20 years ago and become what it is today. Judy and her husband Keith announced at the meeting a $500,000 challenge grant contribution to the Orange County Endowment to establish permanent endowments in support of the Environment and the Arts. The board, staff, and donors of the Orange County Community Foundation and I, as well as all of our nonprofit and community friends, are grateful to Judy and Keith for leaving a legacy that will endure in Orange County forever.

To browse an electronic version of OCCF’s 2009 Annual Report, click here. To view part one of OCCF’s 20th Anniversary video “A Legacy of Leadership”, click here. The view part two “Making an Impact”, click here. To view photos from the Annual Meeting, visit OCCF’s Facebook Fan Page here.

Visit the Orange County Community Foundation web site at www.oc-cf.org.

How quickly time flies! After months of planning and preparation, the Orange County Community Foundation’s 20th Anniversary Annual Meeting is right around the corner. The celebration of our “20-year Journey: Growing the Good for Orange County Today and Tomorrow,” will commence this Wednesday, November 11, at 11:30 am at the Island Hotel in Newport Beach. We will enjoy a performance by the students of El Sol Science and Arts Academy, hear from donors and nonprofit friends in a special 20th anniversary video, and honor OCCF founder Judy Swayne. We can’t wait to celebrate with you!

We are just 43 days away from the Orange County Community Foundation’s 2009 Annual Meeting, which will celebrate our “20-year Journey: Growing the Good for Orange County Today and Tomorrow.” The celebration will take place on Wednesday, November 11, from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm at The Island Hotel in Newport Beach. We will be looking back at the foundation’s collective impact over the past two decades as well as the path ahead. We’ll also premiere a 20th anniversary video featuring some of our outstanding local philanthropic partners and those who helped chart the earliest course for OCCF’s success. We can’t wait for its debut! Visit OCCF’s Facebook Fan Page for a sneak peek at some of the video’s stars. And check back here as the annual meeting countdown continues.

In trying economic times such as these, our team at the Orange County Community Foundation knows that our work to encourage, support and facilitate philanthropy in Orange County is needed now more than ever. While the foundation has certainly been impacted by the recession, our mission delivery has never been stronger. I am thrilled to share with you a few exciting highlights from the past year: More...