|
Merced
Sun-Star
November
17, 2006
Nov.
17--Though California charitable foundations dole out more
than $2 billion each year, only a small fraction of those
dollars make it to the Central Valley, a new study has found.
According
to the study, released this week by the San Francisco-based
James Irvine Foundation, Merced and other Central Valley counties
draw substantially less funding from charitable foundations
than the affluent Bay Area and Los Angeles-area counties.
Annually,
private foundations contribute $12 for each person in the
county, compared to $678 in San Francisco and $108 in Los
Angeles, the report said.
The
study examined foundation giving throughout the state using
data from 2003, the most recent year for which information
is available.
During
that year, Merced drew about $2.6 million in foundation donations,
compared to Los Angeles' more than $1 billion.
Foundations
collect and invest money from donors and use the earnings
to make charitable grants. Nationwide, foundations provided
more than $33 billion in 2005 for various causes from the
arts to feeding the hungry.
Of
the state's 58 counties, Merced ranks 32nd in annual giving
from private foundations.
"There's
a huge need in Merced County for this kind of giving," said
Mark Seivert, president of the Community Foundation of Merced
County, one of only a handful of charitable foundations in
the county.
Seivert
said the Community Foundation, launched just three weeks ago,
has already endowed $150,000 and given $23,000 in donations,
including $10,000 toward the restoration of the Merced Theatre.
Seivert
said the county's low number of foundations is just part of
the problem. Additionally, he said, the county fails to attract
funding from larger foundations throughout the state.
"The
Valley has unfortunately been a stepchild to the Bay Area
and Los Angeles for a long time. They're just much more on
the radar screen for this kind of giving," he said.
John
Garamendi, vice chancellor of university relations at UC Merced,
said he believes the future of charitable giv-ing in Merced
and the Central Valley is bound to get brighter.
"We
need to continue to foster a culture of giving in the Valley,"
said Garamendi, who oversees fundraising at the university.
"I think we're heading in the right direction, but it takes
time."
A
sizable portion of the $62 million in donations UC Merced
has received since it began fundraising in 1998 has come from
foundations, including $12.6 million from the David and Lucile
Packard Foundation that helped to purchase land for the campus.
"Foundations
have been key to the founding of this university," Garamendi
said.
He
said he believes that as the area's economy grows, so will
charitable giving.
"As
we build our economy, those who benefit from that growth will
give back to the community," he said.
According
to the study, Stanislaus County fared the best among San Joaquin
Valley counties, at $42 per capita in foundation donations.
Throughout
the San Joaquin Valley, foundations brought in $16 per capita.
Statewide, that figure was $102.
The
study found that in addition to the Central Valley, the state's
Inland Empire also is underserved in foundation giving
|
