Find Your Passion
Building A Healthier, More Vibrant Orange County for All
The dream of a more vibrant, prosperous Orange County is within our reach. OCCF is uniquely positioned to provide long-term leadership in many areas of Orange County by working in collaborative and innovative ways to build a stronger, more vibrant community for all who call it home. Strategic community leadership initiatives that OCCF has helped to lead include the following:
The Orange County Endowment
The Orange County Endowment was established in 1994 to ensure that OCCF could respond quickly and effectively to Orange County’s most pressing needs. Five funds support specific fields of interest:
Excellence in Education Fund
Supports programs that help close the achievement gap for local students, with a focus on training and development for teachers using research-based practices.
Health and Wellness Fund
Supports prevention and early health intervention for children with special focus on access to healthcare, immunization, and child abuse prevention.
Environment Fund
Supports hands-on education in schools, public understanding of Orange County’s unique natural resources, and conservation and preservation of open spaces.
Special Needs Fund
Supports programs that enhance the quality of life for people living with disabilities and other special needs, therapeutic and/or intervention services, adaptive equipment or assistive technology, and respite care services for families and caregivers.
Our Community Initiatives
At the Orange County Community Foundation, we look for opportunities to lead and for leaders who make great partners. We invite you to join us by lending your ideas, experience, time, or resources to make a lasting impact on our community.
Take a look at our work in progress and see what inspires you!
ACT Anaheim
In 2016, Accelerate Change Together for Anaheim (ACT Anaheim), announced $1.5 million in funding to benefit 10 Orange County nonprofits addressing gaps in services for underserved Anaheim youth. These awards bring total ACT awards to $5 million since its launch in 2014.
OC Veterans Initiative
In February 2015, OCCF unveiled “The State of the American Veteran: The Orange County Veterans Study,” revealing significant challenges faced by veterans transitioning to civilian life.
OCCF commissioned USC’s Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans and Military Families to complete the report. As a follow up, OCCF invested $500,000 for nonprofits serving OC veterans, which was awarded later that year through a grant program.
In April 2016, OCCF partnered with top Orange County real estate companies and financial institutions to sponsor the OC Real Estate Luncheon with all of the proceeds directly benefiting the more than 130,000 local veterans.
OC Opportunity Initiative
The contributions of generations of immigrants have shaped Orange County throughout our history, and our future depends on successfully incorporating the skills and talents of our diverse communities. The OC Opportunity Initiative helps immigrants realize their full potential through outreach, education and legal services to ensure their full participation in the economic and civic life of our county.
Learn more about the OC Opportunity Initiative
iheartoc Giving Day
OCCF super-charged local philanthropy in Orange County through the second annual iheartoc Giving Day on April 27-28, 2016. As a community we raised more than $3.25 million [PDF] in support of the exemplary work of local nonprofits.
Our goal was to inspire Orange County to give where your heart lives for 30 hours on iheartoc.org. With contributions of $1.8 million in 2015, the two-year i♥oc Giving Day total exceeds $5 million.
Thank you for showing your love, Orange County!
Field-of-Interest Funds
Established to support a specific charitable area, field-of-interest funds target specific interests, such as education, health, animal welfare, medical research or veterans’ needs. Inherently flexible, this type of fund allows you to identify and support a broad charitable purpose or category of interest, such as the arts, education, animal welfare, medical research, veterans needs or human services.
With a field-of-interest fund, you can rely on the Orange County Community Foundation to identify organizations capable of making the greatest impact in the specific issue area or region of particular importance to you. A field-of-interest fund with OCCF may be opened with contributions of $250,000 or more.
Margaret E. Oser Fund for Women
Margaret E. Oser left a remarkable philanthropic legacy to benefit women’s health, education and social welfare through the establishment of a private foundation in her estate plans. After partnering with the Orange County Community Foundation for several years to carry out its grantmaking programs, the Oser foundation’s trustees decided in 2005 to transfer its $9.1 million corpus to OCCF — the largest endowed gift in OCCF history. Since 2001, OCCF has awarded grants totaling $3.5 million from the Oser fund to nearly 100 nonprofit agencies in Southern California working in the areas closest to Margaret Oser’s heart.
James H. Warne
In 2014, the generosity of the longtime Orange County resident James H. Warne resulted in the largest single contribution in OCCF history: an estate gift of nearly $35 million. Mr. Warne worked with his estate planning attorney and directed OCCF to steward his charitable legacy by establishing an endowed fund decades before his passing. He wanted to ensure that his vision yields never-ending returns for the causes he held closest to his heart, including providing educational resources for local students, preserving endangered species and supporting guide dogs for disabled individuals.
