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SPECIAL REPORT 2015 THE REGION’S BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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1. Board of Trustees in 1994-1996 when Bettina O’Neil Lyons was chair 2. 2001 capital campaign built the CFSA offices 3. Ajo Regional Food Partnership (Photo: Jeff Smith) 4. Philanthropist Melody Robidoux 5. Unidas Girls Philanthropy Program of the Women’s Foundation of Southern Arizona 6. Adult Learner (Photo: Literacy Connects) 7. Senator Douglas & Alice Holsclaw 8. Steve Alley (left) & Phil Amos 9. Joseph Blair, African American Initiative (All other photos: Community Foundation for Southern Arizona)

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There just had to be a better way.Buddy Amos was a big believer in giving

back to the community that he loved so dearly. Over and over at the dinner table, he would impress upon his sons, Hank and Phil, that it was their duty to give back.

A spark-plug of a fundraiser, it was hard for him to turn down requests to spear-head donation drives. He could often be found with other community leaders, calling for dollars in a phone bank at Jim Click’s Automotive Group.

It was a time when most businesses were owned and operated locally. Relationships helped drive business and there was a strong sense of community. But even so, Phil remembered, his father grew increas-ingly concerned about sustaining the good work they were doing.

“He was afraid it was getting tedious and that people were getting tired of the calls,” recalled Phil, who was in college at the time.

The answer to the merry-go-round of raising-and-spending-and-raising-and-spending came when Buddy learned of the community foundation model, which pools charitable contributions within one entity to address local needs over time.

In 1980, Buddy Amos joined James Burns, Edward Moore, Granger Weil and Jim Click Jr. to establish what was then The Greater Tucson Area Foundation.

Since its inception, grants and scholar-ships worth more than $145 million have been distributed through what is now called the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona to local causes – from education to children’s issues, animal wel-fare, the arts, health, economic develop-ment and the environment. In 2014 there were 571 active funds at the Foundation.

The need to connect donors with causes they care about remains strong, said Phil, who eventually chaired the board of the Foundation his father helped found.

“With dollars being cut everywhere, it will be increasingly important to have a

place where there is real money available to help fill gaps. This is the place,” said Phil, a real estate investor. “And it is also important that it is a Tucson-based orga-nization that puts this region first – since we’re too often at the caboose end of the funding stream.”

Tucson is a generous place with a diver-sity of needs, but what donors universally want is a place where their contributions are treasured, used effectively and invested wisely. And that’s where the Foundation comes in, lending its expertise in the com-plex world of charitable giving.

“You have an investment advisor for your money,” said Clint Mabie, president and CEO of the Foundation. “We are an investment advisor for philanthropy. When you invest in business and markets, there are clear and established metrics. When you invest in people and causes, it is difficult to do that on an individual basis. We are here to serve as a resource to make sure it is done effectively and appropriately and fulfills the donor’s intent forever.”

The Foundation also provides flexibility as needs change.

In 1990, Melody Robidoux was inter-ested in creating a charitable foundation after selling her interest in a Tucson com-pany. She explored a variety of options, then opted to incorporate as a support organization of the Community Founda-tion, which is akin to serving as a subsid-iary corporation in the private sector.

For 24 years, the Melody S. Robidoux Foundation had its own staff, offices, board of trustees, managed its portfolio, and did all of its own grantmaking, largely in the areas of women’s economic well-being and children’s welfare, under the umbrella of the Community Foundation.

“It was a great alternative to a private foundation because there were no require-ments to distribute a certain percentage of assets each year, and there were no yearly taxes,” Robidoux said. “Plus, the donor gets a more generous charitable deduction

Connecting People to Causes They Care About

Community Foundation Funding Tops $145 Million

By Rhonda Bodfield

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At the HelmJames Burns, 1980-1983

George H. Amos Jr., 1983-1986

Sidney B. Brinckerhoff, 1986-1989

Gordon W. Waterfall, 1990-1994

Bettina O’Neil Lyons, 1994-1996

Anna Jolivet, 1996-1998

Michael Hard, 1998-2000

Mary Ann Dobras, 2000-2002

Phil Amos, 2002-2004

Robert Friesen, 2004-2007

Carmen Marriott, 2007-2009

Paul Lindsey, 2009-2011

Nancy Davis, 2011-2013

Michael Sullivan, 2013-present

FOUNDERS uEdward Moore

Buddy Amos

Granger Weil

James Burns

Jim Click

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continued from page 183when giving to a community foundation.”

In 2013, the Robidoux Foundation began the con-version process to what’s known as a donor-advised fund, in which Community Foundation staff assumes responsibility for the admin-istrative tasks and overhead costs of managing the fund. The fund also contains a suc-cession plan, allowing her son to someday make grant recommendations, even as grants continue to be distrib-uted to organizations that his mother historically funded.

“Being part of a commu-nity foundation provides you access to experts who know the nonprofit community,” she said, and it helps connect donors with other like-mind-ed philanthropists.

Co-founder Click said, “It seems like it was yester-day when Bill Moore’s dad contacted me regarding a foundation they had created in Michigan. He went on to explain how much it benefit-ed their community, and he wanted to know if I would be interested in starting one in Tucson. Buddy Amos, I and others helped start it. Over the years this foundation made a tremendous differ-ence in our community. It’s amazing to see how much it has grown.”

The late state senator Douglas S. Holsclaw and his wife, Alice Young Holsclaw, spent their lifetimes enrich-ing the fabric of Tucson – from helping establish the College of Medicine at the University of Arizona to

supporting institutions that provided for children in need and educated future leaders. The Holsclaw name is close-ly associated with the Temple of Music and Art, the UA School of Music, Tucson Children’s Museum and the YMCA.

Hardworking and humble, the couple’s Depression-era values were reflected in their decades-old vehicles in the garage. “They always con-sidered that anything they had went back into the com-munity,” recalled their son, Douglas Holsclaw Jr.

The family not only pro-vided one of the initial Leg-acy Gifts received early in the Foundation’s history that continues to provide support to community causes, but Dr. Holsclaw Jr. also has multiple funds with the Foundation that support local organiza-tions such as the YMCA of Southern Arizona, UA Foun-dation, UA School of Music, Children’s Museum Tucson and the Tucson Botanical Gardens.

A physician in Pennsyl-vania and a UA graduate, the younger Holsclaw noted his parents favored targeted giving with clear objectives. Over his mother’s desk was a sign quoting Albert Einstein, “It is every man’s obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it.”

Since then, the Commu-nity Foundation has steadi-ly added to its funding of bricks-and-mortar improve-ments to take a more active role in outreach and civic

leadership. It has convened community efforts that bring disparate parties together to work collaboratively on so-lutions to sticky problems – from poverty to educational outcomes to animal welfare.

“It’s been interesting for me to see the evolu-tion over time in its growth and outreach,” the younger Holsclaw said. “It has be-come a facilitator, a modera-tor and really an accelerator in making things happen throughout the region.”

As a neutral convener, the Foundation in 2012, for ex-ample, set the table to bring factions of the animal wel-fare community together. For the first time, rescue groups, veterinarians, advocates and the two large shelters in town came together to leverage resources, passion and exper-tise.

The resulting effort – the Pima Alliance for Animal Welfare – has helped build a framework to lift all boats, said Pima County Deputy Administrator Jan Lesher, who oversees the county-run Pima Animal Care Center.

“This community has demonstrated time and again that when asked to come to-gether in a strategic manner, we are willing to do the work and establish those relation-ships,” Lesher said.

“But someone has to ask. And the Foundation is serv-ing in that leadership ca-pacity of shaping dialogue, bridging differences and helping to foster new solu-tions.”

The Community Founda-tion for Southern Arizo-na is known for bringing individuals and organi-zations together to envi-sion, then implement, communitywide solutions to pressing issues.

That’s one reason the Foundation collaborated with the University of Arizona and the South-ern Arizona Leadership Council to bring the MAP Dashboard project to Tucson.

This new online pub-lic resource provides fact-based insights into pivotal economic and social indicators about our community and how it measures up to similar cities in the West. This foundational project pro-vides real-time data that business leaders, gov-ernment officials and the general public can use to make informed deci-sions when planning for the future. Key indicators are the economy, educa-tion, health and social well-being, infrastruc-ture, quality of place and workforce and demo-graphics.

Read the full report about this game-changing proj-ect on page 112.

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$45,000 assets in 1981 after one year of operation $115 millionassets by yearend, 2014

8total number of funds in 1981

571total number of active funds in 2014

$145 milliondirect financial support to the com-munity since 1980 $9.2 million gifts received in 2014

$11.9 milliongrants distributed in 2014

117scholarships granted in 2014

By the Numbers

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Michael SullivanBoard of Trustees ChairCommunity Foundation

for Southern Arizona

WiseStewardship

By Rhonda Bodfield

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Managing people’s wealth is already imbued with a vast re-sponsibility. That sense of obli-gation is exponentially magnified when you’re managing people’s legacy wishes.

“We’re in the safeguarding as-sets business,” said Michael Sul-livan, an investment manager himself and the chair of the board of trustees for the Com-munity Foundation for Southern Arizona

“People are leaving their life legacies and assets with us, so we have a moral obligation to make sure we invest that money pru-dently and well.”

Good governance is at the root of wise stewardship and is a ma-jor focus of the board’s energy, which is why there are 35 differ-ent policies that are overseen and reviewed on an annual basis.

“It’s a very complex financial mechanism we’re dealing with,” Sullivan said. There are poli-cies that dictate what gifts to ac-cept, how to manage charitable gift annuities, how to safeguard against conflict of interest and how to enhance transparency.

“The job of the trustees is not to run the Community Founda-tion. That’s what our CEO does. Our job is to provide a gover-nance structure to make sure it’s being run well and is financially sound and meets its community responsibilities.”

Sullivan was drawn to the Foundation in 2008, intrigued by the opportunity to work with an organization that had a broader

focus than a single charity with a more narrow scope.

“I had done a lot of work with very worthwhile nonprofits, but it is really impactful to work with an organization where the focus is on strengthening the overall community in its truest sense.”

He also was drawn to the idea of being able to focus on helping donors identify key is-sues that are important to them. “The Community Foundation is the one place we can approach those questions on a neutral ba-sis. Whether it’s education, pov-erty or a litany of other causes, there is no shortage of need out there.”

Sullivan shared two important takeaways so far from his ten-ure on the board. “First, I have learned that there are a lot of good, well-intentioned people out there trying to make a differ-ence.

“Second, I’ve been proud of our ability to bring organizations together in a collaborative way. Everyone in business knows we can accomplish more together than we can independently. And what I’ve found is that as long as people trust that you have a com-mon goal, people are willing to step back from worrying about who takes the lead and who takes the credit. This is truly the community’s foundation – where our whole focus is leveraging as-sets to have the highest impact in benefiting the community over the long term.”

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IncreasingInvestment & Impact

By Rhonda Bodfield

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BizLEADERSHIP

Clint MabiePresident & CEO Community Foundation for Southern Arizona

Increasingly, communities are seeking ways to deploy more capital into the market with the goal of increasing economic de-velopment.

Community foundations are perfectly positioned to make these “impact investments,” which demand a return, even as they attempt to make measurable gains in areas of social economic development, said Clint Mabie, who became president and CEO of the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona in 2010.

After all, foundations already have a focus on improving qual-ity of life. They typically have rigorous evaluation policies that demand accountability. The Community Foundation for Southern Arizona can leverage its deep connections to donors and investors to build a com-munity investment fund that will generate millions annually into our community.

In the midst of its five-year strategic plan, cultivating ad-ditional community investment tops a list of three strategic pri-orities that have bubbled up from outreach to donors, the nonprof-it community and the board.

“Foundations around the country are saying, ‘How can we deploy more of our assets into the community?’ We’re looking at national models to see how we can bring this practice here so we can achieve a return on invest-ment, but leverage those dollars to get additional impact in areas such as job growth or educa-tion,” Mabie explained.

Thirty-five years after its in-ception, the Foundation’s second

strategic priority lies in also posi-tioning itself to become a greater change agent, by building and supporting ever-more demand-ing efforts to measurably im-prove quality of life in the region for everyone

“We’re being asked to lead a lot more – so we’re being very cognizant of where we should lead and in which areas and which issues,” Mabie said. “How can we play a leading role in di-versity and inclusion? How can we measure impact in a way that improves performance? How do we lead in collaborating and bringing people together to le-verage influence and resources? These are the questions we are asking ourselves as we plan.”

Driven by the need to lead the community in finding solutions, Mabie said the third strategic priority is enhancing internal ca-pacity.

“We have to invest smartly in people and systems to leverage our dollars to serve the commu-nity – and our primary business of connecting donors to causes they care about.”

Mabie, who formerly served as director of program develop-ment at the Chicago Community Trust, said although community foundations are facing change, the one thing that will remain a core value is collaboration.

“Nobody can do it alone. The issues we are facing, especially in Southern Arizona where re-sources are scarce, require us all to work together. To move forward we need to continue to come together to leverage our impact.” PH

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From community gardens to opera scholarships, AIDS to literacy, animal welfare to rural healthcare, the impact of the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona is felt throughout the region. These projects highlight the spectrum of issues addressed by col-laborations and programs through the Foundation established in 1980.

2012 Pima Alliance for Animal Welfare

Did you know that about 35,000 abandoned and unwanted pets end up at local animal shelters and rescue or-ganizations year in and year out? Rec-

ognizing that the community must be galvanized to stop the daily flood of cats and dogs into these animal care facilities, the Pima Alliance for Animal Welfare was formed to work toward en-suring that all Pima County companion animals have a loving home and hu-mane care. This unprecedented effort relies on a broad alliance that includes more than 50 representatives of animal-welfare agencies, among them the Tuc-son area’s two main shelters – the Pima Animal Care Center and the Humane Society of Southern Arizona.

As a result, more animals are adopt-ed and finding a permanent home.

2010 Ajo Regional Food Partnership

The town of Ajo transformed from a food desert to a food oasis. The U.S. Department of Agriculture gave the “food desert” label to the former cop-per mining town 130 miles west of Tuc-son. With fewer than 4,000 people and only one grocery store, Ajo had limited options for fresh and healthy fruits and vegetables. That was six years ago. To-day Ajo has 40 gardens, abundant fruit trees, a farmer’s market and frequent culinary events. Last spring it intro-duced the Authentically Ajo Regional Food Festival.

Collective ImpactBy Rhonda Bodfield

1980 19881983 19871981

Nonprofit Loan Fund LGBT&S Alliance Fund

Articles of incor-poration filed in May to establish The Greater Tucson Area Foundation

Edna Amos establishes one of the first endowed funds in memory of her late husband, George H. Amos Sr., father of Buddy Amos

Renamed the Tucson Community Foundation

Arizona Arts Award program established

The Ford Founda-tion and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Founda-tion challenge the Community Founda-tion to to raise $1 million in endowed funds to be matched with $500,000 in programmatic funding

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1991 Southern Arizona’s Women’s Fund(Now Women’s Foundation of Southern Arizona)

Established by Harriet Silverman and Melody Robidoux, this fund would evolve into the Women’s Foundation of Southern Arizona in 1999. The foun-dation empowers women and girls to improve their lives and communities through five primary forces for change – leadership development, charitable giv-ing, community building, research and grant-making. The Women’s Founda-tion is the only organization in Southern Arizona whose philanthropic activities are dedicated exclusively to programs that serve women and girls. Foundation-funded research recently demonstrated the impact of substantial cuts to pro-grams that support low-income families on the road to financial self-sufficiency – and the long-term positive return on

investment that results when there is support for child care and education to help women improve the lives of their families.

2014Nonprofit Loan Fund With shrink-ing government support for nonprofits, it is increasingly important that these organizations retain a healthy cash flow while awaiting donations, grants and other reimbursements that can help ad-dress critical needs. The Nonprofit Loan Fund of Tucson and Southern Arizona is designed to strengthen organizational financial capacity by providing afford-able loan financing and financial educa-tion for nonprofits operating throughout Southern Arizona.

1987Igor Gorin Memorial Scholarship

Austrian-born Igor Gorin was a world-renowned opera star who spoke eight languages fluently. His career spanned four decades before he joined the faculty at the University of Arizona, mentoring the next generation of sing-ers. His wife Mary established The Igor Gorin Memorial Award, given once a year to help an aspiring opera singer with expenses associated with hiring accompanists and coaches, and audi-tioning as they transition from school into professional careers. Since 1993, $266,300 has been awarded to 41 young artists. This is one of the most presti-gious and generous awards of its kind in the nation.

1994 1997 2000 2006 2008

LGBT&S Alliance Fund African American Initiative Pima Alliance for Animal Welfare

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PRO Neighbor-hoods founded with government and community partners

Renamed the Community Founda-tion for Southern Arizona

Conducted the largest capital campaign in its history to build a new building on land donated by the John & Helen Murphey Founda-tion

Launched $1 million Literacy for Life Coalition to promote a culture of literacy in Pima County, resulting in the creation of Literacy Connects in 2011

The Economic Relief and Stability Fund established and donated $442,000 to help local non-profits through the economic crisis

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2013African American Initiative In 2013, a group of African American community leaders, led by Anna Jo-livet, took its first step toward develop-ing more current and future charitable resources specifically for the African American community. The African American Initiative has a simple goal – direct dollars and foster collaboration among organizations and individuals serving the most pressing needs in the African American and greater Tucson community. On Jan. 20 the initiative announced it plans to award $50,000 in grants to local nonprofit organiza-tions providing service in the area of education. Recognizing the importance of collaboration in addressing complex needs, the initiative requires grant appli-cants to partner with at least one other organization.

2014 Community InteractiveThe Community Interactive is a series of engaging and informative live events addressing issues Southern Arizonans face – such as poverty, the border, edu-cation and the arts. Produced in part-nership with Arizona Public Media, each event features an accomplished moderator and a panel of experts, of-fering community members an oppor-tunity to participate in a solution-driven conversation about these pressing issues. The most recent 90-minute interactive event was Feb. 12 and focused on edu-cation.

1999 LGBT&S Alliance Fund

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans-gender & Straight Alliance Fund con-ducts annual competitive grant rounds to support projects that benefit the LGBT community in Southern Ari-zona. Created in partnership with the National Lesbian and Gay Community Funding Partnership, the Alliance Fund addresses a chronic pattern of under-funding of much-needed programs and supports efforts to address these issues through philanthropy and endowment building. Since its inception, the fund has awarded more than 100 grants to more than 40 different organizations to-taling more than $550,000.

Did You Know? The Community Foundation can save your business time and money. No matter the size of the business, the Foundation can:

• Distribute grants on behalf of the business, reducing internal processes

• Ensure that grants are sent to legitimate, well-run nonprofits

• Recommend specific community needs that match your company’s mission

• Provide status reports on the utilization of the grant

Julian Babad was born to Jewish parents in Poland in 1934. They moved to America for a better life – but his mom died when he was just 8 and his father went off to war. Orphaned, this studious lad ultimately got a scholarship to col-lege and became an engineer. Ever grateful, in 1997 he established a scholarship fund at the Community

Foundation for Jews of European descent. He gives every penny he can to grow his fund. Recently he drove his mobile home to the foun-dation and gave them the keys. He decided he was too old to drive and figured the nonprofit could sell it and add the money to his fund, ultimately benefiting more students.

“Giving to or doing things for those around us is one of the best expressions of our human character. We try to help oth-ers, not out of pity, but with respect for their needs and goals. Our Community Foundation here in Tucson helps us identify both community and universal needs and how to most effec-tively convey the help to meet those needs.” – Bill Kinney, Retired Business Owner & Community Volunteer

Donors Tell Us

“We like to contribute to a variety of important causes. Un-like single-issue foundations, the Community Foundation provides us the flexibility to place our giving throughout the spectrum of community needs – from education to animal welfare to reproductive rights. They are a reliable source of current information on regional issues and a secure custo-dian of our funds.” – Paul Lindsey, Business Owner & President of the Board, The Loft Cinema

By Whatever Means

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Affiliatesu Santa Cruz Community Foundation

promotes philanthropy and assists with the creation of a healthier, more productive community for the residents of Santa Cruz County.

u Oro Valley Community Foundation seeks to provide resources that con-tribute to quality of life throughout the Oro Valley region, including San Manuel, Oracle, Catalina, Marana and northwest Tucson.

u Stone Canyon Community Founda-tion assists local charitable organi-zations that help young people in Oro Valley and Tucson get on track and stay there – through early child-hood education, high school gradu-ation and the development of life skills.

Programsu Social Venture Partners Tucson in-

spires philanthropy using a venture capital approach to affect social change.

u Center for Planned Giving serves as an impartial philanthropic resource for nonprofit organizations, profes-sional advisors and donors.

Supporting Organizationsu CFSA Properties owns and operates

real properties to benefit the Foun-dation’s mission.

u Thomas R. Brown Family Founda-tions issues grants to qualified reli-gious, charitable, scientific and edu-cational organizations.

u William Edwin Hall Foundation is-sues grants supporting programs for children.

u Worth & Dot Howard Foundation of-fers educational scholarships to mer-itorious individuals from designated Arizona educational institutions.

u Howard V. Moore Foundation pro-vides grants that support education, health and opportunity.

u Nonprofit Loan Fund of Tucson and Southern Arizona provides loan fi-nancing and financial education for Southern Arizona nonprofits.

u Sycamore Canyon Conservation Foundation monitors and maintains certain environmentally-sensitive ar-eas in Sycamore Canyon Preserve.

u Women’s Foundation of Southern Arizona empowers women and girls to improve their lives and communi-ties through five forces of change – leadership development, chari-table giving, community building, research and grantmaking.

u Zuckerman Community Outreach Foundation issues grants for the pro-motion of health and wellness edu-cation and the arts on a local and national level.

2011 One-Eight Memorial Foundation Fund

Thousands of lives changed in a span of a few seconds on Jan. 8, 2011 when six people were killed and 13 others wounded at a Congress on Your Cor-ner event. The Community Foundation responded to the tragedy by establishing five funds that received more than $1.1 million from 5,000 individuals from 48 states and 10 countries.

Current active funds include The Fund for Civility, Respect and Under-standing, and the Christina-Taylor Green & Daniel Hernandez, Jr. Schol-arship Fund, which supports students in the School of Government & Public Policy at the UA and honors the joint interests of Green and Hernandez. The first scholarships were awarded in spring 2012.

1987 Stay Well Fund

Dr. Augosto Ortiz believed that ac-cess to healthcare services by many Arizonans was not only limited by their financial ability to pay for their ser-vices but also by their geographic and psyco-social status. The doctor and his wife Martha established the fund at the Community Foundation in 1987 to pro-vide services in rural communities. They established the fund “with the faith that mankind will benefit,” Augusto said at the time. Recently the fund has support-ed the Mobile Health Program of the UA College of Medicine.

Community Foundation Connections

“Over the decades, the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona has made it possible to help many people stay well – most recently by helping the University of Arizona Mobile Health Program provide for those most in need of healthcare and wellness education.” – Martha Ortiz, Advisor, Stay Well Fund

Donors Tell Us

Martha and Dr. Augosto Ortiz u

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