Sacramento Region Community Foundation
In the early 1980’s, a small group of community leaders saw a need in the Sacramento region – a need for stable, permanent financial support that would increase the capacity of local community organizations to meet critical needs. This group of individuals - the Junior League of Sacramento - had a clear vision of the region’s future and set out to establish a local community foundation that would perpetually enhance the quality of life throughout the region for generations to come.
In 1982, a steering committee was formed to build the necessary endowment to turn the community foundation from idea to reality. In addition to the Junior League, several organizations stepped forward with financial support such as the Setzer Foundation, James Irvine Foundation, and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. The Junior League of Sacramento’s vision soon came to fruition – the Sacramento Regional Foundation, as it was then known, was officially incorporated in April of 1983.
Individuals, businesses and foundations, both local and national offered financial support. They include The Ahmanson Foundation, The S.H. Cowell Foundation, The Sacramento Bee, The Aetna Life and Casualty Foundation, A. Teichert & Son, Mervyn’s Department Stores, Pacific Bell, Gordon D. Schaber and the Friends of the Sacramento Regional Foundation.
Twenty four years after being founded to advance and promote charitable giving in the Sacramento region, the Foundation now manages over 350 funds, many of them permanent endowments, with total assets in excess of $115,000,000 million. Grants awarded to nonprofit organizations from its charitable funds have grown from $272,900 in 1983 to almost $8 million dollars in 2007.
Now known as the Sacramento Region Community Foundation, the vision of its founding members in 1983 continues to make a positive impact in our communities. We hope you will be inspired by our story as we celebrate 25 years of giving in the Sacramento region.
About the Sacramento Region Community Foundation