Letter from ECF Board Chair Lisa Ruder

Hello fellow Escondido Charitable Foundation members. I invite you to join us at the Grants Ballot Presentation event on Wednesday, June 29 at the San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum.

The dedicated Grants Committee, led by Sally Costello, has completed the site visit phase of the grant review process and has carefully chosen the ballot. At this upcoming June event, you will have the opportunity to hear about the tremendous nonprofits that work to prevent homelessness in Escondido.

Judging from the site visits I have been on and comments about other programs, there are many deserving organizations so this year will be a particularly difficult choice.

Please join your fellow philanthropists at the San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum to cast your vote (voting will also be available by email).

RSVP

For more information about the June 29 Grants Ballot Presentation event, please contact Colleen McEniry at colleen@sdfoundation.org.

At our Social Event in April at the California Center for the Arts, we were treated to heartwarming presentations from Encuentros Leadership and the Escondido Police Department. The young man from Encuentros shared his life-changing experience attending a college retreat at University of San Diego, while Escondido’s finest shared their experiences with the Secret Santa Program.

Board members Jack Raymond (left) and Rita Bowcock (right) pose with member Ross G. Rose at ECF’s April Social Event. Click the image above to view the entire event album.

View Spring Social 2016 Album >

These moving presentations epitomize the mission of the Escondido Charitable Foundation (ECF) – “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

Thanks to your generosity, in our first 10 years we have granted out more than $1.5 million and established an endowment of more than $989,000. To celebrate this decade of positive impact in our community, we hope you will save the date for our 10^th Anniversary Celebration on September 22 at Orfila Winery.

The Membership Committee, led by John Goodrich, is asking us to bring at least two potential new members to the September event. Bringing in new members is the lifeblood of our organization and enables us to positively impact the lives of an increasing number of deserving nonprofit organizations.

With more members, we will be able to contribute even more to enhance and support our beloved community.

Lisa Ruder
Chair, Escondido Charitable Foundation

Save the Date

This fall, we will celebrate our 10^th anniversary and award the 2016-2017 grants to organizations serving our community in the prevention of homelessness and hunger. With the power of pooled philanthropy, ECF has already awarded over $1.5 million dollars to deserving organizations.

Share this incredible story and the spirit of philanthropy in our community by bringing a friend or a neighbor who would like to learn more about making an impact in Escondido.

10th Anniversary Celebration
September 22, 2016 at 5:30pm
Orfila Winery
13455 San Pasqual Rd
Escondido, CA 92025

Grantee Spotlight

Our 2014 grantee, Zoological Society of San Diego, was awarded $30,000 for its project, Hands-on Experiences in Conservation Science for Escondido. ECF caught up with the organization to learn more about the impact of the grant.

How many students were served?
The grant provided more than 1,000 students and teachers from Escondido area schools with the opportunity to experiment firsthand with the tools and techniques used in field-based and lab-based conservation science.

What were some key outcomes?
Through pre and post-tests, the Zoological Society can evaluate increases in student content knowledge as well as attitudes towards zoos and conservation.

Data from this project indicated that students are accomplishing statistically significant increases in their knowledge and understanding of presented topics and of the overall importance of science to conservation. At the end of the program, the average cumulative increase in student content knowledge was 49 percent, almost double our projected goal.

Were there any unexpected outcomes?
We have been extremely excited by our local teacher partners’ response to this conservation science opportunity. Individual teachers have been eager to share their own experiences from the Conservation Education Lab and Outdoor Learning Lab with their students, many of whom haven’t visited there in three years, such as the case for San Pasqual High School.

Join your neighbors in giving