Building a Legacy 2019 Annual Report

On Saturday, August 3, 2019, El Paso met an unwelcome visitor who brought both hate and violence to our community, killing 23, physically injuring 25, and traumatizing thousands more. Our beautiful, resilient community responded immediately and with overwhelming generosity, demonstrative of our community values: caring, compassionate and giving. The El Paso Victims Relief Fund in the Paso del Norte Community Foundation received over $5.86 million in gifts as the result of bake sales, corporate and foundation contributions, matching funds, telethons, concerts, car shows, portion of sales, lemonade stands, tattoo art, art shows, t-shirt sales, on-line gifts and coins from thousands of donors. The PDN Community Foundation partnered with the City of El Paso and El Paso Community Foundation to distribute donated funds for victims and families in the most transparent manner with oversight from the One Fund Task Force and Board. $11.83 million was ultimately distributed to 363 victims and families, with 100% of administrative costs covered by the foundations.

As families continue to grieve and heal, they have expressed gratitude for the outpouring of support. We know that the healing work of our community is not over. The United Way of El Paso County and County of El Paso opened the El Paso United Family Resiliency Center to offer ongoing programs, services and support to those impacted by the shooting. We continue to receive contributions for three additional funds established for victims and families: the CEA Educational Fund for 8/3 Survivors for immediate educational needs, CEA Scholarship Fund for the higher education of children of victims killed, and the United Way Resiliency Fund for community healing.

Thank you to everyone who contributed gifts large and small. We are forever grateful, forever united, forever strong.

The 4th annual El Paso Giving Day raised a record-breaking $3,188,543 as a result of an incredible $1 million matching gift from Walmart and 4,654 donations as small as $10, supporting 195 nonprofit organizations. A remarkable 48% of gifts from first time donors. With additional support from The Meadows Foundation, El Paso Electric, Las Palmas Del Sol Healthcare, Marathon Petroleum, Microsoft, WestStar Bank, and others, El Paso Giving Day also included fun incentive prizes to encourage participating organizations to raise even more.

And, this year, El Paso Giving Day was only the beginning. Between November 15 and December 31, Walmart made an additional donation for each volunteer hour served with participating organizations. The 86,346 hours of eligible volunteer time resulted in an additional Walmart match of $442,423. El Paso Giving Time sparked a spirit of generosity and volunteerism surpassing all expectations.

El Paso Giving Day is a community-based effort started in 2016 to shine a spotlight on the importance of nonprofit organizations in the region and to inspire new and younger donors to give. Because of El Paso’s incredible giving spirit, the 2019 El Paso Giving Day shattered all previous efforts raising more money for nonprofit organizations than all previous years combined.

The Paso del Norte Community Foundation grew its Donor Advised Fund portfolio in 2019 with over $3.1 million in new gifts and pledges. The Foundation was honored to welcome the new Melinda and Meyer Marcus Family Fund, which marks one of the Foundation’s first funds to involve more than one generation of family members in philanthropy. It also welcomed growth in existing Donor Advised Funds including the Amy and Clement Marcus Family Fund and Rick and Ginger Francis Foundation.

Rick and Ginger Francis made a remarkable leadership commitment this year in partnership with the Paso del Norte Community Foundation with a $3 million gift to endow the Office of the President and all four Deanships at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center-El Paso.

Donor-Advised Funds are great tools for individuals and families to make a measurable impact on our community.

When Carl and Sandra Wright moved to Kauai, Hawaii, to work and subsequently retire on the island, they decided they wanted to give back to the community they loved. The Wrights had the idea of creating an annual $5,000 scholarship for young women pursuing a career in STEM fields. Being 3,000 miles from the Sun City they needed a little help, so the Wrights reached out to the Paso del Norte Community Foundation for assistance.

Carl Wright was born and raised in El Paso, where he graduated from Irvin High School and received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in electrical engineering at the University of Texas at El Paso. Sandra Wright was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and attended Mills College where she earned a full scholarship. She went on to work in marketing and media.

Throughout their careers, the Wrights lived in several cities, so while pursuing the opportunity to start the Carl L. and Sandra E. Wright Scholarship for Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Fund, they researched a number of different foundations in a variety of communities. For the Wrights, the Paso del Norte Community Foundation and its Community of Philanthropy stood out above the rest.

The new Wright scholarship is available for young women who are high school graduates entering college as well as continuing undergraduate students.

The Wright Scholarship Fund is one of 21 scholarship funds that make up the Foundation’s Community of Philanthropy.

The Sunrise Rotary Club of El Paso was founded by Sonny Brown, former vice-president of Rotary International, in May 1993, to provide support and services to the community and the world. It is part of the larger Rotary organization made up of 1.2 million neighbors, friends, and community leaders who come together to create positive, lasting change.

And, that’s exactly what the Sunrise Rotary Club does. In addition to their weekly breakfast meetings, the Sunrise Rotary Club contributes significantly to civic engagement and community organizations.

In 2015, the Sunrise Rotary Club established a fund in the Paso del Norte Community Foundation to facilitate charitable giving to nonprofit organizations. In 2019, the Club granted more than $35,000 to eight organizations, including a $15,000 gift to Moms on Board for an all-inclusive playground at Ascarate Park. The Sunrise Rotary Club established an endowment fund to support charitable giving long term as well.

Their charitable giving is significant thanks to the hard work and generosity of their members and donors, and success of their annual Mini-Golf tournament. Held at Adventure Zone, the miniature golf tournament brings together more than 36 teams that enjoy the MINI fundraising event with BIG results.

The Sunrise Rotary Fund is one of 100 designated funds that make-up the Foundation’s Community of Philanthropy.

The Paso del Norte Community Foundation hosted its first annual Hope Grows Here event with a beautiful dinner celebrating the hope that philanthropy gives our community. More than 200 guests gathered on Saturday, October 19th at 150 Sunset with Honorary Chairs Josh and Tita Hunt and event emcee Robert Bettes. The event featured an innovative technology-driven auction with special gifts from Patrick Gabaldon, Kendra Scott, Ruth’s Chris, Lele Sadoughi and others, and wrapped up with dancing led by Chico of the El Paso Chihuahuas to the band Drive. Proceeds from the event support the Foundation’s work with partner organizations, donor advised and designated funds, which invested more than $14 million in charitable projects in 2019.