Philanthropy

There's an art to raising money for the homeless on the highly competitive streets of Los Angeles' skid row. Some shelters ask for contributions through ads in newspapers and on billboards. Others rely on direct-mail appeals or on solicitations in corporate boardrooms. And now there's art--the oil painting kind.

Robert Erburu, who retired in January as chairman of Times Mirror Co., parent company of the Los Angeles Times, will be honored for his contributions to philanthropy on Nov. 15 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. Erburu will be named outstanding volunteer on National Philanthropy Day, which is sponsored by the local chapter of the National Society of Fund-Raising Executives and supported by a number of other organizations.

Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates plans to announce today a $1.1-million donation to Los Angeles libraries and schools, part of the company's effort to address new social disparities created by the high-tech revolution it is helping to fuel. The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant said it will give $500,000 worth of computer software and technical assistance to expand the Los Angeles Public Library's vast database and allow it to be continually updated with new versions of popular programs.

Matching last year's record-breaking donation to UC Irvine's School of the Arts, a Newport Beach woman has again given $1 million to the music department to establish new programs and opportunities for its students, a campus spokesman said Thursday. The gift from Marjorie Rawlins, a longtime patron and supporter of UCI's music programs, will establish the first endowed chair at the School of the Arts.

Sunny Aghi, who came to Southern California from India in 1980, slowly climbed his way up the economic ladder, graduating from college while working nights as a security guard and then inching his way to an MBA over nine long years. Now a successful businessman along with many others of Indian descent in the Los Angeles Basin, Aghi has set out on another quest--to bring Indian Americans into mainstream society.

William Hannon wants California's schoolchildren to remember an important figure in their state's history. So to help them out he's put up some permanent reminders. About 70 of them. The South Bay businessman and philanthropist has donated statues of the legendary 18th century missionary and pioneer Father Junipero Serra to missions and schools up and down the state.

The reporter called Helen Broyles-Smith at her home in Baldwin Hills and asked her to talk about her 4-year-old fund that awards college scholarships to black youngsters from low-income households. "Call some other time. I have something important to do," Broyles-Smith said. She had to feed her dog. With quiet fortitude, the 85-year-old former elementary schoolteacher administers the Theophilus G. Smith Scholarship Fund, which she created to honor her late husband.

They came by the thousands Tuesday, many braving the night to line up on the streets of skid row in downtown Los Angeles to receive free clothing, shoes, school supplies and a hamburger lunch for their children. The eighth annual back-to-school giveaway, sponsored by the Fred Jordan Mission, provides homeless and indigent children with new goods. Footlocker donated 6,500 pairs of shoes. Other companies, including the Gap and Walt Disney Co.

Americans gave $23.5 billion to the nation's 400 biggest charities last year, giving most generously to the Salvation Army, the American Red Cross and Catholic Charities USA. Giving was up 5% from a year earlier, the Chronicle of Philanthropy's annual survey of the 400 nonprofit organizations receiving the most private money showed. The 1994 increase was 6.3%. Charities on the newspaper's "Philanthropy 400" list received about $1 out of every $6 donated to nonprofit groups.