Ventura County Community Foundation

Applications for grants to support programs for girls and women in Ventura County are being accepted by the Ventura County Community Foundation. This year's focus for the Women's Legacy Fund will be programs to improve self-esteem, promote options for girls and women, reduce family violence and teen pregnancy, and strengthen parenting skills. The 1996 Women's Legacy Fund will distribute $24,000 in grants to nonprofit community-based organizations.

The late Russell Fischer of Camarillo, a citrus farmer whose family developed Hilltop ranch in the Santa Rosa Valley in the 1930s, has become the single largest benefactor to the Ventura County Community Foundation, with a gift of $11 million. The gift, announced Monday, will be used to establish endowments to benefit four local charities and a children's home near San Jose. The money, which will be invested, is expected to generate more than $500,000 a year.

Six nonprofit organizations won grants from the Ventura County Community Foundation to defray costs of emergency relief programs following the Jan. 17 earthquake. The American Red Cross of Ventura County and FOOD Share each received $2,500 to pay for relief work in Simi Valley, Fillmore and Piru after the Northridge earthquake. Even those grants, however, covered only a fraction of the agencies' expenses.

The Ventura County Community Foundation has awarded three local advocacy groups a total of $127,500 in grants to help develop housing projects in Oxnard and Santa Paula for farm workers and to promote the need for such developments. Cabrillo Economic Development Corp., Habitat for Humanity and Ag Innovations Network received grants from the foundation's Fund for Farm Worker Housing, established last year to help find housing solutions for agricultural laborers.

The late Russell Fischer of Camarillo, a citrus farmer whose family developed Hilltop ranch in the Santa Rosa Valley in the 1930s, has become the single largest benefactor to the Ventura County Community Foundation, with a gift of $11 million. The gift, announced Monday, will be used to establish endowments to benefit four local charities and a children's home near San Jose. The money, which will be invested, is expected to generate more than $500,000 a year.

On a split vote, Ventura County community college trustees narrowly approved hiring an independent foundation to administer monetary and other donations not earmarked for a specific campus. Three governing board members voted to contract with the Ventura County Community Foundation to administer donations to the district not specified for Moorpark, Oxnard or Ventura colleges.

The Ventura County Community Foundation is sponsoring a "Meet the Grant Makers" workshop from 10 a.m. to noon Feb. 17. The workshop gives representatives from foundations and corporations a chance to explain grant-making criteria and procedures while fielding questions from grant seekers. Participants will meet representatives from the Candle Foundation, Times-Mirror Foundation, Campaign for Human Development and Aera Energy.

Applications for the 1998 Women's Legacy Fund Grants Program are being accepted by the Ventura County Community Foundation. The Women's Legacy Fund is an endowment fund developed by contributors throughout Ventura County who seek to improve conditions for women and girls. Each year, the 150 founders of the fund review community needs and select an issue of importance to women and girls, said committee member Maio Winkler.

The Destino 2000 Vision Committee has launched its matching gift campaign to raise $30,000 by Dec. 31. If that goal is reached, Procter & Gamble, Reiter Bros. Inc. and local resident Danny Villanueva will each donate $10,000 to match the $30,000 from community donors, bringing the total to $60,000. "The community has already given $10,000 toward this challenge campaign," said Dorie Garcken, development consultant for Ventura County Community Foundation, which administers the Destino 2000 grants.

* "How to Obtain Financing," a workshop by the Gold Coast Small Business Development Center, will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesday at 5700 Ralston St., Suite 310, Ventura. Topics include traditional and nontraditional sources of funding, SBA loan programs, bank criteria for approving loans and basics of financial management. The cost is $15. Make reservations at 658-2688.

The easy way to measure a charity organization is by the amount of money it raises. More difficult to rate is the amount of benefit it brings to its community. By both measures, the Ventura County Community Foundation is a remarkable success. The 12-year-old nonprofit organization announced last week that it has zoomed past its goal--set in 1994--of raising $40 million by the end of 2000.

A nonprofit group that awarded $1.5 million in grants last year to Ventura County causes has soared past a key fund-raising goal, setting it on a pace that could move it into the top 100 community foundations nationwide by 2006. In 1994, the Ventura County Community Foundation set the ambitious goal of securing $40 million in charitable assets by the end of 2000. Six years later, the group has easily topped that--by a whopping $16 million.

The Destino 2000 Vision Committee has launched its matching gift campaign to raise $30,000 by Dec. 31. If that goal is reached, Procter & Gamble, Reiter Bros. Inc. and local resident Danny Villanueva will each donate $10,000 to match the $30,000 from community donors, bringing the total to $60,000. "The community has already given $10,000 toward this challenge campaign," said Dorie Garcken, development consultant for Ventura County Community Foundation, which administers the Destino 2000 grants.

The Ventura County Community Foundation is sponsoring a "Meet the Grant Makers" workshop from 10 a.m. to noon Feb. 17. The workshop gives representatives from foundations and corporations a chance to explain grant-making criteria and procedures while fielding questions from grant seekers. Participants will meet representatives from the Candle Foundation, Times-Mirror Foundation, Campaign for Human Development and Aera Energy.

* "How to Obtain Financing," a workshop by the Gold Coast Small Business Development Center, will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesday at 5700 Ralston St., Suite 310, Ventura. Topics include traditional and nontraditional sources of funding, SBA loan programs, bank criteria for approving loans and basics of financial management. The cost is $15. Make reservations at 658-2688.

The Westlake Village Regional Chamber of Commerce monthly mixer will be an open house at the chamber's new office, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at 600 Hampshire Road, Suite 200, Westlake Village. The event is free to the public. More information is available at 370-0035. * An educational seminar on "Developing a Spending Plan That Works" will be held by Consumer Credit Counseling Service from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at 80 N.

The California Assn. of Leadership Programs presented its Distinguished Leadership Award to David Keith of Oxnard during its annual conference in Long Beach. Keith, a community affairs manager with the Oxnard Police Department, was recognized "for his contributions toward enhancing quality of life" and his involvement in creating and managing "innovative public/private partnerships that improve crime prevention and public safety." He is a graduate of the Ventura County Leadership Academy.

Six health-care organizations have been awarded the Ventura County Community Foundation's 1995 Blue Cross Community Clinics Fund Awards. The grants, totaling $285,704, will improve the accessibility and affordability of health-care services in Ventura County. Child Abuse and Neglect (CAAN) will receive a $60,279 grant to serve at-risk children in Oxnard by adapting an existing health-care program to integrate mental health services.

Most tune out the seemingly incessant clanging yet some do actually drop a few coins in the red kettles as they hurry away to lavish several hundred dollars worth of largess on friends and family. This year in West Virginia, a generous do-gooder tossed a thousand bucks (in very cold cash) into the pot. This Yule tale is all the more remarkable because this wasn't the first time Santa's little nameless helper laid so much loot on an unsuspecting bell-ringer.