San Diego Foundations Come Together to Address COVID-19 Pandemic in North County
The effects of COVID-19 reach far and wide in San Diego County, with cases surpassing 230,000. Individuals and families are struggling to stay healthy, while facing ongoing unemployment and/or reduced wages, making it difficult for some to keep up with expenses. Along with these challenges, parents and students are struggling to keep up with distance learning and their family’s mental health.
Local foundations are well positioned to meet the demand for COVID-related support by working together as they have for many years in researching, understanding and addressing North County challenges. The North County COVID-19 Response Fund – a collaborative effort of the Coastal Community Foundation, Leichtag Foundation and Rancho Santa Fe Foundation, was launched in March 2020 has granted $764,170 to 35 nonprofits to date. The Fund has expanded awareness about urgent needs, bringing visibility to the unique challenges faced in North County and raising more funds for fitting responses.
In December, the collaboration continued and The San Diego Foundation issued a challenge grant of $100,000 to the North County COVID-19 Response Fund. With the challenge exceeded and $159,284 raised in matched funds, these local foundations through the Fund continue to identify the most pressing needs of the North County community and deploy grants as needed.
To date, the North County COVID-19 Response Fund has raised $898,476 from 89 donors and has leveraged an additional $849,825 for North County COVID-related needs from other donors. In total, the Fund has facilitated $1,748,301 for North County.
The Fund is committed to providing support to the extent possible and is actively seeking donors for gifts of any amount. A unique advantage of this collective grantmaking approach is combining complementary skill sets, knowledge bases, and networks to inform how to allocate funds efficiently and effectively. The experienced staff coordinating the fund continually learn from the local field of nonprofit professionals to meet the most pressing needs as the effects of the pandemic continue to increase and evolve. One hundred percent of donations received are granted to those in need. For more information about the North County COVID-19 Response Fund and to contribute, go to www.rsffoundation.org/COVID19.
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About Coastal Community Foundation
The Foundation builds philanthropy in San Diego North Coastal communities by offering donors a wide variety of options for giving – establishing donor advised funds, building endowments, donating to existing funds or creating new funds to meet community needs. Learn more at www.coastalfoundation.org.
About Leichtag Foundation
The Leichtag Foundation honors the legacy of Lee and Toni Leichtag through igniting and inspiring vibrant Jewish life, advancing self-sufficiency and stimulating social entrepreneurship in coastal North San Diego County and Jerusalem. Learn more at www.leichtag.org.
About Rancho Santa Fe Foundation
Rancho Santa Fe Foundation connects donors with regional and global needs through visionary community leadership, personalized service and effective grantmaking. For 40 years, RSF Foundation has provided a high level of service by developing personal relationships with our donors, providing exceptional stewardship of the funds invested with us and addressing needs in the community. Learn more at www.rsffoundation.org.
Stacie and Jeff Cook understand commitment. They live it.
Black, Jewish and Queer. These three identities weave the fabric of who I am, but it took a long time to believe that they could exist together.
Lee and Toni Leichtag established the Leichtag Foundation in 1991 following the sale of their business. Lee and Toni were lifelong entrepreneurs with a passion for innovation and for supporting talent. They believed that only with big risk comes big reward. Both born to families in poverty, Toni to a single mother, they strongly believed in helping those most in need and most vulnerable in our community. While they supported many causes, their strongest support was for young children and the elderly, two demographics who particularly lack voice in our society.
Lifelong Baltimoreans, Rabbi George and Alison Wielechowski and their sons, 11-year-old Lennon and 9-year-old Gideon, are more than pursuing the good life in Southern California. Having moved to San Diego more than three years ago, they are fulfilling a lifelong dream.
You would think that as the executive director of San Diego LGBT Pride, Fernando Zweifach López Jr., who uses the pronoun they, has done all the coming out they possibly can. A queer, non-binary individual who has worked for many years on civil rights issues, López also speaks openly and often about their father’s family, Mexican-American migrant workers who tilled the fields of rural California.