“Corporate philanthropy is very different than the work of other types of foundations,” says Jennifer Lynch, senior director of STAPLES Center Foundation, part of the community affairs/corporate philanthropy arm of AEG, a sporting and music entertainment presenter and the world's largest owner of sports teams. “You want to do the best you can for your community, but you also want to enhance your brand, create support and generate awareness.
“The critical difference with our work is that our approach to grantmaking is exclusively focused on local perimeters. We go deep rather than wide to serve neighborhood organizations that are housed and do the lion’s share of their work in the area surrounding the STAPLES Center,” she explains. “We are committed to getting to know and understand the needs of our community and for them to know us, by building genuine, long-lasting partnerships with our neighbors--all within a three-mile radius.”
In keeping with this commitment to the local community, the Foundation officially adopted the 10th Street Elementary School in August 1999. In the years since, the Foundation has provided a steady combination of grantmaking dollars and employee volunteers. More than 30 employees spend their lunch hours each week, reading with students who are falling behind, or who have little exposure to English at home. And, according to Lynch, most volunteers work with the same student until graduation.
“Hermalinda was the first student I read with,” says Lynch. “She was a second-grader then, painfully shy and her literacy skills were very poor. But she put her mind to achieving and worked extremely hard. Hermalinda was voted vice president of her graduating class, spoke at graduation in fr ont of 1,200 people and was accepted into a prestigious magnet school. This was not the shy second-grader I met in the beginning; her growth was phenomenal!”
Lynch credits Hermalinda’s success, as well of that of the other students, to the show of faith from an “army of busy corporate people from STAPLES Center,” donating their time weekly because they want to help the community. She adds, “To me, that truly personifies who we are, what we do and why our work is so special and impactful.”
And because many children in the area are the first in their family to graduate from elementary school, the Foundation regularly hosts the annual 10th Street Elementary School fifth-grade graduation ceremony. Moreover, the Foundation provides a reception for the graduates’ family and friends at the STAPLES Center or another local venue. Graduating students are also selected for scholarships provided by the Foundation.
Additional Foundation support includes “positive reinforcement” for both the school and its students, such as sending every staff member and a guest to a concert when the school’s API test scores improved dramatically. And, when the school had issues with truancy, the Foundation awarded Clippers tickets to students with good attendance.
“So much of what we do is about creating an open dialogue and building relationships to learn what’s truly needed, not just handing over a check,” explains Lynch. “It’s a collaborative, long-term approach that addresses how we can collectively solve problems for the greater good.”
The Foundation also provides funding and volunteer support to a number of local organizations, including The Midnight Mission on Skid Row, where major funders are given “incentives” in the form of suites at the STAPLES Center.
In addition, The Foundation partners with Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA), which provides free after-school programming for inner-city youth. Foundation involvement with HOLA over the years has ranged from providing tickets to events at the STAPLES Center to treating college-bound seniors to a special send-off dinner.
“We also have numerous large-scale, long-term, multi-year funding commitments to local organizations that fall within our programming perimeters,” says Lynch. For example, A Better LA, founded by former USC head football coach Pete Carroll, helps redirect negative actions of gang involvement into positive activities. Similarly, Inner-City Arts offers opportunities for children to build artistic self-expression, helping enhance their ability to perform academically, as well as creatively. The Foundation also supports Para Los Ninos, which endeavors to bring children from some of the city’s most challenging environments out of poverty and on to successful futures.
The Foundation also partners with AEG in its annual Season of Giving, which--since its inaugural year in 2009--has raised funds and generated awareness for nonprofits that work on healthcare, homelessness and hunger issues. This year’s AEG Season of Giving included hosting a free Thanksgiving dinner, in conjunction with the Salvation Army, for 1,200 members of the Pico Union community on the STAPLES Center parking structure roof the night before Thanksgiving.
AEG also sent 30 volunteers to the Union Rescue Mission to serve breakfast to their constituents on the Friday before Thanksgiving. In addition, another group of 30 AEG volunteers were sent to the Midnight Mission to serve lunch in the days leading up to Thanksgiving.
“Our goal was to have three different servicesundefinedbreakfast, lunch and dinner--so that anyone who wanted to volunteer could find a day and time that made sense for their schedule,” says Lynch.
And, once again, November found the Foundation teaming up with the United Way of Greater Los Angeles for the 2011 United Way Homewalk. Chaired by Kobe Bryant, the 5K Run/Walk annually brings together a diverse group of people to raise awareness of the more than 51,000 homeless people in Los Angeles County, with a goal of helping end the cycle of homelessness.
Prior to joining the Foundation in 2005, Lynch had a lengthy career in the nonprofit sector on the east coast including serving as senior director for the VH1 Save the Music Foundation.
Lynch also notes that, as a newcomer to Los Angeles, Southern California Grantmakers (SCG) was a tremendous resource, noting that being a member of SCG enabled her to get to know the community, meet new people and forge invaluable relationships. Recently, Lynch was elected Secretary for SCG’s 2012 Board of Directors. She also currently serves as chair of SCG’s membership committee.
“I’m a big cheerleader for SCG,” she says, “because the alliances I’ve built and the many people I learned from would not have been possible without my involvement with the organization. It’s just that philosophy of open, collaborative partnerships and teamwork that enables our Foundation to continue to distinguish our brand and make a difference in our community.”
“When you work on the national level, you learn a little about a lot of places,” adds Lynch. “At the STAPLES Center Foundation, we focus exclusively on local organizations and are able to get to know our neighbors on a personal level as a genuine partner to our community. “That’s extraordinarily rewarding.”
