Philantrophic Impact
The DiPaola Foundation seeks to support various organizations that will make an impact in areas that are crucial to a healthy community. Our primary areas of focus are: Community & Human Services, Culture & Arts, Education, Environment and Health & Science. We are committed to investing in nonprofits that promote healthy development and enrich the lives of people who will benefit from such programs.
Mark DiPaola lectures at UC Berkeley's Haas Business School
Community and Human Services
The DiPaola Foundation seeks to inspire positive social change throughout the community. We believe healthy communities are well-rounded and provide ample opportunities for learning, growing, recreating and engaging in the community. We strive to create a sustainable and positive environment in which people can live and thrive. Youth and family services, prevention of homelessness, and affordable housing are among the specific target areas and programs to which we seek to grant aid.
The DiPaola Foundation supports engaged philanthropy by donating time, resources, and financial contributions to community-based organizations. Being engaged by giving resources and business expertise fosters growth and development in organizations that aim to reach out to the greatest number of people possible.
Below are organizations the DiPaola Foundation has supported because we believe that they are critical to our Community and Human Services
The Santa Barbara Foundation is a community foundation that exists to enrich the lives of Santa Barbara County by bringing together groups who need assistance and those who are able to give.
Habitat for Humanity seeks to eliminate homelessness from the world and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action. To accomplish these goals, the organization invites people of all backgrounds, races and religions to build houses together in partnership with families in need.
The YMCA works to bring neighbors together regardless of age, income or background so that everyone has an opportunity to live, grow and thrive. Their dedication to bringing the community together is an effort to promote lasting social change and community development.
Boys and Girls Club of Santa Monica
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Monica is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to providing youth a safe and productive place to go when they need it most; after school and on non-school days.
Culture and Arts
Integrating the arts and culture into the lives of individuals is a critical part of every community for developing cultural awareness as well as understanding and appreciation of the arts. The DiPaola Foundation supports organizations that preserve cultural heritage and local history, and do their part to educate the greater community about their cultural background. We support organizations that facilitate the creation of art, expose art to the widespread community, and foster art education and learning programs for people of all ages.
The DiPaola Foundation has contributed to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Center Theater Group of Los Angeles, the Santa Barbara Old Spanish Days Festival, and the Santa Monica Mountains Natural History Association.
Below are several programs that the DiPaola Foundation supports to promote and enhance the culture and arts in a given community.
The mission of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art is to integrate art into the lives of people. The SBMA believes in the power of art to ignite imagination, stimulate thought and generate personally rewarding experiences.
Center Theatre Group of Los Angeles
Center Theatre Group is Los Angeles’ preeminent nonprofit theatre company. On their three stages – the Ahmanson Theatre, the Mark Taper Forum and the Kirk Douglas Theatre – the group presents the highest quality and broadest range of theatre: groundbreaking new works, explosive productions of the classics and hit Broadway plays and musicals.
Santa Barbara Old Spanish Days Festival
Old Spanish Days in Santa Barbara, Inc. is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit corporation dedicated to honoring and preserving Santa Barbara's history, spirit, culture, heritage and traditions. This 84-year-old organization produces an annual eight day festival that is widely regarded as Santa Barbara's premier festival.
Santa Monica Mountains Natural History Association
The Santa Monica Mountains Natural History Association funds and supports education and interpretive programs at Leo Carillo State Park, Point Mugu State Park and Point Dume State Preserve. Working in partnership with California State Parks, the Association enables positive visitor experiences that aren't only educational, but also memorable.
Education
We put a high value on education and believe that investing in education is investing in the minds of the future. Today’s students will be tomorrow’s leaders. We support our public and private learning facilities so these institutions may provide students and teachers with opportunities to learn, research, discover, and share their knowledge. We envision a future where all students may gain the education they seek regardless of their financial background.
In 2010, The DiPaola Foundation established the Sustainable Built Environment series at the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at UC Santa Barbara. The annual DiPaola Series includes short courses, workshops and colloquia that address the latest advances in green building principles including energy use, water use, resource and materials consumption, and waste reduction and diversion, among many other issues.
University of California, Berkeley
The Regents and Chancellor's Scholarship is UC Berkeley's most prestigious scholarship for incoming students. the RCSA is a student-run organization that offers academic, professional, community and social opportunities for its members.
University of California, Santa Barbara
The Regents of the University of California established the prestigious Regents Scholarship Award in 1962 to recognize incoming undergraduates of outstanding academic achievement. Most importantly, the UCSB Regents is an organization through which scholars can meet other scholars, to enhance the academic and social opportunities available to them.
Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management
The Bren school is a leading center of research and teaching, where every student, whether pursuing a master’s or a PhD in Environmental Science & Management, receives a rigorous, varied, and highly personalized academic experience. The Bren School attracts bright, dedicated students, who benefit from being taught and mentored by a faculty of distinguished leaders in their respective fields.
Below are a few of the educational institutions that the DiPaola foundation has supported to promote scholarship and provide both social and academic opportunities for students of all backgrounds.
Environment
Our environment provides fresh air and clean water, and we hope to help keep it that way. The DiPaola Foundation actively supports efforts to preserve and enhance our natural environment. We are advocates for sustainability across all fields and sectors and passionately seek to contribute to creating a more sustainable future for generations to come.
We understand that the importance of environmental awareness and stewardship is becoming increasingly apparent as our climate changes, natural resources decline, and our population continues to grow. We value preservation of agricultural lands, critical habitat for species, and a variety of natural resources.
The DiPaola Foundation supports Santa Barbara’s Environmental Defense Center, as well as Santa Barbara Community Environmental Council’s Fossil Free by ’33 campaign as leaders in the Santa Barbara community for environmental protection, awareness, and activism.
Environmental sustainability has been defined as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
Below are several environmental organizations that we believe have enhanced our awareness of environmental issues and we continue to support their efforts to promote healthy sustainable environments.
Since 1977 EDC has empowered community based organizations to advance environmental protection. The program areas include protecting coast and ocean resources, open spaces and wildlife, and human and environmental health and focuses primarily within Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties.
Community Environmental Council
Since 1970, CEC has led the Santa Barbara region - and at times California and the nation - in creative solutions to some of the toughest environmental problems. Today the CEC has a new main focus which is to eliminate the use of fossil fuels in the Santa Barbara region in one generation in order to transition all other programs and centers to new homes.
Natural Resource Defense Council
NRDC is the nation's most effective environmental action group, combining the grassroots power of 1.3 million members and online activists with the courtroom clout and expertise of more than 350 lawyers, scientists and other professionals.
Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs
Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs focus on projects that perform fieldwork in various arenas, giving them the ability to enter small communities with constructive innovations at a grassroots level. At the same time they are able to concentrate on long-term improvements that deal with social and economic reform.
Health and Science
Advancements in science and technology are an especially important part of society today. Organizations are able to research and make groundbreaking discoveries with contributions and support from their community and groups like The DiPaola Foundation. We contribute to organizations that work toward improving quality of life, finding cures for diseases, and providing the ill and disadvantaged with nurturing care and service. We believe everyone is entitled to good health, and healthy communities are comprised of healthy individuals, inside and out.
The DiPaola Foundation has supported a number of health and science organizations, including the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the American Cancer Society, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and Healthy Child, Healthy World.
National Transplant Assistant Fund
NTAF helps families address financial hardships arising from uninsured medical expenses related to transplantation and catastrophic injury. NTAF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, that provides expert fundraising guidance to patients, families and communities nationwide, while offering fiscal accountability for funds raised.
Planned Parenthood is a trusted health care provider, an informed educator, a passionate advocate, and a global partner helping similar organizations around the world. The organizations delivers vital reproductive health care, sex education, and information to millions of women, men and young people worldwide.
Cedars-Sinai Health System, a nonprofit, independent healthcare organization, is committed to upholding its status as a world-class medical center, as well as improve it.
The American Cancer Society is the nationwide, community-based, voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and service.
The mission of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. LLS has dedicated itself to being one of the top-rated voluntary health agencies in terms of dollars that directly fund our mission.
Health Child Healthy World is dedicated to protecting the most vulnerable from ubiquitous toxics. They provide valuable information that empower people to make healthier and safer choices both in and outside of the home.