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Smith Foundation Awards $745,000 in 2010 Grants
Tri-County Sentry, August 10, 2010
 
CAMARILLO, Calif. – The 2010 Martin V. & Martha K. Smith Foundation grants will help feed homebound, low-income seniors, build planters to beautify and attract more visitors to downtown Oxnard as well as cover enrollment fees for Ventura County high school graduates through the Ventura College Promise Program, to name a few.
 
In all, the Smith Foundation grant program – administered by the Ventura County Community Foundation, where the Smith Foundation is a support organization – awarded $743,500 in grants this year to nearly 20 Ventura County nonprofit and public organizations to meet a wide variety of community priorities.
 
In addition, a grant of $2,500 was made from the Martin V. & Martha K. Smith Foundation Donor Advised Fund to support the New West Symphony’s July 3 performance at the Centennial Celebration of the Plaza Park Pagoda in Oxnard.
 
Founded by the late Ventura County developer Martin V. “Bud” Smith and his late wife, Martha, the foundation focuses on grantmaking to fulfill its mission of enhancing the quality of life for residents of Ventura County, with a preference for organizations serving the Oxnard Plain.
 
“The esteem and pride Bud and Martha Smith held for Ventura County is reflected in these grants,” said Stacy Cannon, Smith Foundation board chair and granddaughter of the widely admired Ventura County philanthropic leaders. “Many of these organizations have been doing terrific work for many years, and we are proud to support these new projects which reflect the priorities adopted by the Smith Foundation during its recent strategic planning review.”
 
Hugh J. Ralston, president and CEO of the Community Foundation, echoed the strategic investment of the Smith family and its new grantmaking priorities. “It was the Smith family’s desire and passion to improve the quality of life in our region by securing the safety net for the poor and elderly, improving access to education for young people and supporting efforts to keep neighborhoods in Oxnard not only graffiti-free but lush and green. The Smith Foundation continues to play a significant role in philanthropy in our county, one that not only carries on Bud and Martha’s belief in the importance of investing in this region but also shapes the values that have marked their family’s contributions over the generations.”
 
Since 2005, the Martin V. & Martha K. Smith Foundation also has pledged a total of $6.5 million in capital grants to projects such as the expansion of the Museum of Ventura County in Ventura, development of the U.S. Navy Seabee Museum in Port Hueneme, building the Channel Islands Boating Center in Oxnard, creation of the Martin V. Smith School of Business and Economics at CSU Channel Islands and development of the educational suite in the new KCLU building at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.
 
The Martin V. and Martha K. Smith Foundation is a support organization of the Ventura County Community Foundation and carries on the legacy of Bud and Martha Smith through grantmaking that focuses on the enhancement of the quality of life in Ventura County, with a focus on the Oxnard Plain where the family’s successful businesses were developed over several decades. The Foundation has been affiliated with VCCF since 1995.
 
VCCF is a family of charitable funds with combined assets of $100.5 million. Its mission is to promote and enable philanthropy to improve our community for good for ever, which it does through grantmaking, scholarships and leadership training programs through the Center for Nonprofit Leadership. VCCF has been certified in compliance with national standards by the Council on Foundations, the highest form of peer review in the United States. For more on VCCF, visit vccf.org or contact the Foundation at (805) 988-0196.

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