SCCE Board

The board of the Southern California Children’s Endowment includes (clockwise) President Nick Worthington, Director Blake Christian, Director Gary DeLong, Secretary/Director Jerry Maize, and Treasurer/Director Sheryl Martinez. Photo courtesy of SCCE.

The Southern California Children’s Endowment has only had its 501c3 status for about a year but while the nonprofit is just starting off its dreaming big with a goal of reaching $200,000 in donations by the end of 2018.

Founded in 2015 by community members with strong ties to Long Beach, SCCE’s mission is to “help, educate and protect the hungry, abused and poor children of Southern California […] through direct assistance and by partnering with the most effective local organizations,” according to its website.

The charity has already raised $110,000 and is hoping to make it to $200,000 by the end of the year. As an endowment, it hopes to go beyond one-time donations and occasional fundraising drives and instead use a self-sustaining method that constantly grows.

“Imagine a fund that could buy thousands of school lunches for hungry children, forever, without ever raising another dollar,” SCCE states on its website. “Imagine a charity that could provide school supplies for hundreds of poor children every year, supplement funding for psychologist visits for abused children, or quickly step in to support a critical need for a local child.”

One of SCCE’s founding members and donors is Nick Worthington, grandson of the legendary car dealer Cal Worthington and current president of Worthington Ford in Long Beach. He became president of SCCE in 2016.

Worthington said he got involved after hearing stories from local social workers about the demand for services and the number of local kids being left behind.

“Our children are our future and I knew our community would support them if we created awareness and presented a solution,” Worthington said.

The charity will work with area organizations it believes can provide direct assistance to local, at-risk children on a long-term basis. It could be anything like infant formula, shoes, beds for children coming out of system and who are sleeping on the floor. Ultimately it would be able to provide quick assistance when local children are in immediate need.

“Our structure as an endowment means that we can provide this support in a sustainable manner and that your donations become the gift that keeps on giving for local children,” Worthington said. “That was the part that really drew me in.  I wanted my donations to provide benefits for local children forever, not just to offset overhead for some large organization.”

The charity is run 100 percent by volunteer staff and is currently offering lifetime recognition positions to jump start the foundation.

SCCE has so far received support from institutions like HCVT, Creative Planning, Amazon and Paypal as well as from local businesses and the charity’s own board members.

For more information on Southern California Children’s Endowment click here

Stephanie Rivera is the community engagement editor. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter at @StephRivera88.