It began with a makeshift home office, a rolltop desk, and a formidable leader who passionately believed that Orange County deserved its own community foundation.
That maverick was the late Judy Swayne, who leveraged her experiences with the California Community Foundation and Orange County Board of Supervisors to launch what would become one of the largest and fastest growing community foundations in the U.S.
Judy and Keith Swayne
Keith Swayne, Judy’s husband and partner in philanthropy, looks back at how she transformed her vision into the Orange County Community Foundation (OCCF) 35 years ago. As he tells it, her family’s immigrant roots and her professional teaching experience shaped her desire to help.
“Judy’s father was an immigrant from Sweden,” he said. “Her mother was first generation from Sweden and came from a working-class family. So I think she had an inherent sense of the needs of people trying to make their way in this country. And then, as a schoolteacher, she was teaching Black students in the integrated schools and it became obvious how much they had been impacted by poor access to education and how much ground they had to make up. When our children were small, she volunteered for things and wanted to make every bit of difference she could.”
Later, her consulting work on low-income housing projects and service under Board of Supervisors’ Chairman General Tom Riley gave her a first-hand look at the needs of diverse communities in Orange County. She actively volunteered with organizations such as Human Options and was chair of the Orange County Housing Authority.
While serving on the staff of the California Community Foundation, Swayne realized that Orange County needed its own community foundation.
“She was a very determined lady and very tenacious and was also a visionary about what could be accomplished,” Keith said. “When you put tenacity, determination, and vision together, you have somebody that’s probably not going to get stopped once they are motivated to do something. She went to leaders throughout the county and began talking to them about the need for a community foundation and got their support. She went forward to get the nonprofit status approved, and then the wheels were in motion.”
Judy was the right person with the qualities, experience and determination who followed through on a vision at the right time, Keith said. “She had the moxie to go out and contact people that she didn’t know very well or may not have known at all to convince them to be supportive of this undertaking.”
The endeavor also needed someone entrepreneurial, he said. “She was as entrepreneurial as any business leader, it just happened to be in the nonprofit field”
1993, Pictured: Judy Swayne, Kathy Dwyer Southern (Keynote Speaker, National Cultural Alliance), Henry Segerstrom (C.J Segerstrom & Sons, Segerstrom Center for the Arts) and Harriet Wieder (County Supervisor 2nd District).
Developing a seamless structure for charitable giving was key, he said. “She visited other community foundations in other parts of the country to learn about how they were functioning and what they were doing, and so she wouldn’t be trying to re-invent something that had already been created elsewhere.”
Inspired by what she learned, Judy founded OCCF so that local individuals and families could benefit from the unique capabilities of a community foundation—providing the philanthropic infrastructure to optimize tax advantage and handle complex charitable contributions while helping donors focus on the causes closest to their hearts.
After founding OCCF in 1989, Judy served as OCCF’s leader for a decade before retiring in May 2000. During her tenure, OCCF rose in the ranks of community foundations across the nation, reaching the top 10 percent for new asset growth and celebrating a number of significant milestones including:
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1999 – Pictured: Marilyn and Thomas Neilsen (The Nielsen Company), Judy Swayne, Robert McKay (McKay Development), Ginny & Peter Ueberroth (The Ueberroth Family Foundation). Thomas Neilson, Robert McKay and Ginny Ueberroth all served on the OCCF Board of Governors.
The establishment of the Orange County Endowment as an enduring source of support for local nonprofits. The “Endow Orange County” campaign was launched in 1994 with the leadership of OCCF’s Board Chair Ginny Ueberroth. A bold goal to raise $10M to benefit local nonprofits in perpetuity was realized just three years later, and since that time the Orange County Endowment has provided $20 million in funding for local nonprofits working in the areas of human services, health and wellness, veterans services, workforce development, environmental education and arts and culture.
- The founding of the Hispanic Education Endowment Fund (HEEF) by community leaders passionate about helping Hispanic youth fulfill their dreams of higher education. Launched with an initial goal of raising $1 million to fund college scholarships, HEEF has awarded more than 2,700 Scholarships totaling over $4.5 million.
- The establishment of a lasting partnership with Disneyland Resort and its 26,000 cast members. Through initiatives such as the Disney VoluntEARS Community Fund, Disneyland Resort has invested in innovative nonprofits working to fill critical community needs, granting nearly $8 million.
If Judy were to look back at her years of service, “she’d find that she built a solid financial foundation underneath the organization that enabled it to grow and thrive and got it to the point where it was sustainable,” Keith said.
“I think she would recognize that the mere fact that she formed the community foundation in Orange County is the thing of most significance.”
Upon Judy’s retirement in the spring of 2000, the Board of Governors named Shelley Hoss to the CEO role in which she has remained for more than 24 years. “Succeeding a leader like Judy Swayne was not for the faint of heart, and I was humbled and a bit daunted by the challenge of following such an extraordinary founder”, said Hoss. “But building on the strong foundation that Judy laid has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my professional life. To see OCCF join the ranks of the largest and most prolific grantmakers among U.S. community foundations, and to lead us to 35 years of impact in Orange County and beyond, I believe Judy would be beaming with pride.”
“At least that’s how I like to imagine her…”, concluded Hoss, “bursting with joy over all that has been accomplished—far beyond what I believe her wildest hopes would have been for OCCF—and urging us on to the promise and potential of the road ahead.”
Judy left the legacy of her lifetime for the benefit of the Orange County community.
