A Season of Firsts: The Central Valley Community Foundation Spreads Hope Through Its Initial Gifts

The early San Joaquin College of Law building under construction on the Fresno Pacific University campus, circa 1970. San Joaquin College of Law was one of the first recipients of a grant from the Fresno Regional Foundation in 1973. Photo courtesy of the Fresno City & County Historical Society and the Pop Laval Foundation.  All rights reserved.

In 1973, the Fresno Regional Foundation, which would later become the Central Valley Community Foundation, made its first grants. These initial gifts included:  

• $5,000 to the San Joaquin College of Law

• $2,500 to the Council of Older American Organizations

• $150 college scholarship to Alfonso Gonzales

Because of these earliest investments in our community, the College achieved accreditation, 5,000 senior citizens were served, and a young man chased his dreams. 

Additionally, the Foundation gave over $13,000 to a variety of other charities to help them continue and expand their services, as well as other miscellaneous gifts. To learn more, you can read the first annual report here. 

Although it was founded in 1966, it took several years for the Foundation to begin granting money, a fact common for community foundations. It takes time to build relationships with potential donors, earn credibility as a good steward of funds, and identify the biggest needs in a community. 

As Board Chair Lewis Eaton wrote in the Foundation's first annual report in 1973, “The growth of this type of endowment is historically slow. But once it begins to flourish, its merit and potential become more and more evident.”

With those first grants, the Foundation was off and running. Today, CVCF’s donors and community partners serve tens of thousands of people throughout the Central Valley every year and continuously advocate for communities in our region.

This story is part of the Central Valley Community Foundation’s “Sixty Stories That Shaped Us” initiative to help mark 60 years since our founding. We invite you to join us in celebrating this milestone as well as this special place we call home. To learn more, visit us at centralvalleycf.org and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn @centralvalleycf.

Photos have been provided courtesy of the Fresno City & County Historical Society and the Pop Laval Foundation. All rights reserved.

Newspaper clipping from The Fresno Bee, January 24, 1973. Used with permission from the Fresno City & County Historical Society. All rights reserved.