The McCarthy Family Foundation enhances the health, welfare, education and safety of the community through family philanthropy.

2007 was our nineteenth year of grantmaking in San Diego and elsewhere in California. Our geographic and programmatic areas have undergone some changes throughout the years but our goals and purpose have remained steady.

McCarthy Family values have always included sharing within our community, giving back and reaching out. Creating this foundation was a purposeful decision of the original donors with clear goals and intent, both external and internal. Our family is endeavoring to give back to the community by supporting a healthier, safer, educated society. Within the family, we hope to challenge succeeding generations and encourage members to consider philanthropy as an important, necessary part of their lives. The McCarthy Family Foundation seeks to serve as a catalyst for the family to act collectively in philanthropic endeavors and collaboratively with others in our community.

In recent years, we have taken steps to improve our grant application process. This includes working with the Foundation Center on this web site and also adopting the Common Grant Application (CGA) of San Diego Grantmakers. In the granting of our resources to serve our mission, we give high priority to the realization of equality of opportunity for all members of society. We expect organizations and programs that we support to take appropriate affirmative steps with respect to women and disadvantaged minorities. In 2007 we continued collaborative funding with the San Diego HIV Funding Collaborative and with partners at the San Diego Grantmakers Homelessness Working Group. We also continued to explore cooperative opportunities with a new Child Welfare Funders Group, also sponsored by San Diego Grantmakers.

Our Board of Directors is comprised of immediate family members of the two founding donors. All directors fully participate in the proposed grants evaluation process. This includes reviewing and researching proposals and making site visits to applicant organizations. The foundation is grateful for the opportunity to serve many important needs in San Diego.

P. S. The foundation office was destroyed during the San Diego wildfires in October, 2007. We would like to thank members of the San Diego nonprofit community for their ongoing support and cooperation as we go through the process of organizing our new office location and continue to reconstruct our archives.