 James E. Canales
President and CEO
Dear Friends,
Every year, I look forward to the time when we announce the recipients of our annual Leadership Awards, knowing that from a large pool of outstanding nominees will emerge a handful of exceptional Californians who are effectively addressing critical issues for our state. This year’s recipients take on added significance, given the recession and our state’s dire budget crisis, in that they remind us that the ingenuity, resourcefulness and determination needed to solve difficult challenges exist throughout our state.
These leaders are helping to improve the lives of thousands of Californians every day, and in many cases they are demonstrating how to save public dollars at the same time. The Leadership Awards were designed not only to celebrate individuals but also to draw attention to effective approaches and to encourage leaders in Sacramento and communities throughout the state to consider how to apply elsewhere the lessons of these successful undertakings.
Accordingly, this year, for the first time, we announced the Leadership Award recipients at a luncheon in Sacramento to give public officials and other civic leaders a chance to learn firsthand about the effective approaches implemented by these leaders. The awards were presented by top public officials, and I invite you to view any or all of the following short video clips of the presentations, and also to read more about the work of the individual recipients by clicking on the accompanying links.
 Julia Brownley, Chair of the California State Assembly Education Committee, presenting the award to Josefina Alvarado Mena, Safe Passages/Youth Ventures Joint Powers Authority, Oakland
John Chiang, California State Controller, presenting the award to Tim Dang, East West Players, Los Angeles
 Kim Belshé, California Secretary of Health and Human Services, presenting the award to Kathryn Icenhower, SHIELDS for Families, Los Angeles
Ashley Swearingen, Mayor of the City of Fresno, presenting the award to Luis Santana, Reading and Beyond, Fresno
Bill Lockyer, California State Treasurer, presenting the award to Richard Valle, Tri-CED Community Recycling, Union City
Dale Bonner, California Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing, presenting the award to Jennifer Vanica, Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation, San Diego
We are already looking ahead to the 2010 Leadership Awards for which nomination materials will be available on our Web site, www.irvine.org, in August. Nominations are due by October 13, 2009, and we hope that you will participate in this project to recognize and advance the work of extraordinary Californians. The 2010 awards will be presented at an April 2010 luncheon in Sacramento and announced on our Web site. As with other aspects of the Foundation’s work, I welcome your suggestions and comments about other ways in which we can heighten the impact of the Leadership Awards and enhance its service to the people of California.
Before closing, I want to offer an update about our grantmaking budget for this year and also take note of an important staff transition here at Irvine.
As for our budget, I noted in my Spring letter that the ongoing recession would likely lead to a reduction in Irvine’s grantmaking. Our endowment has lost about a third of its value, so our 2009 grantmaking budget will be $70 million, 10 percent less than the $78 million in grants we awarded in 2008. This reduction will come from the unallocated portion of our budget that we reserve for one-time opportunities, thereby protecting our three core grantmaking programs from any reductions. We are pleased to maintain our commitment to these three core programs and are deeply appreciative of all that our grantees are doing to adjust to the difficult economic environment.
Finally, as we enter the summer months, we mark a key staff transition at Irvine. Our Vice President for Programs, Marty Campbell, who has served in a variety of leadership roles for the past 14 years, departs this July after a distinguished tenure. Among her many significant contributions, she helped to build Irvine's evaluation program in the late 1990s, with a focus on rigor and depth and an emphasis on evaluation-as-learning that has served the Foundation and its partners well. She assumed her current leadership role in 2003, soon after I became CEO, and she has been an invaluable partner to me, my staff colleagues and the board in all of our program work these past six years.
We will surely miss Marty, who is leaving Irvine to become West Coast Philanthropic Director for Foundation Source, but we also acknowledge that transitions are inevitable, and I am deeply grateful to her for working closely with us during this anticipated change in leadership. I will have more to report later this summer regarding her successor, but for now, my colleagues and I bid Marty farewell, with deep appreciation, profound respect and shared excitement for her new venture.
Sincerely,
 James E. Canales President and CEO top of page
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