A Letter From Our

Board Chair & President & CEO

The Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles was founded in 2014 as an experiment. We came together around Mayor Eric Garcetti’s vision to harness the power and resources of the private sector to address social issues, and make government work better for the people of Los Angeles. 

Eight years later, the Mayor’s Fund has become a critical piece of the City’s service delivery infrastructure. We have raised more than $126 million to support more than 80 programs across City departments that have benefited millions of Angelenos. The highlights of that work are included in this report.

Our success would not have been possible without the people who have supported this work since the beginning. First and foremost, we want to thank our more than 10,000 donors, who stepped up again and again, giving whatever they could, when their fellow Angelenos needed them. We also want to thank our amazing board members – a rare group of civic leaders who have guided our work with dedication, compassion and wisdom.

And, of course, a very special thanks to Mayor Eric Garcetti, our founding Mayor, whose commitment to public service and bold vision created the Mayor’s Fund, and without whose support none of our work would have been possible. 

What makes the Mayor’s Fund such an impactful and versatile organization is its unique position at the intersection of the government, nonprofit and private sectors. We’re different because our specific charge is to work with City government and as a powerful reinforcement of its resources. We are the cavalry. And from this unique position, we have built a fundraising network and a slate of strategic programming that can help problem-solve on every front.

Our work saves lives, by marshaling millions of dollars in resources from the private sector that can be moved and spent far more quickly and nimbly than public funds in times of crisis, or when private funds can pilot new approaches.

We make government work better, by combining the financial and entrepreneurial power of the private sector with the knowledge, energy and advocacy of the public sector to innovate, solve problems and improve the delivery of critical City services.

We lift up vulnerable Angelenos, by creating and expanding City programs that bring opportunity and prosperity to people who are too often left behind by limited public funds. 

We strengthen L.A.’s civic and cultural fabric by giving support and resources to the local businesses and advocates whose work shapes our identity and culture, and powers our city forward into the future. 

The Mayor’s Fund is proud of what we’ve accomplished together over the last eight years.. And the best part is, this is just the beginning. 

As we enter a new chapter of L.A.’s history, we look forward to working with a new Mayor and City leadership as we continue to support and incentivize solutions to some of the most challenging problems we’ve ever faced.

The Mayor’s Fund will be at the City’s side every step of the way, and we couldn’t be more hopeful and excited about the journey ahead.

Sincerely,

Kathleen & Deidre

Kathleen Brown

Board Chair

Deidre Lind

President & CEO
2014 – 2022 Impact Report

Saving Lives

A proven track record of fast, effective crisis response.

When COVID-19 hit in March 2020, the Mayor’s Fund jumped into action without missing a beat. We brought millions of dollars of resources to bear in a matter of days – to get meals delivered to struggling seniors who couldn’t leave their homes, and direct cash to Angelenos staring at the bottom of the bank account. Along with thousands of generous Angelenos, our crisis work has saved lives, and MFLA’s special role as the bridge between the local private, public and philanthropic sectors ensured Angelenos were supported until government had time to activate. 

2014 – 2022 Impact Report

Saving Lives

The Angeleno Card program has provided more than 37,000 direct cash assistance cards to Angelenos during the early days of the COVID-19 to cover the cost of basic needs such as medical aid and assistance, food, clothing, and rent payments. Angeleno cards more recently have been distributed to newly housed Angelenos and low-income families during the holiday season.

Our Senior Meals program doubled the City’s meal delivery program to serve 12,000 home-bound seniors to provide 120,000 meals per week during the pandemic’s Safer-At-Home order in Spring 2020.

The Mayor’s Fund played a critical role in standing up the Mobile Outreach for Vaccine Equity (MOVE) program, which worked to administer more than 150 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to some of the hardest hit communities during the pandemic, prioritizing communities of color.

The Fund’s small business relief programs during COVID awarded more than $3.6 million to more than 700 LA based small businesses to help them survive during the pandemic. The Fund also has supported small chambers across the region, as well as LA Optimized helping business owners build an online presence.

CIRCLE

Mayor Garcetti’s Crisis and Incident Response through Community-Led Engagement (CIRCLE) program is a nation-leading pilot that deploys trained mental health professionals, rather than armed police officers, to respond to non-violent mental health related incidents on the street. MFLA supports this effort in the Hollywood and Venice communities with private sector resources to connect these unhoused Angelenos to the housing and resources they desperately need.

We fund and support the Mayor’s Crisis Response Team, which works in partnership with the city, county and community based organizations to provide crisis care and support.

2014 – 2022 Impact Report

Making Government Run Better

Supporting government innovation and accountability, and cutting red tape.

The City of Los Angeles confronts big, intractable problems that take decades of consistent progress to solve – and it confronts issues with everyday services that most residents take for granted, unless there’s a problem. What these issues all have in common is that they’re often the ones that make the greatest impact on our quality of life. So there’s a critical need for innovation, creativity and experimentation in the government sector, but as we know, the Government isn’t always set up to blaze a trail. That’s where the Mayor’s Fund comes in, with strategic investments of resources and expertise to keep coming up with the next best way to make local government work better and more seamlessly for residents. 

2014 – 2022 Impact Report

Making Government Run Better

L.A.’s Bloomberg Innovation Team (i-team) is a nexus for next-generation civic initiatives at City Hall. Using data-driven techniques, the i-Team generates new solutions to challenges facing L.A. The Fund has helped raise $5.5 million for the program over the last three years.

The Drop was created as a City-wide effort to remind Angelenos of water conservation strategies, ultimately helping the City reduce water usage by 20% in 2017, and continues today in partnership with the City’s Department of Water and Power.

Introduced in 2015 with MFLA support, the Mayor’s Sustainable City pLAn and Green New Deal/pLAn 2.0 lay out bold goals and the strategies to get there. In 2019, the City launched the Los Angeles Green New Deal as an updated roadmap toward a safe, prosperous and livable Los Angeles, focusing on short-term results while advancing long-term, transformational goals.

With private sector partners, the Operations Innovation Team (O-team) focused on developing government efficiency by creating a comprehensive listing of City-owned real estate, reducing safety risks for City employees, and creating the City’s first centralized procurement office.

The ADU accelerator has played a central role in increasing the supply of affordable housing for older Angelenos. This program partners with homeowners to rent their accessory dwelling units (ADUs) to older adults facing housing insecurity. To date, 25 ADU’s have been rented out to Los Angeles elders.

The Mayor’s Fund, alongside the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, launched a community analysis of the accessibility of city services across the 90 languages spoken across the City. The work resulted in Executive Directive 32 which seeks to improve access to City information and services for English language learners in Los Angeles.

2014 – 2022 Impact Report

Lifting Up Vulnerable Angelenos

Creating and expanding opportunity for those who need it most.

What often compounds the devastating effect of poverty in Los Angeles and elsewhere is the fact that the people who need help the most are often the most likely to slip through our social safety net. The Mayor’s Fund reinforces the social safety net with millions of dollars of ongoing funding and programmatic support for powerful government initiatives that don’t just beat around the bush – they move homeless Angelenos into housing; they offer educational opportunities that can change the course of an entire family’s future; they improve public safety, and help build bonds of community and trust in our most underserved and crime-afflicted neighborhoods. This is the kind of programming that a major City often can’t afford to support on its own, but it exists and thrives in L.A. because of the Mayor’s Fund’s partnership with the City.

2014 – 2022 Impact Report

Lifting Up Vulnerable Angelenos

Over ten summers, our Summer Night Lights program has become a national model for civic partnerships done right. By creating a bridge for private funding, MFLA has broadened the reach of Summer Night Lights to hundreds of thousands of families across L.A.

The Mayor’s Fund helped to launch StepForwardLA in 2015 to coordinate relief efforts for Angelenos eligible for immigration relief, including a step-by-step guide to the immigration process and a map with resources like City libraries with Citizenship Corners.

The Mayor’s Fund helped create this online searchable database representing an unprecedented effort to ensure every youth aged 14 to 24 could access job, educational and recreational opportunities during the summer.

The Mayor’s Fund helped launch the City’s first College Promise program which offered two years of free community college to Los Angeles Unified School District graduates and served as a model for all of California.

BIG: LEAP

Basic Income Guaranteed: Los Angeles Economic Assistance Pilot (BIG:LEAP) is a nation-leading program that is helping to advance the discussion about guaranteed basic income policy nationwide. It provides ongoing financial relief to over 3,200 Los Angeles based families impacted by poverty via a monthly payment of $1,000.

Hire L.A.’s youth is a youth employment initiative that coordinates public and private resources to expand job opportunities for L.A.’s next generation of talent. HIRE LA’s Youth has placed more than 43,000 young people in summer jobs to date.

2014 – 2022 Impact Report

Strengthening L.A.’s Civic, Economic and Cultural Fabric

Making connections between Angelenos, and with the rest of the world.

Los Angeles’ global identity – the ideas, values, culture and economic product we export onto the world stage – is forged and reshaped constantly by the everyday entrepreneurs, advocates and leaders who make this City their home. All of these bold, brilliant and creative Angelenos deserve to be a part of that constantly evolving project, not just those with the money to rise to the top. So the Mayor’s Fund commits itself every day to supporting local entrepreneurs and advocates, giving them resources, and plugging them into a local civic, economic and philanthropic structure that can help them make a difference. Los Angeles has always found strength in the things that make us unique. We’re a better, more prosperous city when everyone gets a chance to leave their mark, and that’s the kind of equal opportunity the Mayor’s Fund is committed to supporting.

2014 – 2022 Impact Report

Strengthening L.A.’s Civic, Economic and Cultural Fabric

Brand LA is an MFLA initiative to showcase L.A. as an epicenter of creativity and innovation, a global city to work, live and play in. In 2017, Brand LA also partnered with the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development to launch LA Original, which showcases our diverse makers and promotes locally designed, assembled, or manufactured goods through a line of LA-branded products.

The Fund helped to launch the Mayor’s Office of Volunteerism and Engagement in 2016 to support Angelenos who want to make a positive change in this city. This effort resulted in VolunteerLA, a robust platform used to connect Angelenos to volunteer opportunities across the city and to promote civic engagement.

The Mayor’s Fund worked with funders to support a community needs assessment and the creation of an Aging Data Dashboard centralizing all resources and information for older adults in the LA region.

The EY Entrepreneurs in Residence program deploys expertise into the entrepreneurial community with the goal of designing practical interventions that stimulate entrepreneurialism and business development in the City. Annually, EIRs partner with the City, academic institutions, and the private sector to identify best practices and policies that would support and grow the entrepreneurial community in Los Angeles.

The Mayor’s Fund partnered with the City to convene a Host Committee in preparation of the Ninth Summit of the Americas. The Summit focused on promoting regional cooperation and addressing the most pressing issues in the Americas. 

City Hub and Network for Gender Equity (CHANGE) harnesses the collective cities internationally to achieve gender equity in local governments and policies. Launched in November 2020, participating cities measure their progress on 22 gender equity indicators aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

2014 – 2022 Impact Report

Fiscal Year 2022 Financials

Programs vs. Operations

Spending by Issue Area

Revenue & Spending

Total Contributions by Type

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