Donald Bren

Donald Bren is admired as one of America’s leading philanthropists, and is consistently ranked high on BusinessWeek magazine’s list of “The 50 Most Generous Philanthropists” in the nation.  In 2007, the magazine placed Mr. Bren at No. 9, noting he has given or pledged an estimated $1.322 billion in lifetime gifts to his three primary areas of philanthropy: education, conservation and research.

Mr. Bren’s passion for education is reflected in his many gifts benefiting school children, teachers and universities.  Under Mr. Bren's guidance, The Irvine Company and the Donald Bren Foundation have generously provided more than $200 million to support education in California.  Of that amount, Mr. Bren has directed more than $100 million to K-12 education, including: a $20 million gift that protects and expands enrichment programs in music, art and science; $10 million to THINK Together after-school programs in the Santa Ana Unified School District and Eastern Los Angeles County; and millions of dollars in gifts for programs that honor extraordinary teachers and provide scholarship funds to outstanding high school seniors.  In addition, Mr. Bren has donated more than $100 million to institutions of higher education to fund far-reaching research and create endowed chairs, focusing particular attention on two of California’s most prominent universities, UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara.

“Bren’s commitment to education runs the gamut from students to principals to school districts to university scholars on (The) Irvine Ranch,” BusinessWeek noted.  Also in 2007, Mr. Bren was elected a Fellow of the Prestigious American Academy of Arts & Sciences.  Fellows are elected from throughout the world through a highly competitive process, and are chosen for their major and lasting contributions to their disciplines and society.  Mr. Bren was elected in the category of Business, Corporate and Philanthropic Leadership – Private Sector.

Mr. Bren focuses his philanthropy in three primary areas:

Education

Through The Irvine Company and the Donald Bren Foundation, Mr. Bren has directed contributions totaling more than $200 million to support students, teachers, principals, individual schools and districts, universities and university scholars on The Irvine Ranch® including:

• A series of gifts - including one for $8.5 million in February 2008 -- totaling $10 million to help THINK Together, a provider of free after-school tutoring services, expand its programs across the Santa Ana Unified School District and Eastern Los Angeles County.
  
  
• A $20 million contribution to the Irvine Unified School District to create a 10-year Excellence in Education Enrichment Fund to protect fourth- through sixth-grade fine arts, music and science programs.
  
  
• A $2.5 million pledge to the Newport-Mesa Unified School District to support K-12 science education initiatives.
  
  
• A $20 million gift to UC Irvine's computer sciences school.
  
  
• An endowment gift to support the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
  
  
• Mr. Bren has endowed 50 chairs at prestigious universities, including the University of California, Caltech and Chapman University.  At UC, he has endowed more chairs than any single donor in the university’s history, and in 2004 received the UC Presidential Medal—the university’s highest honor.  “For well over two decades, Mr. Bren’s focus on the creation of endowment funds to support faculty chairs has helped bring to the University of California some of the best researchers and scholars in the nation and the world,” UC President Robert Dynes said.  “He has contributed more to support endowed chairs than any single donor in UC history, and his passionate philanthropy and commitment to educational excellence have helped strengthen the university. We are proud to bestow upon him this honor.”

• Under Mr. Bren’s direction, more than 50,000 acres of beautiful and nationally significant land—more than half of The Irvine Ranch—have been set aside forever as wildlands, parks and trails in the heart of urban Orange County.  The United States Department of Interior acknowledged the national scientific importance of these lands by designating 37,000 acres as a permanent National Natural Landmark.
  
  
• Mr. Bren has committed $50 million to support the Irvine Ranch Conservancy and its research and programs to ensure the long-term protection, enhancement and public enjoyment of the wildlands, parks and trails on The Irvine Ranch. 

Research

• Mr. Bren’s major contributions to leading research institutions are creating new, highly targeted research opportunities for renowned scientists, medical researchers and scholars. These range from finding cures for human diseases and improving humans’ overall quality of life, to ushering in advances in computer science that improve the way individuals and entire corporations operate, to environmental problem-solving through an unusual interdisciplinary approach.
  
  
• In addition, Mr. Bren’s research philanthropy has benefited the efforts of the internationally acclaimed Burnham Institute for Medical Research and its distinguished scientist and chief executive officer, Dr. John C. Reed. The La Jolla, Calif.-based institute conducts wide-ranging research in three critical areas of medical research: cancer, neurosciences and aging, and infectious and inflammatory diseases.