Majestic Foundation - City of Industry, CA

At a time when many others are pulling back for one reason or another, at Majestic Realty, we are once again swimming up stream. This time, it is in terms of philanthropy and giving. Seeking to incorporate our entrepreneurial style and focus our efforts, we recently established our own Majestic Foundation as a separate 501(c)3 entity.

Realizing the responsibilities of an industry leader at these particularly difficult times, the Majestic Foundation was incorporated to build on our proud tradition of community leadership and corporate responsibility which was established years ago by our late founder, Edward P. Roski, Sr. Under the direction of Edward P. Roski, Jr., chairman of the board and CEO, the tradition of reaching out to help those less fortunate has been continuously reinforced throughout the Company and remains today as one of our core values.

Majestic Foundation president Fran Inman said projects and grants are directed to the communities in which we do business and focus on five key investment areas - youth, family, education, health, and violence prevention. The Foundation serves the Greater Los Angeles and the Inland Empire in Southern California, as well as the Atlanta, Denver and Las Vegas markets-all areas where Majestic Realty has sizeable real estate holdings. Area planning teams made up of Majestic Realty employees are responsible for prioritizing the needs of local communities and awarding grants and other assistance after determining where our impact will be the greatest.

“Through the Foundation, we hope to incorporate our entrepreneurial skills and leverage our investments to meet the needs of our communities,” Inman added. We have already partnered with a number of our tenants and vendors, working together to find creative solutions to make a difference in our communities.

One of the initial projects the Foundation sponsored was the creation of the Los Angeles Youth Leadership Council, bringing together high school youth leadership teams from six different youth centers located in “at-risk” neighborhoods in downtown Los Angeles. This program focuses on civic involvement and teaches leadership skills to help create sustainable communities - gangs and violence prevention will be the topic of the upcoming January workshops.

Majestic employees are encouraged to actively serve on non-profit boards and give of their time and talents as well as financial resources. The Majestic Foundation also offers an unprecedented employee matching gift program - qualified charitable donations up to $5,000 per year, per employee are personally matched two to one by Roski and David A. Wheeler, president of Majestic Realty.

According to a recent United Way report, Los Angeles is the poverty capital of the nation as well as the center of some of the nation’s greatest wealth. And since our company was built in this land of opportunity, we are committed to being leaders in the giving community as well. By establishing the Majestic Foundation, we have formalized our giving program and challenged ourselves to make a difference. Hopefully we will establish a model for other businesses to follow in terms of finding creative solutions to the growing needs of the local communities. More information about the Majestic Foundation is available at www.majesticfoundation.org.