El Paso Community Foundation

About

Founded in 1977, the El Paso Community Foundation is a grantmaking organization based in El Paso, Texas that provides grants and scholarships to the surrounding area. ¹ The organization’s focus areas include education, children’s initiatives, special-needs education, and family support. ⁴

Programs

In the 1990s, the El Paso Community Foundation engaged with the Border WaterWorks project, a Ford Foundation ¹ and Pew Charitable Trusts-founded initiative. ² The project aided low-income border communities by promoting “community-based self-help construction projects.” The program provided “guidance and low-interest financing for the supplies, equipment and engineering design needed to build community water and sewer systems” and, in exchange, each community provided the leadership and physical labor necessary to complete the project. ²

The foundation’s Classroom Fund was created in 2011 and has since donated more than $650,000 to educational causes in the El Paso and Las Cruces areas. ⁵ The Classroom Fund is funded in partnership with Price Creamery’s Give ’em Five Fund, KVIA ABC7, and the El Paso Times. ⁶ In 2024, local full-time educators teaching pre-K through the 12th grade had the opportunity to apply for $1,000 grants for classroom supplies through the fund. ⁵

The foundation also helped five school districts secure Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA) funding that rewards teachers with financial incentives and bonuses based on students’ academic performance. The state of Texas provided the funding, but the foundation provided technical assistance and staffing to “navigate the designation process.” ⁷

In 2019, in partnership with the Paso del Norte Community Foundation, the El Paso Community Foundation created One Fund El Paso “to streamline the process of distributing donated funds to the victims of the August 3rd mass shooting in El Paso, and their families.” ³ The fund received donations from various community partners including a $400,000 donation from Walmart. ⁸

Financials

In 2021, the El Paso Community Foundation reported total revenue of just over $21.7 million, total expenses of about $18.5 million, and net assets of about $67 million. Similarly, in 2020, the organization reported total revenue of about $19 million, total expenses just over $15.4 million, and net assets of about $62 million. ⁹ Donations to the foundation average about $370, with some donations being as large as $10 million or $20 million. ⁴

The El Paso Community Foundation awarded more than $10 million in grants in 2021, with $3.6 million awarded to the Borderplex Community Capital to fund the Financial Assistance for Safety, Technology and Economic Resilience (FASTER) Program, ⁹ a program established to aid small businesses in El Paso County during the COVID-19 pandemic. ¹⁰ The organization also awarded over $290,000 to the El Paso Child Guidance Center for mental health intervention services, over $245,000 to El Paso Matters, Inc. for investigative journalism, about $130,000 to El Pasoans Fighting Hunger for emergency food distribution, and $200,000 to the Opportunity Center for the Homeless for a transitional living center for veterans. ⁹

Leadership

Eric Pearson is the president and CEO of the El Paso Community Foundation. ¹¹ Pearson joined the foundation in 2003 and has been the CEO since 2011. Previously, Pearson worked in broadcast journalism, and he attended the University of Texas at El Paso. ¹²

Isha Rogers is the chair of the board of directors. ¹³ Rogers is the granddaughter of Samuel Macintosh Murchison, an El Paso businessman. ¹⁴ Rogers was a board member at the Bridge of Contemporary Arts and also sponsored the Isha Rogers Sculpture Gallery at the El Paso Museum of Art. She attended Southern Methodist University and earned a degree in art history. ¹⁵