Person

Bill Scripps

Profession:

Entrepreneur and Philanthropist

Nationality:

American

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William H. or Bill Scripps is a businessman and philanthropist from the San Diego, California, area. He is an heir to the E.W. Scripps family fortune. Scripps and his wife Kathy are major supporters of universities and other civic causes. Their giving vehicle is the William and Kathryn Scripps Family Foundation, which give varying amounts of money annually to causes the couple supports. 1

Scripps has also served as a trustee for the University of California-San Diego foundation until 2019 and created the Scripps Foundation for Science and the Environment. However, the foundation does not appear to be active as of 2022. 2

Scripps is generally nonpolitical. His foundation does not give to advocacy organizations, 3 and he has given little money to political committees and candidates, with the most recent contribution as of February 2022 reported by OpenSecrets from a William Scripps living in California having been made in 2009. 4

Early Life

Bill Scripps is an heir to the E.W. Scripps family fortune. E.W. Scripps was the founder of a group of newspapers that were targeted at the working class, and he sold them for a penny. His competitors often sold their papers for five cents. Scripps used various tax-avoidance tools such as trusts to pass down his fortune to his heirs. 5

Bill Scripps received his bachelor’s degree from UC San Diego. Scripps would go on to found and lead the W.H. Scripps Company. 6

He would meet his wife Kathy at Moonlight Beach where she played volleyball. They had two children, a son Willie and a daughter Shelby. 7

Family House and Combating Homelessness

In the 1990s, Bill and his wife Kathy found an eight-acre undeveloped property near the heart of Rancho Santa Fe, California, which is a suburb of San Diego. They then commissioned an architect to design a multilevel estate home on the parcel’s summit that reflected their family’s love of natural materials and the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright and the Craftsman era. 8

In 2004, the Scripps added an adjacent five-acre parcel. That five-acre parcel was used to build a stable and to be used as a pasture for their five horses. 9

In January 2018, the Scripps decided to sell their house in Rancho Santa Fe and, as a part of the sale, they decided to get rid of furnishings that they would not use. They donated over 500 furnishings to the charities Just in Time for Foster Youth and Humble Design. The two groups auctioned them off to benefit their programs working with the homeless. 10

Environmental Issues

According to his biography at UC San Diego, Scripps expresses concerns about the environment and climate change. He created the Scripps Foundation for Science and the Environment, which appears not to be active as of 2022. 11

His ideas on the subject have used by UC San Diego’s Rady School of Management Sustainability Solutions Institute, specifically for their Greenovation Forum, which funds the Triton Greenovation Network. 12

UC San Diego

Scripps received his bachelor’s degree from UC San Diego. He would later go on to serve as a trustee for the UC San Diego Foundation from 2013 to 2019. 13

One of the gifts the Scripps made to UC San Diego was financing the restoration of Scripps Cottage on the university’s campus. The cottage is named after his great aunt, Ellen Browning Scripps, who was a philanthropist in early 20th century San Diego. 14

Later, the Scripps joined Bill’s siblings in a $6 million donation to the university’s Marine Conservation and Technology Facility. The facility would be named after Bill’s parents, Ted and Jean Scripps. 15

University of Colorado

The Scripps’ children attended the University of Colorado, Boulder. The Scripps became supporters of the university’s athletics programs, the Esteemed Scholars program, and the Center for Community. 16

Starting in 2012, the Scripps donated $100,000 to establish the CU News Corps, which partnered with professional media outlets to produce journalism. In 2017, the Scripps donated $2.5 million to establish the Scripps CU News Corps Endowment to continue the program in perpetuity. 17

In 2018, the Scripps donated $2 million to CU Boulder athletics to establish the Scripps Leadership and Career Development Program. The program helps student athletes receive individualized coaching in personal and professional development to help them succeed after graduation. 18

References

  1. “William And Kathryn Scripps Family Foundation Inc”. 2022. Propublica. Accessed February 7. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/200514611.
  2. “William Scripps”. 2022. UCSD Foundation. Accessed February 7. https://foundation.ucsd.edu/board-of-trustees/emeriti-bios/scripps-bio.html.
  3. “William And Kathryn Scripps Family Foundation Inc”. 2022. Propublica. Accessed February 7. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/200514611.
  4. “Donor Search: William Scripps.” OpenSecrets. Accessed February 16, 2022. https://www.opensecrets.org/search?order=desc&q=william%2Bscripps&sort=D&type=donors.
  5. Callahan, Patricia, James Bandler, Justin Elliott, Doris Burke, and Jeff Ernsthausen. 2021. “The Great Inheritors: How Three Families Shielded Their Fortunes From Taxes For Generations”. Propublica. https://www.propublica.org/article/the-great-inheritors-how-three-families-shielded-their-fortunes-from-taxes-for-generations#:~:text=The%20internal%20revenue%20commissioner%20testified,the%20commissioner%20as%20%E2%80%9Cmerely%20ephemeral.
  6. “William Scripps”. 2022. UCSD Foundation. Accessed February 7. https://foundation.ucsd.edu/board-of-trustees/emeriti-bios/scripps-bio.html.
  7.  “California Theming”. 2012. San Diego Home/Garden Lifestyles. https://www.sandiegohomegarden.com/2012/07/06/california-theming/.
  8. “California Theming”. 2012. San Diego Home/Garden Lifestyles. https://www.sandiegohomegarden.com/2012/07/06/california-theming/.
  9. “California Theming”. 2012. San Diego Home/Garden Lifestyles. https://www.sandiegohomegarden.com/2012/07/06/california-theming/.
  10. McCormac, Patty. 2018. “Scripps Family Estate Sale Items Auctioned For Charity”. The Coast News Group. https://thecoastnews.com/scripps-family-estate-sale-items-auctioned-for-charity/.
  11. “William Scripps”. 2022. UCSD Foundation. Accessed February 7. https://foundation.ucsd.edu/board-of-trustees/emeriti-bios/scripps-bio.html.
  12. “William Scripps”. 2022. UCSD Foundation. Accessed February 7. https://foundation.ucsd.edu/board-of-trustees/emeriti-bios/scripps-bio.html.
  13. “William Scripps”. 2022. UCSD Foundation. Accessed February 7. https://foundation.ucsd.edu/board-of-trustees/emeriti-bios/scripps-bio.html.
  14. Geraghty, Coleen. 2022. “Scripps Cottage Restored”. San Diego State University – SDSU Alumni. Accessed February 7. http://www.sdsualumni.org/s/997/rd16/interior.aspx?sid=997&gid=1&pgid=5909.
  15. “Scripps Family Members Gift $6 Million For Naming Of New Facility”. 2022. USCD News. Accessed February 7. https://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/feature/scripps-family-members-gift-6-million-for-naming-of-new-facility.
  16. “Scripps Family Supports Student Investigative News With $2.5 Million Gift”. 2017. CMCI Now Magazine. https://www.colorado.edu/cmcinow/2017/10/25/scripps-family-supports-student-investigative-news-25-million-gift.
  17. “Scripps Family Supports Student Investigative News With $2.5 Million Gift”. 2017. CMCI Now Magazine. https://www.colorado.edu/cmcinow/2017/10/25/scripps-family-supports-student-investigative-news-25-million-gift
  18. “$2 Million Scripps Family Gift To Support Student-Athletes On And Off The Field”. 2018. CU Boulder Today. https://www.colorado.edu/today/2018/12/11/2-million-scripps-family-gift-support-student-athletes-and-field.
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