The Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles awarded nearly $71 million in grants last year, up from $65 million in 2013, and created a record 77 charitable funds, according to figures released by the foundation Wednesday.

The foundation, which marked its 60th anniversary last year, reported assets of $972 million in December, up 7 percent from $906 million one year earlier. Donations rose nearly 30 percent to $130 million in 2014, up from $101 million in 2013.

“The milestone of the foundation’s 60th anniversary provided just one cause for celebration in 2014,” foundation President/CEO Marvin I. Schotland said. “More significantly, the foundation — and the communities it supports — can commemorate a generous tradition of giving by both an existing and continuously expanding donor base, whose commitment to philanthropy does not falter.”

Schotland said the foundation’s grants “spanned a spectrum of causes locally, nationally and in Israel, positively impacting both directly and indirectly tens of thousands, if not millions, of lives.”

He noted that more than 70 percent of the grants awarded last year went to Jewish causes, but the remaining nearly 30 percent supported programs in the general community.

According to the foundation, 30 percent of the grants went to human services causes, while 24 percent backed education programs. Health programs and civic life projects each received 10 percent of the grants, while 7 percent went to arts, culture and humanities.

— City News Service

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