Samueli Foundation Announces $11 Million in Grants from its Inaugural Breakaway Fund to 138 Orange County - Serving Nonprofits

The first-of-its-kind grantmaking initiative expands to $11 million from its initial $5 million budget

CORONA DEL MAR, Calif. (September 16, 2025) — The Samueli Foundation today made its largest single day tranche of grant announcements in organizational history, alerting 138 Orange County-serving nonprofit organizations that they are grant recipients from the newly created Breakaway Fund. The Breakaway Fund launched in May with a $5 million budget, but the Samueli Foundation upped its donations to over $11 million in recognition of urgent community-based need and the overall quality of the applications received. 77% of the awardees have never received funding from the Samueli Foundation.

“Each application contained deeply human stories about our neighbors across Orange County that compelled us to dig deeper and give more,” said Henry and Susan Samueli, co-founders of the Samueli Foundation. “Breakaways in hockey are always the most exciting moments in games, and we hope the Breakaway Fund generates an equal level of community excitement. Together, we can create so much impact for the betterment of Orange County.”

Over the six-week open application process, the Samueli Foundation received 1,004 applications requesting a total of $83 million dollars. Unique attributes of the Breakaway Fund program include:

Each grant is between $50,000-$100,000

• The grants have no restrictions; will be paid within a month of notification

• The application was designed to take no longer than 20 minutes to complete

• All OC-based and OC-serving nonprofits were eligible to apply, including current Samueli Foundation grantees and those who had never received funding from the Samueli Foundation

“The Breakaway Fund is the truest expression of trust-based philanthropy we could model at a time where compassion for others is in short supply, and the world is feeling less certain and more divided than ever,” said Lindsey Spindle, president of Samueli Family Philanthropies.

The Samueli Foundation launched the Breakaway Fund in response to its desire to more rapidly expand its local philanthropic commitment – which has grown by tens of millions of dollars over the last three years; create an accessible “front door” to the organization through an open-application process; expose itself to the full range of nonprofit organizations that serve Orange County beyond those it was already familiar with; and model trust-based, responsive giving for others philanthropists.

Prioritizing speed, fairness, and ease of application in designing this new initiative, the Samueli Foundation also cued off insight generated from the Orange County Nonprofit Needs Assessment, a novel research project it commissioned in 2024. Hundreds of participating nonprofit leaders made it clear they had several categories of hard-to-fund, unmet needs including unrestricted funding to pilot new innovations; upgrade essential infrastructure and technology; access external, niche expertise; strengthen leadership capacity; and retain key staff. The needs assessment exposed the financial fragility of the nonprofit sector, and highlighted opportunities where fast, flexible funding would be transformative.

Overview of Granting Outcomes: 

• $11 million awarded (up from $5 million originally planned) 

• 1,004 total applications received, requesting $83 million in support 

• 77% receiving grants for the first time from the Samueli Foundation  

• What got funded: 

  • Systems & “Stuff” (51%) – The basics that keep doors open and programs running  

  • Expertise (22%) – Specialized skills that are out of reach  

  • Talent & Leadership (13%) – Investing in existing teams  

  • Season Ticket (14%) – Nonprofits’ dreams that may need assistance to take flight  

• Who was reached: Every sector touched, from Anaheim to San Clemente and all points in between   

The Samueli Foundation also launched the companion Build OC Fund, a $5 million fund designed specifically to help nonprofits fund renovations, new construction, facilities and/or land acquisitions, and purchase of large-scale equipment. The Foundation received $168 million of requests during the eight-week open application window, and plans to announce the awardees later this month.

 “We encourage any other funder in Orange County looking for end-of-year giving ideas to connect with us because we’re sitting on a treasure trove of immediately fundable proposals that would strengthen our community,” said Spindle. “The Samueli team is piloting an AI-powered tool that will allow other funders to search through unfunded proposals, sorting by location, issue, or category of need. We want to make it as easy as possible for other funders to help us write an even happier ending to this made-in-Orange County story.”

 

About Samueli Foundation   

The Samueli Foundation’s mission is to make Orange County, California a vibrant mosaic of community well-being. We support and unite catalytic forces whose innovations yield a high quality of life for everyone. The Samueli Foundation works closely with the constellation of Samueli Family-backed for-profit and non-for-profit organizations to ensure that giving back to the community is central to everything they do; these include the Anaheim Ducks Foundation, the San Diego Gulls Foundation, the Irvine Ice Foundation, The Rinks Foundation, and OC Sports & Entertainment which oversees the Family’s sports and entertainment assets including the Anaheim Ducks, the San Diego Gulls, and the Honda Center.  

 Over the last 25 years the Samueli Family, through its various entities, has contributed over $1 billion in charitable grants.