As of April 30, 2025, the Entertainment Community Fund successfully concluded its ESSENTIAL fundraising campaign having raised $164 Million, surpassing its three-year goal of $160 Million.
The ESSENTIAL Campaign was a comprehensive effort to allow the Fund to serve more people in more places. Dollars raised are being utilized by the Fund for significant expansion of services, for our emergency relief reserve fund and to address mission-critical capital projects.
What the ESSENTIAL Campaign made possible:
- Expand and Sustain Services
- Triple the number of people the Fund serves.
- Execute an innovative digital engagement strategy that includes the roll-out of a new client portal funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
- Reach more people in additional communities with services such as scholarships, mental health services, insurance and career counseling.
- Grow the Emergency Relief Reserve Fund
- Support for our emergency relief reserve fund allowed the Fund to respond immediately to the work stoppages and Southern California Wildfires with grants to more than 20,000 individuals.
- Support Mission-Critical Capital Projects
- Upgrade the Actors Fund Home, an assisted living, skilled nursing and rehabilitation residence for seniors in New Jersey.
- Modernize The Schermerhorn and The Dorothy Ross Friedman Residences in New York.
- Create an Affordable Housing Catalyst Fund in Los Angeles County to stimulate investment in new projects.
- Support the construction of The Hollywood Arts Collective, a complex in the heart of Hollywood that combines 151 units of affordable housing with an arts building and a new home for the Fund’s Western Region offices. (The Campaign raised the original capital dollar budget but, due to significant delays caused by the City of Los Angeles, the construction budget has doubled. The Fund will continue to raise funds for the project outside the ESSENTIAL Campaign.)
Honorary Co-Chairs
Annette Bening
Brian Stokes Mitchell
Co-Chairs
Hugh Jackman
Chris Keyser
Kenny Leon
Matthew Loeb
Shonda Rhimes
Robert Wankel
Committee Members
Greg Berlanti
Janice Reals Ellig
Robert Greenblatt
David Henry Hwang
Sharon Karmazin
Brooke Kennedy
James L. Nederlander
Ruth Nerken
Katherine Oliver
Laura Penn
David Rambo
Lauren Reid
Kate Shindle
Henry Tisch
Lisa Ann Walter
Lead donors to the ESSENTIAL Campaign include:
Lead Cornerstone Gift
Glorya Kaufman
$5 Million+
Jane Friedman / The Gerald J. & Dorothy R. Friedman Foundation
John Gore Organization
Seth MacFarlane
The Shubert Organization
$3 Million+
Bloomberg Philanthropies
$1 Million+
Greg Berlanti
IATSE International
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
Netflix
Ruth Nerken/The Jean & Albert Nerken Foundation
Perenchio Foundation
Phil Rosenthal & Monica Horan/The Rosenthal Family Foundation
Jonathan & Lizzie Tisch
Elizabeth & Kenneth Whitney
$500,000+
JJ Abrams & Katie McGrath
Adobe Foundation
Suzanne Collins & Cap Pryor
Bruce & Janice Ellig
GRoW @ Annenberg
MacMillan Family Foundation
Nederlander Organization
Paramount
Michelle Pfeiffer & David E. Kelley
Steven Spielberg & Kate Capshaw
Warner Bros. Discovery
John & Marilyn Wells
Chandra Wilson
And, even with the success of the ESSENTIAL Campaign, there is much more to be done as our community responds to ongoing and future industry changes.
For example, we have exciting Naming Opportunities to help us complete The Hollywood Arts Collective:
$15 Million: The Hollywood Arts Collective campus
$3 Million: The Office for Social & Supportive Services in The Cicely Tyson Residential Building
$2 Million: The Courtyard in The Rita Moreno Arts Building
$1 Million Each: Lobby Staircase (The Rita Moreno Arts Building); First Floor of the Entertainment Community Fund Staff Office; Second Floor of the Entertainment Community Fund Staff Offices; Donor Wall; Parking Garage
For more information, please contact Tanille Carter at 323.330.2434 or tcarter@entertainmentcommunity.org.