John Gogian Family Foundation

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OVERVIEW: The John Gogian Foundation mainly supports Los Angeles County nonprofits working for the developmentally disabled, the elderly and vulnerable youth. It also supports NGOs working in Armenia.

IP TAKE: The John Gogian Foundation ended its practice of accepting letters of inquiry in 2018, making it much more difficult to gain traction here. The foundation has articulated a preference for providing ongoing support to its existing grantees. It also discontinued a scholarship program. A contact page, however, provides email addresses for the foundation’s executive director and grants administrator, with whom you might gain an ear if your organizations is a good match for this foundation.

PROFILE: The John Gogian Family Foundation was established in Torrance, California in 1982 by the late John Gogian, an entrepreneur. The foundation’s size doubled when Gogian sold his business, Pacific Cold Storage, in 1994. The foundation is “committed to providing a positive and lasting impact in the lives of developmentally disabled children and adults, vulnerable seniors, and abused and/or neglected youth, by contributing to a safe and stable environment in which people can live and grow.” Its four stated areas of focus are developmentally disabled adults and children, NGOs in Armenia, vulnerable seniors and vulnerable youth. Grants provide support for general operations, projects and capital expenditures. With the exception of its grants for Armenia, funding serves organizations based in Los Angeles County.

Grants for Public Health, Mental Health, Education and Disabilities

This funder names disabled, elderly and vulnerable people as populations of focus for its grantmaking but does not name specific priorities for its giving for these groups. A significant portion of funding has gone to special education programs and other services for developmental disabled children and youth. Mental health appears to be another area of strong interest, with many grants supporting counseling services for elderly residents and vulnerable youth in Los Angeles County.

Grantees include Arts and Services for Disabled of Long Beach, Hope House for the Multiple Handicapped in El Monte, Wise and Health Aging of Santa Monica, the Los Angeles Youth Network and the Richstone Family Center in Hawthorne.

Grants for Global Development and Humanitarian Aid

John Gogian was of Armenian descent, and each year his foundation makes a handful of grants for causes in Armenia. The foundation does not name specific areas of interest for this giving and appears to provide ongoing support to the same organizations year after year.

Grantees include the Armenia Relief and Development Association and Friends of Warm Hearth, an Armenian organization that provides homes for people with special needs.

Important Grant Details

Gogian’s grants range from $3,000 to $1.6 million, although most grants stay below $500,000.

  • This funder tends to support local organizations with strong reputations in the foundation’s fields of interest.

  • Many grantees enjoy ongoing support.

  • This is a flexible grantmaker that gives for general operations, project and/or capital expenses.

  • The John Gogosian Foundation ended its practice of accepting letters of inquiry in 2018 to focus on support for its existing grantees.

  • For information about past grantmaking, see the foundation’s drop-down menu of lists of grants by year or its recent tax filings.

Submit general questions to the foundation via email at jgff@gogianfoundation.org or telephone at (310) 325-0954.

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