As the new president of the Orange County Community Foundation (OCCF), Tammy Tumbling has always desired to help people.
Growing up in Compton, Tumbling became a single mom to her first child by age 16, lost her mother when she was 19, and had younger brothers and sisters counting on her to look after them. Tumbling was fortunate enough to not have had to do it alone, she had the support of her “village,” which imbued her with a passion for wanting to serve others as well.
Tumbling has over 20 years of expertise in customer service, management, corporate citizenship, and nearly five years of new foundation management experience as the first executive vice president and chief operating officer of the OCCF.
She joined the OCCF after leaving Southern California Edison (SCE), where she held many roles including utility operations and government affairs. Tumbling also works as a member with the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and Harbor Area Chapter of The Links, Inc., both are organizations that have a focus on serving the community.
“The Orange County Community Foundation was created 35 years ago. We’re celebrating our 35th anniversary this year and we’re super excited. It was created to help set up philanthropic strategies for generous donors who want to give back to the community but wanted to have experts like the Community Foundation to help,” Tumbling said.
The OCCF has been around since 1989 and according to Tumbling they have nearly $700 million in assets, about 640 donor advised funds, and give away approximately $100 million per year, which is in the top 2% in granting in the nation. There are 780 Community Foundation’s and of them OCCF is in the top 2% in how much they give away to the community.
“We’re also working on our vision 2030 and vision 2030 is going to be exciting once we’re ready to announce but along the way, we’re continuing to hold the hands of our community partners,” Tumbling said.
“We have a request for proposal for African American led and African American serving nonprofit organizations to compete for grants from $5,000 to $10,000. And let’s say they’re African American led, but they’re not serving African Americans, we will provide $2,500 for professional development through our RFP process. So I’m super excited about that.”
The OCCF’s application process closes at the end of April and Tumbling said they are excited to launch their RFP again, as they announce on Juneteenth every year who their winners are.
“I actually get a chance to walk in my purpose every day, and that’s to serve people. Being able to oversee the HR department, the philanthropic strategy team, I just rolled out a Salesforce and did a really big system conversion for the foundation,” Tumbling said.
“I guess my boss liked it enough to where she thought she’d split her title of president and CEO. She was so gracious, and she gave me the title of president just this January, based on the work that I’ve done.”
The African American Alliance fund was started on Juneteenth of 2020. Tumbling was influenced by the many people protesting over the senseless deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor. As Tumbling watched these protests during COVID, she said she tried to think about what she could do to help the Black community as an executive vice president and COO.
“Since that time, we have we focused on five major areas for the African American Alliance fund, education, health, human services, economic business development, and civic engagement. Those are areas where African Americans tend to be left out of the conversations or just left behind. So, I wanted to fund programs and services and support African American executive directors, not just in Orange County, but across the state, across the country, and at some point around the world,” Tumbling said.
Since 2020, the African American Alliance fund has raised over $1.5 million for the fund, and have given away almost $600,000 back to Black communities in Orange County, in California and some areas across the nation, according to Tumbling. She also stays in contact with those who have won grants by serving as a keynote speaker at one of their special events or providing mentorship.
“If they’re important enough for us to give dollars–our community leaders, if they’re important enough for me to fund their programs and services because they’re doing some amazing work. They’re equally as important for me to give my time,” Tumbling said.
Tumbling believes that it takes all the community to come together and rally around issues and causes because if “we don’t do that, who will?”
“I am asking that everyone take the time to think about that one thing that you can do to either help someone or to also fully walk in your purpose. Most of the time, it’s one in the same. So I would want to say please, please always remember that when we help one person we’re helping many because when we can change one life, that person may change many lives,” Tumbling said.
For more information on Tumbling and the OCCF, visit https://www.oc-cf.org/people/tammy-tumbling/ and https://www.oc-cf.org/.
