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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, April 11, 2023
Contact: Maria Gpe. Bojorquez-Gomez, 619-488-7812, mariabg@strategies360.com
San Diego, CA – Today, Malin and Roberta Burnham announced a $20 million donation to the Burnham Center for Community Advancement (BCCA) to ensure the nonprofit they helped found just two years ago continues for years to come.The gift is the couple’s largest charitable donation ever given to a single organization.
The Burnhams made a multiyear commitment in 2020to help establish BCCA, founded on Malin’s vision of building an organization that could spur civic engagement and collaboration and get big and small things done to make our region a better place to live, work and play for all.
The Burnhams say they made this flagship gift after seeing BCCA’s highly impactful start and hearing resoundingly positive community feedback for having such an institution in our region. Since its founding two years ago, BCCA has been instrumental in pushing initiatives and sparking action, as seen with the designation of San Diego-Tijuana as World Design Capital 2024 and renewed conversations on the fiscal and governance sustainability of Balboa Park.
“My work with BCCA is some of the most importantI have ever done,” Malin Burnham said. “Community Before Self is more than just a motto or the title of a book I wrote, it is the ethos I live by. BCCA will carry that banner going forward by bringing people together and helping to move the entire region forward. Nobody can do it alone, we have to work together if we want to get the hard things done.”
BCCA is a think-and-do tank based on the premise that through community engagement, vigorous dialogue, research, data, and best practices, it can be a platform for our community leaders, businesses, educators, workers, researchers, faith-based organizations, nonprofits, residents and government to collaborate and move the region forward, together.
Mayor Todd Gloria added, “Making the most of SanDiego’s many assets requires us to continuously strive for improvement, and the Burnham Center for Community Advancement is helping to lead that dialogue on behalf of the region. I’m happy to see this investment by the Burnhams to ensure the organization will be able to sustain this important work for many years to come.”
Beyond the San Diego-Tijuana World Design Capital 2024 effort and Balboa Park sustainability, BCCA currently has focus areas that include housing affordability, transit and mobility, rebuilding community fabric, and spreading economic prosperity to communities in the region that have not shared in San Diego’s success. The organization hosts ‘CommunityDialogues’ on these topics and more for the community to engage regional and global leaders to spark new ideas, building a common space where we can share our diverse and inclusive views that can lead to collective action and positive momentum on big and small issues.
“With our mission to help make the San Diego binational region a better place to live, work and play for all, and to create a platform that enhances the work of others in the region, Malin and Roberta’s investment in BCCA is truly a gift to the entire community,” said Tad Parzen, Founding President and CEO of BCCA. “Through this investment, BCCA will continue to enhance the binational community and have the sustainability to get meaningful things done.”
Malin and Roberta Burnham have a long history of supporting civic and charitable causes in San Diego. They have a deep passion for supporting education, health, and civic engagement-centered organizations.The Burnham name is synonymous with numerous philanthropic efforts, including the Sanford Burnham Prebys, UC San Diego’s Rady School of Management, SmartBorder Coalition, USS Midway Museum, Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate at the University of San Diego, and US Olympic & Paralympic Training Center, among many others.
The Burnham Center for Community Advancement(BCCA) is a 501c3, nonpartisan, think-and-do-tank designed to help make the SanDiego region a better place to live, work, and play for all. The organizations serves as a nexus point where community stakeholders and multi sector partners come together to identify regional needs, find innovative solutions, and tackle some of our most pressing issues. BCCA was created in 2021 by Malin Burnham and founding President & CEO Tad Seth Parzen, who wanted to build an organization that would bring people together around visionary ideas to advance the quality of life for the region. You can learn more at burnhamcenter.org.
Malin was Chairman of John Burnham & CompanyInsurance and Burnham Real Estate and was involved in the business for over seven decades. In 2008, Burnham Real Estate was acquired by Cushman &Wakefield. Malin is a native San Diegan who graduated from Stanford University.In addition to his involvement with the Burnham Companies, he has been active as a board member of several major corporations and 16 firms. Burnham haschaired nine major non-profits and co-founded 14 organizations in his career, most providing direct benefit to San Diego. He’s also been a world-recognized sailor for five decades and has helped San Diego achieve prominence in bothlocal and professional sports. At age 17, he became the youngest skipper to wina World Championship in the International Star Class. In 1987, he played a leading role in bringing the America’s Cup to San Diego. He is a former partner/owner of the San Diego Padres and the San Diego Sockers.
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