CHP 11-99 Foundation

Founded in 1982, by visionary civic leader Bob Weinberg, the CHP 11-99 Foundation is dedicated to the welfare of CHP employees and their families. The CHP radio code “11-99," used by dispatchers and officers' represents a distress call – “officer needs assistance." To show ultimate appreciation for their service and sacrifices, we provide much needed assistance to CHP employees and their families in the form of crisis benefits and scholarships. Since its inception, the CHP 11-99 Foundation has provided over $31 million in program support to current, retired and killed in the line of duty CHP employees and their family members. In 1984, the CHP 11-99 Foundation received its first request for educational support from Theresa Pence, daughter of Officer James Pence who was killed in the line of duty in the Newhall Incident tragedy on April 6, 1970. That tragedy left four women widows and seven children without fathers; Theresa was one of those children. When she contacted the Foundation in 1984, it became clear that scholarship support for children of CHP personnel was desperately needed. From that first phone call to today, the CHP 11-99 Foundation has awarded over $35M in college scholarships. Over half (54%) of recipients are the very first in their families to receive a college degree. The short term goal of the CHP 11-99 Foundation is to increase our support and provide 50% tuition to every eligible child of CHP personnel and to meet that obligation regardless of the increase in requests. In recognition of their profound and permanent loss, the 11-99 Foundation currently provides full scholarships to those students whose parent is killed in the line of duty. Our long term goal is to provide fully funded tuitions for all applicants. Each and every officer who serves the state of California does so at great personal cost showing courage and bravery for the good of our state. Meanwhile, the families of these officers bear their own burden and exercise their own version of heroism. Our benefits goal is to ensure surviving families receive immediate and subsequent financial support following the death of an officer as well as providing financial support for CHP employees during times of unforeseen difficulties and crisis. Currently the 11-99 Foundation provides a $50,000 death benefit to the family of an officer killed in the line of duty. It is our long term goal to increase that amount to $100,000 in recognition of their profound loss. The 11-99 Foundation is committed to sustainability, with a clear vision and passion for our CHP families. The CHP continues to serve and protect the state of California and all who live here. Many have given their lives in doing so. These families deserve a level of support equal to their commitment to service.

The CHP 11-99 Foundation has implemented the following strategies for sustaining our programs and expanding our funding base.
1. Increase grant proposal submissions annually
2. Increase major gifts annually through stewardship
3. Initiate Planned Giving options
4. Create new membership level targeting high wealth individuals
5. Increase website traffic and subsequent donations

The 11-99 Foundation hired an well established, experienced non-profit executive in 2012 to take the organization to the next level as its CEO and implement the aforementioned strategies. This position had been vacant for over three years and with Mr. Harrington's hiring the organization has increased its fundraising capabilities and dollars, implemented the $10M campaign, brought the Scholarship coordinator position in-house, hired a Development Director of Northern California, and increased major gifts giving. Mr. Harrington has personally raised over $15M since March 2013. Internally the organization has been effective with a lean staff and with these changes is beginning to move the dial forward towards meeting the demands and goals it has set forth. The Director of Operations and Director of Finance have been with the organization since inception, over 30 years and bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table. The 11-99 Foundation Board of Directors also implemented a policy that 5% of the corpus would be used for funding scholarships which has greatly assisted in providing higher awards. The 11-99 budget sees its highest expense for program services. Only 19% is operating expenses with 6% for fundraising expenses. This type of fiscal management allows for dollars raised to go directly to the families we serve where it is needed the most. Additionally, because of how we are structured, benefits are paid to officers and their families within 72 hours of a request. When an officer is killed in the line of duty, his family receives the $50,000 line of duty death benefit within 24 hours. We have the ability to serve our CHP families quickly, efficiently, and effectively with no red tape or delay.

Externally the 11-99 Foundation works closely with the CHP Commissioner and Commanders to ensure services are being used effectively and are targeting the needs of the CHP families. We employ a Benefits Coordinator who is a retired deputy CHP commander and works as our liaison with the CHP offices throughout the state. His background and tenure with the CHP make for a perfect match and helps to ensure the officers and their families are well taken care of during difficult times and most importantly during times of an officer death.

Additionally the 11-99 Foundation receives annual support from organizations such as United Way, California Association of Highway Patrol, CHP Credit Union and the statewide CHP squad clubs. Beginning in 2013 the 11-99 Foundation began writing grants for the first time and secured over $200,000 in that first year. One of those successes came in the form of a $1M grant from AAA paid over 10 years in support of the scholarship initiative.
Since then, the organization has secured over $3M in grants from private foundations.

Our $10M campaign, launched in March 2013 and concluding in 2018, reached over $20M in pledges and gifts.

We anticipate meeting our fundraising goals for 2023 however this will only allow us to provide 50% tuition scholarships to general applicants. Our challenge continues to be funding all scholarships at 100%. Although, we were able to raise our awards last year to meet the 50% goal and 100% for those students who lost a parent in the line of duty. In 2013 we also established the 'Advanced Program' which is a more competitive scholarship program yielding larger award amounts. This was accomplished through the generosity of a major donor who has pledged to give annually to help ensure the sustainability of this new program. Our current scholarship budget for 2023 is set for over $3M and we anticipate serving a minimum of 1000 students.