DGA Foundation Chairman Howard W. Koch Photo by Robert Hale

Since 1945 the Directors Guild Foundation (DGF) has assisted DGA members through difficult times. Originally created as the DGA Education and Benevolent Foundation, the DGF came about when Mabel Walker Willebrandt, then attorney for the Guild, suggested that an institution be formed to make short-term, no-interest loans available to members in need. The Foundation would be independent from the Guild itself and respect personal anonymity thus allowing the individuals in need to maintain their dignity.

Leo McCarey, a prominent director-member became the first contributor by donating $25,000, a considerable sum in 1945. McCarey went on to become a founding officer of the Foundation alongside such Guild stalwarts as Joseph Mankiewicz, Frank Capra, Tay Garnett, John Farrow and Foundation Board Members David Butler, Cecil B. DeMille, John Ford, Howard Hawks, George Marshall, George Sidney, King Vidor, Raoul Walsh and William Wyler. Over the years, the names lending their time and support to the DGF reads like a "who's who" of Guild hierarchy including Joseph Youngerman and former DGA president Delbert Mann.

In 1983 Howard W. Koch replaced Mann as Chair, and continued the Foundation's tradition of serving the members and the film community. Over the years the DGF has actively supported educational programs and, in 1968, helped to establish a theatre at the Watts Writer's Workshop. Along with the DGA, the DGF also supports the East and West Coast Student Minority Film Awards and programs like the DGA Special Projects' educational and oral history program. Additionally it has made contributions to the Actor's Fund, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Margaret Herrick Library and the Motion Picture & Television Country Home and Hospital.

Most recently the DGF announced a $250,000 multi-year commitment to the Motion Picture & Television Fund (MPTF). The donation will go toward MPTF's $115 million capital campaign targeting renovation and expansion of the Country Home & Hospital on the Wasserman Campus in Woodland Hills. The proposed expansion will allow them to begin reducing the current seven-year waiting list for retirement and assisted living at the facility.

"The work of the MPTF is a blessing for so many members of our community," said Foundation Chairman Howard W. Koch. "It is truly gratifying to be able to help such tremendously worthy efforts."

Since the Capital Campaign was announced last November, more than $25 million has been raised, according to MPTF Foundation Board Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg. "I am grateful to Howard Koch and the members of the Directors Guild Foundation for making such a significant commitment to MPTF in this early stage of the campaign," said Katzenberg. "The DGA and its leadership are a vital part of the legacy of caring for our own that has made MPTF the model health-care organization it has become, and this recent commitment continues that legacy."

"I'm proud of the generosity of our members that made the Directors Guild Foundation's donation possible," said DGA President Jack Shea, "The DGA and its membership have a long history of support for charitable causes, and I'm delighted that we've been able to uphold that tradition with this donation to the MPTF."

Every year, the Foundation conducts its annual appeal to the members of the Guild. With the proceeds from the appeal, the Guild provides matching funds with a share from membership fines exacted during the year, as well as the donated portions of members bequests. The Foundation also raises funds through various activities like the DGA's Annual Golf Tourn­ament. Through their generosity, DGA members have allowed the DGF to continue its tradition of promoting the well-being of Southern California's entertainment community, assisting with health-care and charitable services. And because of the vision of the founding members the DGF provides all of this with compassion and respect for the dignity of the whole person.

-Darrell Hope