DreamWorks founders give $90 million to Motion Picture & Television Fund
DreamWorks SKG founders Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen are each donating $30 million to the Motion Picture & Television Fund, giving a major boost to the fundraising campaign for one of Hollywood’s oldest charities.
The total commitment of $90 million is part of a campaign launched earlier this year to raise $350 million for the fund and to support its charitable operations, including a nursing home for retired entertainment industry workers that was once slated for closure.
The campaign followed a decision by the fund’s board to re-admit patients to the nursing home, which was established to care for retiring actors and other performers. The board sparked a furor in Hollywood when it announced plans in January 2009 to shut down the nursing home because of heavy financial losses.
But fund executives said cost-cutting and fundraising efforts made it possible for the charity to operate a smaller nursing home with about 40 residents instead of the more than 130 it had in 2009. The fund also has partnered with UCLA Health System to operate a geriatric psychiatric unit at the skilled nursing home.
-- Richard Verrier, Los Angeles Times