BANKING/FINANCE : Depositors, Anaheim S&L; Make Record Donations to Groups

A billiards league and a cancer research group may seem an unlikely pair, but they are among about 400 organizations sharing in $500,000 in donations from United California Savings Bank in Anaheim.

The savings and loan, which has been donating money annually to local community groups in Orange and Riverside counties for 11 years, is making its largest charitable contribution ever.

But don’t blame the S&L; for giving $40 to the Hemet Valley Pool Billiards League or $2,800 to the Shuffleboard Club of Leisure World in Laguna Hills. United California’s depositors decide where the money goes when they open their accounts. This year, the S&L; is paying 0.15% of the average annual balance in depositor accounts to the community group of the depositor’s choice. If 100 depositors with a combined $10-million average balance in their accounts pick the same local organization, the S&L; donates $15,000 to that group.

The contributions are as small as $28 for the Choral Club of Sun City or as large as $24,000 for the Hospice Foundation in Hemet. Philanthropic and medical groups tend to get more votes from depositors, hence more money from United California. So AMC Cancer Research, for instance, is expected to receive $7,700 today, and awards of more than $10,000 each will go to Hadassah, Crime Watch Inc. of Sun City, three Alzheimer’s Assn. groups and other nonprofit organizations.

This year’s donations, to be made through May, bring United California’s total community gifts to $1.5 million.