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The Arch That Keeps on Giving

On Thursday, March 12, Escondido celebrated the dedication and lighting of its newest landmark, The Escondido Arch. This beautifully crafted 40-feet-high by 180-feet-wide city nameplate is located at the intersection of Grand Avenue and Centre City Parkway, and faces east to frame the city’s surrounding Bottle Peak. Its rounded arch design complements the award-winning Escondido City Hall designed by Moore Ruble Yudell.

“There are many communities that have something that identifies them,” says Lisa Ruder a member of the Escondido Charitable Foundation and lead on this project. “Our arch is quite a bit different because it frames our downtown area.” 

Called The Giving Arch, it is a gift to Escondido and was not paid for with any tax dollars. The arch was built thanks to an anonymous donor and efforts of the Escondido Charitable Foundation. “We wouldn’t be having this conversation about this arch at all, except for this donation,” said Ruder. 

In July 2017, this anonymous donor gave $1 million dollars to the foundation with the intent that the money would be spent on city image and beautification. “That was the only restriction the donor put on it and from there, the Escondido Charitable Foundation was responsible for making the decisions on what was done with the money,” said Ruder. 

It is called The Giving Arch because the arch was designed to keep giving. There are six niches in the pillars that are cemented to the street. They will be filled with plaques from members of the Foundation. One niche will have the names of all the Foundation members as of September 26, 2019 engraved on a plaque.The remaining niches will hold donation plaques. These plaques range from $2,500-50,000 and will be engraved with the donors’ names. All donations will go to future projects the Foundation will fund throughout Escondido for both image and beautification, and emerging needs such as disaster relief. “Once people really started understanding what this arch was all about, they wanted their names on it.” said Ruder. 

Foundation members such as Filippi’s Pizza, California Center for the Arts, Elizabeth Hospice, Rotary and other longtime community members have already purchased plaques. “We have two full niches still available and partials in the other two spaces,” said Ruder. There is an online form for anyone interested in purchasing a plaque. Anyone who donates will automatically become a member of the Foundation. 

The Escondido Charitable Foundation, formerly the Escondido Community Foundation, was established in 2007 through an arm of the San Diego Foundation. It started with 100 Escondido community members, many of whom were already donating to community organizations such as Rotary or other philanthropic organizations. Now with a membership over 200, the organization has had a $4 million-plus impact in Escondido and currently holds a $1 million endowment. Each member of the group has given at least $1000 since joining. 

The Foundation gives roughly $200,000 a year in grants, and since the members all volunteer their time, donations do not go into administrative costs; the San Diego Foundation provides one administrative person to oversee administrative duties. “That means when a person donates, all of their funds go either directly into the endowment or into the grant cycle,” said Ruder. 

A team of 35 members oversee the grant distribution and award funding yearly to Escondido nonprofits that serve the City. Each year, the Foundation selects a focus for the grant award, these focus areas are for nonprofits that: 

• Cultivate and train future generations of environmental leaders and stewards
• Engage the community in habitat conservation, restoration and ecology
• Develop food justice programs that build knowledge of nutritious, sustainable, culturally appropriate foods to ensure people have access to healthy food. Effect a positive impact on the environment by addressing and fixing the food system
• Create collaborative projects and/or activities in outdoor settings focusing on environmental science and stewardship
• Promote activities that encourage water conservation and education such as xeriscape with native plants, drought awareness, school gardens, etc.
• Provide cleanup or improvement of local creeks or natural lands
• Encourage activities such as recycling, repurposing and reusing that reduce/eliminate the negative impact of trash

Ruder said that identifying a focus starts in August and an outreach discovery that includes community leaders, and neighborhood groups. “In addition to talking with the mayor, city council, chief of police, heads of some of the nonprofits in the community, we also try to go to the neighborhood groups to see what’s important to them right now.”

Approved grants often provide more than funding for the awarded grantee. For instance Ruder mentioned a grant that was recently awarded. “We worked on an environmental project for Escondido Creek that ended up with a pocket park and mural next to Evans Tire.” She went on to say that after this clean-up, the manager of Evan’s Tire said the new look actually improved their business. 

Image and beautification is important to Escondido because it is often overlooked by other cities closer to the beaches. The Foundation has done quite a bit to help change that perspective and regenerate a sense of pride throughout the community.

“If you drive around Escondido now, you will see a couple of murals. One is on 9th, on the Child Development Center wall, which is like a 180-foot wall, and on the Escondido Arts Partnership building. They are now icons of the city,” said Ruder. 

Ruder hopes the surge in community pride will only continue to grow with the addition of the arch. “We aren’t seen as one of those coastal cities, and people need to be reminded of the great things in our community. We have a great downtown, we have residents that have been here for a long time, and our schools are on the upswing.” 

While the Foundation played a major role in bringing the arch to the community, Ruder also wanted to add that key collaborators including the City, downtown businesses and community members helped to realize the arch and organize the community event on the 12th. 

When asked how the anonymous donor feels about the arch, Ruder said, “They are pleased with it and especially pleased that it’s going to continue to add to image and beautification.”

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