Washington, D.C. — Robert A. Smith, III, President of the Carrie Estelle Doheny Foundation of Los Angeles, has been elected to the board of Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities (FADICA).
The election of Mr. Smith was part of measures taken at FADICA’s thirty-third annual meeting.
Mr. Smith will be serving his first term as a FADICA director joining sixteen other foundation leaders who plan and oversee the interaction and programs that FADICA sponsors.
Mr. Smith has served on the board of the Doheny Foundation since 1980 during a time in which the philanthropy awarded more than $150,000,000 in charitable grants.
The Carries Estelle Doheny foundation was the creation of the late Mrs. Edward Laurence Doheny, foundress of the Estelle Doheny Eye Foundation who helped to build hospital wings, chapels, and buildings for charities in the Los Angeles area.
Robert Smith is a native of Los Angeles and business leader there, is a UCLA graduate, the father of six grown children, and active in church-related volunteer service in Southern California.
Under Mr. Smith’s leadership, the Doheny Foundation has advanced community-based initiatives to help low income families. The Children’s Dental Center of Greater Los Angeles, which treats thousands of children, adolescents, and young adults, is among the foundation’s recent grantees, along with Homeboy Industries, a program assisting at-risk and former gang involved youth to become contributing members of the community.
“The addition of Rob Smith to our board of directors gives FADICA another leader who is passionate about social justice and who is a person of vision and deeply committed to the work of Catholic philanthropy,” said Dr. Francis J. Butler, FADICA’s president.
FADICA is a network established in 1976 comprised of foundations and donors who come together regularly to share information on their Catholic philanthropy and who promote effective ways to approach grant making.
Most recently the organization’s members worked together to rebuild schools, day care centers, and chapels for eight congregations of religious women in New Orleans.
