Countywide : Simpson Foundation Gives Funds to Shelters

More than a year after its founding, the Nicole Brown Simpson Charitable Foundationmade a series of small contributions Tuesday to 77 women’s shelters in 32 states.

The nonprofit organization donated $153,500--most of it in $2,000 grants--to women’s shelters, including three emergency homes in Orange County.

Dedicated to raising awareness about spousal abuse, the organization was founded in 1994 after Nicole Brown Simpson was slain outside her Brentwood home.

“From a tremendous tragedy in our family, we found out about domestic violence,” said foundation chairwoman Denise Brown, Nicole Brown Simpson’s sister.

“It is in the memory of Nicole that this foundation was formed, but it is your sister, mother and daughter for whom we dedicate our efforts, now and in the future.”

The Dana Point-based group also reported spending $125,239 for operating expenses.

The expenditures included the $22,000 salary of a full-time employee; $14,600 for office and computer supplies; $12,000 for telephone and fax use; and $9,800 for rent.

Mail, legal and insurance fees made up most of the rest of the foundation’s operating costs.

The donations follow a year of struggle for the foundation. The nonprofit group came under criticism from some women’s groups for accepting $10,000 in donations from Penthouse magazine Publisher Bob Guccione and $35,000 from television personality Geraldo Rivera and his associated companies.

The foundation’s first president stepped down last year after it was learned he was a convicted felon and accused spousal batterer and was once named in a restraining order for posing a danger to his estranged wife and two children.

But Tuesday, Brown proudly announced the foundation’s first grants, expected to be awarded annually, at a morning news conference, saying the foundation reported receiving $296,676 in contributions in 1995.

The group broke down its 1995 contributions as $153,500 to 77 women’s shelters and an earlier donation of $10,000 for a children’s playground built in Nicole Brown Simpson’s memory.

The Orange County shelters receiving $2,000 donations Tuesday were Interval House Crisis Shelters in Seal Beach, Laura’s House in San Clemente and the Women’s Transitional Living Center in Orange.