The Pacesetter

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J. Paul Getty Trust

Housed at the Getty Center in Brentwood, the J. Paul Getty Trust was established in 1953 by oil tycoon J. Paul Getty. A perennial No. 1 on the Business Journal’s list of the top charitable trusts in L.A. County, the Getty Trust is one of the largest private operating foundations in the world. The Getty’s assets are estimated to be about $8.7 billion, up from $8 billion in 1998. (Getty’s actual 1999 financials will be released to the public June 30.)

While a majority of the trust’s annual budget is spent on running the Getty Center and expanding the museum’s art collection, the foundation also sponsors museum-based educational programs, grants, scholar-in-residence programs and internships, and makes donations to other museums and charitable organizations.

The Getty awarded an estimated $14.6 million in grants in 1999, a small percentage of the trust’s $5.6 billion endowment. Museum expenditures have, of course, fallen since completion of the new Getty Center construction, although operating expenses have moderately increased to fund new public and professional programs.

Some of the larger endowments given by the Getty in 1999 include grants to support the development of resources at the Australian National University, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Foundation Le Corbusier in France. Other grants include funding for the California Institute of the Arts and money to the Hebrew Union College for expansion of the Skirball Cultural Center.

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