Local fundraiser Deidre Lind has been named chief executive of the Pfaffinger Foundation, one of the oldest private foundations in Los Angeles, and one of the few to make small grants to individuals, the foundation announced July 23. Lind succeeds Stephen Meier, who is retiring after 21 years.
The Pfaffinger Foundation was established in 1936 by German immigrant Frank Pfaffinger, business manager and treasurer for the Los Angeles Times and its parent Times Mirror Co., to assist employees and retirees of the paper and affiliated companies; the foundation has since branched out to support other social service agencies helping low or no-income Angelenos become more self-sufficient. The foundation has made more than $123 million in grants to individuals and community organizations over its 82-year history
Lind comes to Pfaffinger after four years at the Mayor’s Fund, which she founded as a non-profit, non-partisan organization to help Angelenos through public-private partnerships. Since 2014 she has helped develop 36 programs and raised more than $34 million.
From 2004 through 2013, Lind worked for Mattel Inc., including stints as director of corporate affairs and executive director of the Mattel Children’s Foundation. She is a member of the boards of directors of Southern California Grantmakers and the Social Impact Fund.
“I am thrilled to join the Pfaffinger Foundation, with its long history of helping newspaper people and community organizations,” Ms. Lind said. “What attracted me to this position is the direct impact that Pfaffinger makes with every individual assistance grant and every community grant it makes.”
Lind will initially work in conjunction with Meier, who will continue to chair Pfaffinger’s board of directors for a limited period.
Meier served as an executive with Times Mirror for 23 years before the company was bought out by Tribune in 2000. He oversaw the foundation’s response to the multiple waves of layoffs at the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers since.
“It has been a great privilege to serve our clients in the newspaper industry, a truly outstanding group of professionals who have faced very difficult times,” Meier said. “It has been an equal pleasure to work with a committed board and staff over the decades, as well as with our organizational grantees and community partners. These relationships are what have made Pfaffinger so rewarding, and for them I will always be grateful.”
Economy, education, energy and transportation reporter Howard Fine can be reached at [email protected] . Follow him on Twitter @howardafine.
