Friday, January 22, 2010

Charitable Giving

This Mediterranean-style office building is the home of the Virginia G Piper Charitable Trust. Mrs. Piper was the widow of the founder of Motorola, Paul Galvin who died in 1959. She later married Motorola executive, Ken Piper. Throughout her life she involved herself in philanthropic works in the areas of arts, medical research, childhood development, and family services. She founded the trust in 1995 and appointed four lifetime trustees to oversee the work of the foundation. Virginia passed away in 1999, but the trust continues to support many non-profit organizations in Arizona.

5 comments:

Kate said...

Oh, now I see the lions and their function...not one but several.

Magpie said...

Wonderful photo. Even in a town as "young" as Phoenix, we have some lovely achitecture.

Dave-CostaRicaDailyPhoto.com said...

The Piper Trust is very important because Phoenix is such a new city that it does not have the multi-generational tradition of family trusts that endow the arts like older cities in the East and Midwest. The Piper Trust is one of the few sizable local foundations in Phoenix.

One year in the early 1990's, Mrs. Piper donated $1 million to the Phoenix Symphony on an incentive basis if the community stepped forward and increased its giving by $1 million. She endowed the Concertmaster's chair of the Symphony.

This is a legacy from the presence of Motorola, which had been the largest employer in metro Phoenix with nearly 20,000 employees at one point. Today . . . . . Motorola no longer has any manufacturing plants in the area. Gone.

Where will the next generation of philanthropists come from?

glenda said...

Neat fountain. And more than one lion.

Judy said...

Beautiful picture and great info.