The power of endowment is made clear with the example of the Cornelia L. Eaton Endowment for Assistance to the Elderly. Cornelia Eaton was one of PCF’s earliest Endowment Builders. She lived in a modest house in Pasadena in the path of what is now the 210 freeway. At her death in 1995, she left her entire estate to the Pasadena Community Foundation, a bequest valued at $816,225. She specified that the funds would be used to support charitable organizations that serve seniors in the City of Pasadena.
PCF created a permanently endowed fund to ensure that her intentions were honored in perpetuity and named it the Cornelia L. Eaton Endowment for Assistance to the Elderly. Her fund was instrumental in allowing PCF to create our Senior Grants Program. In 2025, her fund is valued at $2.2 million and has awarded $1.2 million in grants over nearly 30 years.
