HISTORY

Founded in 1995, the official charity of the Los Angeles Dodgers was formed by then-Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley.

In 2012, a group of investors, led by Mark Walter, purchased the Los Angeles Dodgers. Walter arrived with ambitions that were bigger than baseball; he wanted the team’s charity to grow — to reach all of Los Angeles — and become an example to other sports teams worldwide.

Under this new ownership group, we have increased fundraising by 1,000% and invested more than $60 million in our programs and grants. More than 13,000 participate annually in our baseball and softball youth development program, Dodgers Dreamteam, and we’ve completed 60 new Dodgers Dreamfields citywide providing over 400,000 youth have access to a Dodgers Dreamfield in their neighborhood.

Our LA Reads program inspires thousands of young people to read more than 1 million minutes annually. Our college and career accelerator exposes first-generation students to the soft skills they need to succeed. And our new Science of Baseball curriculum for third- to fifth-graders gets kids excited about math and science.

With the new ownership, we created the “Party for LA” the annual gala held at Dodger Stadium. In its fifth year, the Blue Diamond Gala surpassed a record $3.6 million in donations while more than 2,000 guests took part in a blue carpet, pre-show dinner party and two hours of entertainment featuring a benefit concert by world-renowned musicians.

Our growth has enabled us to do more: Fund more college scholarships, more foster youth advocates, more eye screenings and glasses, and more after-school nutrition and play programs.

Named ESPN’s 2020 Sports Humanitarian Team of the Year, LADF is bigger than baseball with ambitions to be the city’s premier charity. Our focus is on Los Angeles’ most pressing problems: improving young Angelenos’ access to education, health care and sports. Under new leadership we have expanded our mission to include education, health care, homelessness, and youth development.