It was as if Janie DeCelles’ beloved late-Aunt Hattie, an environmentalist dedicated to safeguarding San Diego County’s unique biodiversity, was speaking to her through birdsong. Janie had just shared a story about how her aunt could identify birds by their call without even seeing them. Moments later, while strolling beside the Los Penasquitos Lagoon on a recent weekday morning, a willet called out from the rushes. To Janie, who oversees the Hattie Ettinger Conservation Fund at San Diego Foundation (SDF), the moment was hardly coincidental.
“She really loved this region,” Janie said of her aunt, an inveterate traveler and former assistant to three successive directors for the St. Louis Zoo who was heavily involved in public outreach during her 36 year career there. “And she wanted to help preserve San Diego for future generations.”
She’s doing so through the Hattie Ettinger Conservation Fund, which has awarded more than $1 million in grants to nonprofits since it was established with the help of SDF two years after her aunt’s passing in 1998. Hattie and Janie laid plans to create the fund shortly before Hattie died; Janie is the fund’s advisor.
The Impact
Hattie Ettinger Conservation Fund gifts are not in the six or seven figures, but they are making a difference. Just ask James Haddan, Senior Director of Development and External Communications at the Museum of Us in Balboa Park.
“Janie’s funding is critical in several ways, including through her ability to fill in gaps and be very nimble,” Haddan said. “Even modest gifts can sometimes take months to secure, but if there is a need, she can fill that need quickly.”
Among the projects the Hattie Ettinger Fund covered was the publication of a new Museum of Us graphic and style book the organization utilizes to maintain a consistency in branding. The fund also paid for a new Museum of Us sign on the exterior of the building that was needed when the venerable landmark changed its name from the Museum of Man in 2020 after a several-year process.
“Every time I walk into this building and I see that sign, I think of Janie,” James said.
Initial recipients of Hattie Ettinger Conservation Fund investments included the San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy, now called The Nature Collective, to cover costs for the design, development and production of informational brochures; and the Chula Vista Nature Center, now called the Living Coast Discovery Center, for various signage and exhibits. Among scores of others are the San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy and the Anza Borrego Foundation.
“I’ve met some amazing people through this experience,” said Janie.
One such San Diegan is Rob Hutsel, President, CEO, and co-founder of the San Diego River Park Foundation.
“Janie is very genuine, up front, and a true believer in community and giving back to San Diego,” he said. “And she’s very impactful with her gifts.”
The San Diego River Park Foundation leader recalled when Janie got wind a few years back about 47 seventh graders at High Tech Middle Media Arts school in San Diego writing and illustrating a book called Nico the Gnat Catcher and the Upside Down River, a project to bring awareness to and celebrate the San Diego River. A gift from the Hattie Ettinger fund paid for the production and printing costs for thousands of books, which were distributed to all local chapters of the San Diego library and public schools in the city.
“It was a gift that had a wonderful, forward-looking impact,” Hutsel said. “That’s the kind of person Janie is. She sees a need, she sees an opportunity, and then she acts without a lot of fanfare. She’s an awesome, wonderful person who brings joy to so many people and so many organizations.”
Donor-Advised Funds
Not all of Janie’s contributions have come through the Hattie Ettinger Conservation Fund. She also has a smaller, but equally active, Janie DeCelles Donor-Advised Fund at SDF, which has contributed to nonprofits ranging from The Ocean Agency, a Rhode Island-based nonprofit, to her alma mater, the Harvard Business School, for her 40th graduation reunion.
With SDF celebrating its 50th anniversary, she’s in no mood to slow down just yet.
“The Foundation is an institution that’s obviously been here for a long time and will be here a long time into the future,” said Janie, a retiree who enjoyed successful careers from banking and commercial real estate to insurance and international wine exporting. “It’s rock solid, has a great staff, great leadership, great resources, and they do a lot of good for the community.”
“If you have a passion for something you really care about, whether it’s finding solutions to cancer because you’ve got a family member that’s had cancer, or if you care about mental health or if you care about early childhood education, whatever your passion is, I can almost guarantee there’s going to be a nonprofit that’s working in that area. San Diego Foundation will help you find and identify the nonprofits that match your passion. You can set up a donor-advised fund, get an immediate tax benefit from that donation, and you can make grants to the charities of your choice.”
