Donahue: The Veterans' Initiative came to Ranney and me and talked to us about their program. They had embarked on a study with USC's graduate school on the state of veterans' affairs in Orange County and found that there were 130,000 veterans living in Orange County, and our services to them are substandard. This is one of the wealthiest places in the world, and we are not taking care of the people who are protecting our freedoms—this is not a very good indictment. Orange County Community Foundation became our non-profit. It's a donor-advised fund, and we're going to form a selection committee to decide where the money goes.

The monies and our mission statement are committed for three years to the veterans of Orange County. We will include someone from OC-CF and three or four representatives from our founding sponsors. We've also recruited three former military personnel of various ranks to help in this effort of distributing the funds. We will be very selective as to where it goes; we will make sure we have charitable operations in Orange County that can show us measurable results and clear financial accounting so we understand where all the money is. We will have a very strong board that will get the maximum efficiency out of the dollars.

This is a world of good people, but we don't want the money to go to admin. The private sector has a little better idea of how to do this; we know how people are wasting money vs. efficiently using dollars. Our company is going to underwrite the luncheon—it will all be paid for by Donahue Schriber and its executives so that all the monies raised will go directly to the charities. We are aligning with the best real estate companies in the county, our founding sponsors, who stepped up and are interested in this.

GlobeSt.com: What will attendees take away from the luncheon event?

Donahue: Retired Admiral Mike Mullen is the former top soldier in the world. We told him about this effort and he wanted to come and speak. I'm sure he'll be talking about the subject of veterans in addition to world politics, the election and world affairs. He's a fascinating guy. We think we will raise a couple of million dollars after three years, and we will spend it right. I like where we sit today—it's a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. It's easy when you're trying to give something back.

GlobeSt.com: What do you feel are veterans' greatest needs that could be helped by the real estate industry?

Donahue: We're focusing on three pillars. First off is their health, both physical and mental. You can't do anything unless you're healthy. The next pillar is education, and employment is the third. We think it's the logical progression—if you don't have one or the other, you can't get to the final one. So the funds we raise will go toward making sure resources are available to them to reach each of these pillars.

GlobeSt.com: What else can people do to help this cause or get involved with the luncheon event?

Donahue: Join us at the luncheon and be a table sponsor or s sponsor of an event. Come out and listen to the program. We don't need any volunteers—our company will put on the luncheon; it's the same idea as the KidWorks luncheon we have done in the past—and that's why everyone is interested in this. They don't have to do as much work. We're selling tickets, and we'd like to have people join us. If it's a subject you're passionate about, come and listen to our story. If you're part of the real estate industry, you will be joining a lot of the top companies in our industry in this call. This is a call to action.

IRVINE, CA—The Orange County Community Foundation and a coalition of real estate companies seek to benefit local veterans in the areas of health, education and employment, Donahue Schriber's chairman and CEO Pat Donahue tells GlobeSt.com. The groups will host an Orange County Real Estate Luncheon on April 21 at the Westin South Coast Plaza here to benefit the Orange County Veterans Initiative and will feature keynote speaker Admiral Mike Mullen, Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. We spoke exclusively with Donahue, who spearheaded the charitable effort, about how it was launched and what attendees can expect from the event. For more information on the cause and the event, click www.oc-cf.org/veterans.

GlobeSt.com: How did the idea for the upcoming Orange County Real Estate Luncheon come about?

Donahue: The luncheon is actually a reinvigoration of an old idea. In the late '90s through the mid-2000s, the Orange County commercial real estate industry used to have an industry luncheon in alignment with the United Way. Ranney Draper, the owner of Diversified Shopping Centers, put it together to give back to the community, and he did a fabulous job—it was a great networking vehicle. When the recession hit and issues happened, Randy sold his company to our company, and now we are reinstituting that idea. The industry has been really good to a lot of businesspeople, and Allen Staff of Bank of America said to me, “Pat, we should do this.” I said, “Can we bank on you being a sponsor? If so, I'll take this on.” So, we came up with this idea that people who have been successful in this sector would give back to Orange County and not wait for the government to do something—let the private sector get involved.

GlobeSt.com: Why did you choose this particular cause of Orange County Veterans Initiative?

Donahue: The Veterans' Initiative came to Ranney and me and talked to us about their program. They had embarked on a study with USC's graduate school on the state of veterans' affairs in Orange County and found that there were 130,000 veterans living in Orange County, and our services to them are substandard. This is one of the wealthiest places in the world, and we are not taking care of the people who are protecting our freedoms—this is not a very good indictment. Orange County Community Foundation became our non-profit. It's a donor-advised fund, and we're going to form a selection committee to decide where the money goes.

The monies and our mission statement are committed for three years to the veterans of Orange County. We will include someone from OC-CF and three or four representatives from our founding sponsors. We've also recruited three former military personnel of various ranks to help in this effort of distributing the funds. We will be very selective as to where it goes; we will make sure we have charitable operations in Orange County that can show us measurable results and clear financial accounting so we understand where all the money is. We will have a very strong board that will get the maximum efficiency out of the dollars.

This is a world of good people, but we don't want the money to go to admin. The private sector has a little better idea of how to do this; we know how people are wasting money vs. efficiently using dollars. Our company is going to underwrite the luncheon—it will all be paid for by Donahue Schriber and its executives so that all the monies raised will go directly to the charities. We are aligning with the best real estate companies in the county, our founding sponsors, who stepped up and are interested in this.

GlobeSt.com: What will attendees take away from the luncheon event?

Donahue: Retired Admiral Mike Mullen is the former top soldier in the world. We told him about this effort and he wanted to come and speak. I'm sure he'll be talking about the subject of veterans in addition to world politics, the election and world affairs. He's a fascinating guy. We think we will raise a couple of million dollars after three years, and we will spend it right. I like where we sit today—it's a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. It's easy when you're trying to give something back.

GlobeSt.com: What do you feel are veterans' greatest needs that could be helped by the real estate industry?

Donahue: We're focusing on three pillars. First off is their health, both physical and mental. You can't do anything unless you're healthy. The next pillar is education, and employment is the third. We think it's the logical progression—if you don't have one or the other, you can't get to the final one. So the funds we raise will go toward making sure resources are available to them to reach each of these pillars.

GlobeSt.com: What else can people do to help this cause or get involved with the luncheon event?

Donahue: Join us at the luncheon and be a table sponsor or s sponsor of an event. Come out and listen to the program. We don't need any volunteers—our company will put on the luncheon; it's the same idea as the KidWorks luncheon we have done in the past—and that's why everyone is interested in this. They don't have to do as much work. We're selling tickets, and we'd like to have people join us. If it's a subject you're passionate about, come and listen to our story. If you're part of the real estate industry, you will be joining a lot of the top companies in our industry in this call. This is a call to action.