Change of Heart

After Michael Milken and 10 other family members battled cancer, the former junk bond king gave $80 million to a research institute he set up and dedicated to finding cures.

For Haim Saban of "Mighty Morphin Power Ranger" fame and his wife Cheryl, the issue was children. After they had two kids using a surrogate and after Cheryl became a child psychologist, the Sabans donated $40 million to Childrens Hospital to fund pediatric medical research.

And then there's the Davis family. Daughter Dana was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes, so Barbara Davis founded the Children's Diabetes Foundation and launched the Carousel of Hope galas. Then daughter Nancy was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, so she set up a foundation for the disease.

These are the faces of philanthropy in today's Los Angeles.

It's a far cry from the days 40 years ago when a handful of downtown corporations--like Arco and Pacific Mutual and Security Pacific--and families like the Chandlers used philanthropy in an attempt to inject high culture into Los Angeles. They built the Music Center, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and other cultural institutions as a way to show Los Angeles was not content to look second-rate compared to more established cities in the East.

Today's philanthropists are individuals primarily driven by their own experiences with disease or hardship and passionate devotion to specific causes.

"When it comes to philanthropy in Los Angeles, individuals are now playing the role that corporations used to play. But while corporate giving was more traditional civic support, the individual giving is driven by the passion of the individuals," said John Emerson, president of personal investment management of Capital Group Cos. and the chairman of the board of the Los Angeles Music Center.

Like the city itself, today's philanthropists are more diverse-and scattered around the region than the days when the Committee of 25--a group of corporate managers and other members of the civic elite--set the area's philanthropic and civic agenda. They are also more globally focused than their predecessors, just as likely to give to research in the Middle East as they are in their own back yard.

And when they do make donations locally, L.A.'s philanthropists often give quietly to endeavors in their own suburban communities. For example, philanthropic contributions have helped fuel the explosive growth of private schools...