SOURCE OF WEALTH: Game Show Host
FUNDING AREAS: Animals
OVERVIEW: Bob Barker established the DJ&T Foundation in 1995. The foundation funds low cost spay/neuter clinics and voucher programs to help relieve animal overpopulation. Barker has also supported animal-related programs at universities and animal rights organizations, such as PETA.
BACKGROUND: Bob Barker was born in Washington State in 1923. He attended Drury College (now Drury University) in Missouri on a basketball scholarship. In the 1950s, Barker moved to California in order to pursue a career in broadcasting, and eventually was given his own radio show, The Bob Barker Show. In 1972, he joined the popular television game show The Price Is Right, where he became a daytime TV institution, serving as host for some 35 years. Barker has won close to 20 Emmy Awards for his hosting, and was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame, as well as into the NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame.
ISSUES:
ANIMALS: The DJ&J Foundation is named after Barker's late wife, Dorothy Jo, and his mother, Tillie, both of whom loved animals. Barker, as a longtime host of The Price Is Right, sometimes closed his show with an appeal to viewers to spay or neuter their pets. The DJ&T Foundation subsidizes clinics and voucher programs all over the United States and is "most committed to making grants at the grassroots level." Grantees include Animal Rescue Mission, Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary, Community Partnership for Pets, and Michigan Animal Adoption Network.
The foundation no longer accepts applications to underwrite spay and neuter programs or provide funds for spay and neuter clinics. However, the foundation states that if grant seekers have a "request for funding outside of these parameters...you may send an application." It is not exactly clear what kinds of other endeavors DJ&T is open to, but the foundation recently gave $50,000 to Primates Incorporated in Wisconsin to support a sanctuary for monkeys who were pets, or used in the entertainment industry or scientific research.
Barker has given millions to Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in his home state of Washington, and has given funds to universities, including UCLA, Georgetown University and alma mater Drury University. He also supported an animal law program at University of Virginia and given millions to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
OTHER: Barker has also given multi-million dollar support to Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund and Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund.
LOOKING FORWARD: Now in his late-90s, Barker has been laser-focused on animals with his philanthropy. This is likely to continue.
CONTACT:
DJ&T Foundation
P.O. Box 5109
West Hills, CA 91308
Phone: (323) 819-9295
E-mail: info@djtfoundation.org
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