--- description: Find out who else is on the TIME100 Most Influential People in Philanthropy 2026 list. title: TIME100 Philanthropy: Miguel A. Santana image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt45fcd77e386ec07f/69fe38be2a20165233744bf8/t100-philanthropy-Miguel_A_Santana.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- May 14, 2026 # Miguel A. Santana Responding to a year of crisis in L.A. by [Steve Friess](/author/steve-friess/) ## Steve Friess Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Wally Skalij—AP For Miguel Santana, CEO of the $2.3 billion California Community Foundation, 2025 started out with historic wildfires devastating huge swaths of Los Angeles and didn’t get much better from there, with stepped-up immigration enforcement and federal funding cuts to antipoverty groups. Santana—who rose to top posts in city and county government before transitioning to philanthropy, and is himself the son of undocumented Mexican immigrants—responded by ramping up fundraising and grantmaking. The foundation gave away about $350 million to more than 1,900 local nonprofits. CCF raised $100 million alone from some 50,000 donors for wildfire recovery. “​This has been a time where the best of Los Angeles has really shown up,” he says. “There is a strong sense that we're in it together.” It hasn’t been easy, but it has been gratifying to Santana. “For me, being in this role, it really is about fulfilling my purpose,” he says. “It's why I'm on this earth.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collection/time100-philanthropy/2026/miguel-a-santana/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collection/time100-philanthropy/2026/miguel-a-santana/"},"headline":"Miguel A. Santana","datePublished":"2026-05-14T12:02:11.875Z","dateModified":"2026-05-14T12:02:12.031Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collection/time100-philanthropy/2026/miguel-a-santana/","keywords":["list","franchise","Accolades","Magazine","Philanthropy 2026"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt45fcd77e386ec07f/69fe38be2a20165233744bf8/t100-philanthropy-Miguel_A_Santana.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Steve Friess","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/steve-friess/"}],"creator":"Steve Friess","articleSection":"TIME100","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt45fcd77e386ec07f/69fe38be2a20165233744bf8/t100-philanthropy-Miguel_A_Santana.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/time100/","name":"TIME100"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collection/time100-philanthropy/2026/miguel-a-santana/","name":"Miguel A. Santana"}}]}] ```