A recent article in the Los Angeles Times profiled the work of the Liberty Hill Foundation, which makes grants to grassroots community groups working for social and economic change in the metropolitan Los Angeles area.

The Santa Monica-based public charity has attracted the support of such progressive-minded celebrities as Ted Danson, Susan Sarandon, and Alfre Woodard with its focus on "Change, Not Charity." "We're sort of like Robin Hood," says the group's executive director, Torie Osborn, "except we don't steal. We organize the rich to get their money."

But Osborn's organization does more than just ask for money. Among its activities, Liberty Hill offers advisory services to donors, tours of organizations that have received funds, and workshops on how to affect social trends with dollars. "Our mission," says Osborn, "has always been to try and change policy or public opinion, to try and get at the root cause of inequity."

The organization, which operates funds in the areas of lesbian and gay issues, urban development, environmental justice, social entrepreneurial efforts, and newly formed organizations, was launched in 1975 with an initial fund of $60,000. This year, it expects to disperse $2 million in grants to groups as diverse as the Bus Riders' Union, the Gay Asian Pacific Network, Santa Monicans for Responsible Tourism, and the South-Central-based Community Coalition for Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment.

"They were sort of ahead of their time when they started," said James M. Ferris, director of the Center on Philanthropy and Public Policy at USC. "What they can do is affect communities in a way that some of these more traditional foundations may have resources for but not necessarily the processes for."