OC Register

More than 900 nonprofit board members, fundraising professionals and executives gathered today to celebrate the people and organizations that serve others and improve the quality of life in Orange County.

The 28th Annual National Philanthropy Day, held Thursday at the Hyatt Regency Irvine, is Orange County’s signature awards event that recognizes people who support education, the arts, the homeless and hungry, and many other worthy causes.

Aaron Kushner, new publisher and owner of The Orange County Register, joined honorees at National Philanthropy Day on Thursday by offering up a charitable gift of his own, pledging $12.4 million worth of free advertising to local nonprofits to be chosen by the paper’s readers.

“We want to help the nonprofit community, which is the heart of Orange County,” Kushner told a crowd of about 800 at the Hyatt Regency in Garden Grove.