BIGHORN Golf Club can rightly claim it is the most philanthropic community in the Coachella Valley. Members and BIGHORN Golf Club Charities have gifted more than $400 million to local nonprofit organizations, cancer-related research, services and scholarships.
The influence these gifts wield on individuals and organizations in our community is as remarkable as the magnitude of the contributions.
“Variety Children’s Charity of the Desert has used the funding from BIGHORN to provide adaptive mobility equipment to children with special needs and disabilities,” says Heidi M. Maldoon, Executive Director and five-time BIGHORN Cares grant recipient. “BIGHORN’s generosity has provided over 70 children with access to adaptive bicycles and strollers, wheelchairs and more. The gift of mobility has helped children with access and inclusion, whether riding bicycles with siblings or attending concerts in the park, as well as with school and academic opportunities.”
BIGHORN Golf Club Charities allows Members to support the causes that they care about most, helping solve immediate and long-term needs of the community they love. This could manifest through BIGHORN Behind A Miracle (BAM), which swiftly established itself beyond the Club as a premier funding source for local cancer-related initiatives; BIGHORN Cares, which supports local nonprofits in specific projects; and BIGHORN Scholarships.
BIGHORN Golf Club Charities started in 2006 with the Scholarship Program. Since that time, nearly one thousand grants have been gifted to worthy student recipients including some of BIGHORN’s employees and their family members. These grants support the pursuit of education at community colleges, as well as four-year and graduate degrees at universities around the country.
“We felt that education was very important and allowed people to advance themselves either while working for BIGHORN or in the career of their choice,” says Ed Burger, Chairman of BIGHORN Scholarships. “Our goal was to provide English as a Second Language classes, as well as scholarships for college and vocational schools.”
It has proven successful, as BIGHORN Scholarship recipients have attended top schools, including Harvard; Stanford; University of California, Los Angeles; University of Southern California; University of California, San Diego; University of San Diego; Texas Christian University and the local College of the Desert.
Scholarship recipient Fabian Perez Casillas, 22, the son of longtime BIGHORN Banquets Manager Arturo Perez, is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in business accounting at San Francisco State University. “I’m intending to get my CPA license,” he says, noting that he’ll graduate in May 2025. “I want to go into auditing — internal or external auditing.”
Fabian Perez (far right) with his family, including his father and BIGHORN Banquets Manager Arturo Perez.
“It’s been incredible help financially, and in general,” shares Fabian, who has received scholarship awards for three years. “I’ve been using the scholarship money for tuition, textbooks and other expenses. It allows me to do what I need to do in class and not worry about other stressors. It not only helps me, but also helps my family, so I want to do the best that I can. Not everyone has this type of help.”
Fabian’s older brother and younger sister also received scholarships.
“We have scholarship students graduating every year,” Burger says. “Their success in furthering their education is our reward, and the reason we continue the program.”
A year after BIGHORN Scholarships launched, late Club Member Selby Dunham founded BIGHORN BAM to focus giving in relation to breast cancer. Over the last six years, BAM extended the program, which includes the popular Paint El Paseo Pink, to support men, women and children with all types of cancer.
“We are delighted to help families offset the cost of medical bills by providing transportation, paying utility bills and supplying gas and grocery cards through The Hanson House Foundation,” BIGHORN Director of Charities Kelly Levy enthuses. “It’s exciting, now we have five BAM vehicles — including one donated by Palm Springs Motors owners and BIGHORN Members Paul and Pam Thiel and their family. These BAM vans help people get all the way from Blythe to the Eisenhower Health campus for their treatment.” The vehicles have provided 48,373 rides for cancer patients from 2009 to 2025.
BIGHORN BAM hosts Paint El Paseo Pink.
The Sivia family, BIGHORN Members, volunteer their time to make a difference.
“Our goal is to save 100,000 more lives and make a million new miracles happen,” explains Julie Simon, a BIGHORN Member since 2015, who carries on Dunham’s legacy as the chair of BIGHORN BAM.
In its first 17 years, BIGHORN BAM raised more than $14 million for the diagnosis, treatment and transportation of people impacted by cancer throughout the Coachella Valley.
In the 2024-2025 season, BAM raised more than $1 million and made significant donations to four local charities: Desert Regional Cancer Center ($90,000), Eisenhower Health ($400,000), Make-A-Wish Foundation ($61,200), and Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital ($56,000).
Members who want to focus their giving on the most immediate needs of the Coachella Valley appreciate the ability to give to BIGHORN Cares. Launched in 2014, BIGHORN Cares has gifted more than $6.2 million through 652 grants to fund projects that significantly impact the quality of life for the people they serve.
“This is a real service to many of our Members who spend time in multiple communities and want to give back here,” says Joe Kirby, Founder and Chairman of BIGHORN Cares. “The due diligence is done, and they can feel good about their donations.”
BIGHORN Cares identifies the greatest needs in the local community and awards grants to nonprofit organizations.
Nonprofit organizations that have received BIGHORN Cares grants include Boys & Girls Club, Desert Arc, the USO at Palm Springs, Galilee Center, Read with Me, Variety Children’s Charity of the Desert, SoCal Adaptive Sports, and Tools for Tomorrow, to name a few.
Levy thoroughly screens hundreds of applicants, examines the projects and, after funding, follows up with the charities to assess the outcomes of the initiatives.
“Kelly [Levy] has joined us on multiple occasions to meet the children we serve, be part of the presentation of equipment to children, distribute essential supplies to families in need and pack resource bags for families,” Maldoon offers. “She is deeply invested in the work BIGHORN supports and takes great care to be a visible and active ambassador for BIGHORN Cares.”
“The best part of my job is visiting and experiencing the joy of the recipients,” Levy expresses. “Volunteering and knowing that we’re making a difference is so gratifying, but there is nothing like seeing faces light up when they are gifted their request.”
BIGHORN Cares supports a wide range of needs, including afterschool services, food relief, disability assistance, shelter relief, foster care, health screenings and military programs. Kirby emphasizes that 100 percent of donor dollars goes to the charities.
“It’s a unique program,” he says. “There’s nothing like it at any other desert club.”
This story was originally published in the 2025 edition of BIGHORN magazine.
