Tammy Tumbling, president of the Orange County Community Foundation, oversees nearly $100 million in charitable giving annually.
But her journey to this influential position began in the heart of Compton, California, in a home with little money, but rich in love and faith.
(Hear the entire conversation between Crystal Thornton and Tammy Tumbling in the Podcast below.)
Raised by a single mother with five siblings, she learned early that survival often meant prayer, hope and the help of a caring community.
"For me, rich in faith is real simple," Tammy shares. "We had to really pray and have hope and have faith in order to just survive on a day-to-day basis. We were raised on public assistance, but my mom believed in God. She always told us, when things got bad, you had to believe God would bring us through.”
Tammy's path wasn't without significant challenges. Though academically gifted, her life took an unexpected turn when she became a teen parent at 16.
By 19, after her mother passed away, she found herself responsible for her siblings.
“God said, I’m not going to make your life easy, because I have a bigger job for you. I need you to know what it means to suffer and still rise — so you can help others go even further.”
"My faith sustains me every single day," Tammy explains. "You have to have something greater than yourself during your darker times, otherwise you'll lose hope, you'll lose faith and you'll just give up on life.
So you always have to have God right there nearby... In your darkest hour, you have to know how to pray because that's what's going to get you out of the darkness."
Today, Tammy serves as President of the Orange County Community Foundation, overseeing nearly $100 million in charitable giving each year.
Her leadership is anchored in two scriptures:
- Luke 12:48 — “To whom much is given, much is required.”... I've come a long way to sit here today. And that's because much has been given to me to get me out of the circumstance that I was in. So I owe.
- 1 Peter 4:10 — “Use your God-given gifts to serve others.” ... "If I've been given these God-given talents, my talents must be used to serve others."
She leads with what she calls servant leadership: “My folks don’t work for me, I work for them.”
Tammy is also the founder of the African-American Alliance Fund, launched with $25,000 of her own money in the wake of George Floyd’s death.
Today, it has grown to $1.5 million, providing $1 million in grants to Black-led, Black-serving nonprofits in California, across the U.S. and even in Cape Town, South Africa.
Her message to young women facing challenges is equally powerful: "When young women are going through their darkest times, it's so easy to be defined by social media...
You're God's child, young lady and you remember that. And I promise you, there is another side to the dark side. There's light."
Tammy describes her God story in one word: "Blessed." She elaborates, "God has blessed me with the ability to persevere and the ability to overcome circumstances that ordinarily most people would cave under.
But I don't take credit for having that strength. That strength came from God."
“No one can define you but God. He doesn’t create junk. Remember who you are — you’re God’s child. There is light on the other side.”
Tammy Tumbling's journey from Compton to President reminds us that with faith and perseverance, our circumstances don't define our destination.
Learn more about Tammy and the Orange County Community Foundation at OCCF.org.