LA County Charitable Giving Campaing (April 1999). ULF represented by Raquel Sanchez (5th from Left).

LA County Charitable Giving Campaing (August 2011) ULF represented by Melissa Aguilar-Robles (2nd from right).

ULF traces its roots to a 1989 study by the Tomas Rivera Center that concluded that Latinos should be more broadly engaged in setting grantmaking agendas and priorites within their own communities. To help achieve this goal, ULF was established in 1990. Its purpose was to develop a program of voluntary giving that would provide support for the needs of grassroots Latino non-profit organizations, which the study found were not being effectively met by Los Angeles' tranditional philanthropic institutions. ULF's first workplace campaign began in 1991. The fund now operates workplace solicitations at a number of public and private organizations.