Silicon Valley Community Foundation

Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Predecessor Peninsula Community Foundation and Community Foundation Silicon Valley (merged in 2006, new foundation launched 2007)[1]
Founded January 3, 2007[1]
Type Donor-advised fund
Location
Area served
 Silicon Valley (San Mateo County, California and Santa Clara County, California)
Key people
  • Emmett D. Carson, Ph.D. (CEO and President)
  • Lianne Araki (Executive Assistant to the President and Board Liaison)

[2]

Website www.siliconvalleycf.org

The Silicon Valley Community Foundation is a donor-advised community foundation that serves the Silicon Valley community. The two counties served are Santa Clara County, California and San Mateo County, California.[3]

History

Early history: 2006–2011

Silicon Valley Community Foundation was formed on July 12, 2006, through the merger of two community foundations in the Bay Area: the Peninsula Community Foundation (headquartered in San Jose, California) and Community Foundation Silicon Valley (headquartered in San Mateo, California). Silicon Valley Community Foundation launched officially on January 3, 2007.[1][4][5]

In September 2008, Silicon Valley Community Foundation announced five key grantmaking strategies: Economic Security, Education, Immigrant Integration, Regional Planning and a Community Opportunity Fund to address time-sensitive community needs including safety-net services (2008-2013).[1][6]

2012

On December 18, 2012, Mark Zuckerberg, the principal founder and CEO of Facebook, announced a donation of 18 million Facebook shares to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, which at the time of the donation were worth a total of about $500 million.[7][8][9][10]

Silicon Valley Community Foundation raised a total of $985 million in 2012. Assets under management grew to about $2.9 billion, and the foundation awarded a total of $292 million in grants in the year 2012.[11]

In December 2012 SVCF helped relaunch Caltrain's Holiday Train, a nine-year tradition was brought back after a two-year hiatus.[12] The event features a lit "show-train" that runs the first weekend in December and encourages viewers to bring toys to benefit Toys for Tots and Salvation Army.

2013

On December 19, 2013, Zuckerberg announced a donation of 18 million Facebook shares to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, to be executed by the end of the month—based on Facebook's valuation as of then, the shares totaled $990 million in value. On December 31, 2013, the donation was recognized as the largest charitable gift on public record for 2013.[13][14][15]

2014

On October 2, 2014, Nicholas and Jill Woodman, founders of GoPro, a high tech wearable camera company, announced that they would donate $500 million to Silicon Valley Community Foundation.[16]

Silicon Valley Community Foundation created and hosted Silicon Valley Gives, the Bay Area's first 24-hour giving day, on May 6, 2014. The giving event was sponsored by John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Microsoft, NBC Bay Area as well as over 100 other individuals, foundations and companies. The event was hosted on online donation platform Razoo. The event raised $8,000,833 with 14,889 unique donors and more than 21,869 donations.[17][18] SVCF also hosted more than 20 trainings for more than 650 local nonprofits to help them capacity build leading up to the event. Trainings ranged from how to better utilize Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, how to pitch your story to media outlets to how to thank donors post event.[19][20]

Paul Allen opens a fund for Tackle Ebola with Silicon Valley Community Foundation.[21]

Grantmaking

Areas for grantmaking

Starting September 2008, Silicon Valley Community Foundation announced five key grantmaking areas: Economic Security, Education, Immigrant Integration, Regional Planning and a Community Opportunity Fund to address time-sensitive community needs including safety-net services:[1][22]

  1. Economic Security: This includes working to improve people's credit scores, opposition to payday loans, support for tighter financial regulation, and tactics to stop homes from being foreclosed.[22][23]
  2. Education: This includes closing the achievement gap in mathematics and the sciences. The strategy includes both in-school support and out-of-school support.[22][24][25]
  3. Immigrant Integration: This includes making it easier for immigrants to learn English and integrate into the society as well as making them in a better position to contribute to society thereby benefiting natives.[22][26]
  4. Regional Planning: This includes plans related to both land use and mass transit options in the Silicon Valley area.[22][27]
  5. Community Opportunity Fund: The goal is to build a safety net and meet the immediate and pressing needs of people hit hard by bad economic and personal circumstances.[22][28]

Eligibility and application process

Silicon Valley Community Foundation website details the grant application process.[29] Eligible organizations must operate in the Silicon Valley area, i.e., they must serve either the San Mateo or the Santa Clara County. They must also be registered 501(c)(3) organizations and must have an explicit non-discrimination policy. Religious organizations are allowed to apply as long as the grant is for an activity that benefits the wider community without discriminating on the basis of religion.[29] All grant applications must be submitted through the online application system.[30]

Coverage

News coverage

Silicon Valley Community Foundation has been covered extensively in local newspapers and magazines in Silicon Valley[31] including Mercury News,[25] Palo Alto Online, the Half Moon Bay Review,[32] SFGate, and others.

Silicon Valley Community Foundation and Juniper Networks co-produced a white paper on Human Trafficking in the Bay Area, the report was highlighted in Silicon Valley Business Journal's article The dark side of Silicon Valley: Sex slavery, forced labor abound on October 10, 2014.

Silicon Valley Community Foundation and Emmett D. Carson were featured in Silicon Valley Business Journal's article $6 billion, no easy answers: Silicon Valley Community Foundation CEO Emmett Carson opens up on philanthropy on November 7, 2014.

Coverage in philanthropy and social innovation-related publications

Emmett Carson, the CEO of Silicon Valley Community Foundation, wrote an article titled Redefining Community Foundations in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2013 issue.[33]

An article about community foundations on the website of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation included discussion of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.[34]

In May 2012, The Chronicle of Philanthropy ranked Silicon Valley Community Foundation as 7th in its list of large donor-advised funds.[35] The foundation's position rose after receiving a large sum of funds in 2012 (about $985 million) much of it near the end of the year,[11] including Mark Zuckerberg's $500 million donation in December 2012.[7] By 2014 Silicon Valley Community Foundation was ranked as the largest community foundation in the United States, surpassing the Tulsa Community Foundation, the longtime leader, on the strength of Zuckerberg's and other large donations.[36]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "History". Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Retrieved 2013-04-20.
  2. ↑ "Staff". Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Retrieved 2013-04-20.
  3. ↑ "About Us". Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Retrieved 2013-04-20.
  4. ↑ "Peninsula Community Foundation, Community Foundation Silicon Valley Complete Merger". Foundation Center. 2006-12-14. Retrieved 2013-04-20.
  5. ↑ "SVCF MOU" (PDF). Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Retrieved 2013-04-20.
  6. ↑ "Silicon Valley Community Foundation to Award $1 Million for Food, Shelter, and Basic Needs". 2008-09-11. Retrieved 2013-04-20.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Mark Zuckerberg's Donation To Silicon Valley Community Foundation Is His Biggest Yet". The Huffington Post. 2012-12-18. Retrieved 2013-04-20.
  8. ↑ "Zuckerberg Plans Large Gift to Charity". The New York Times. December 18, 2012. Retrieved 2013-04-20.
  9. ↑ "Facebook Founder Announces $500 Million to Silicon Valley Community Foundation". Foundation Center. December 20, 2012. Retrieved 2013-04-20.
  10. ↑ Fernandez, Lisa (2012-12-19). "Zuckerberg Donates $500M to Silicon Valley Foundation". NBC Bay Area News. Retrieved 2013-04-20.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Silicon Valley Community Foundation Raised $985 Million in 2012". Foundation Center. 2013-01-17. Retrieved 2013-04-20.
  12. ↑ "Press Release - December 10, 2012". Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  13. ↑ Bailey, Brandon (December 19, 2013). "Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg makes $1 billion donation". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved December 20, 2013.
  14. ↑ "Mark Zuckerberg donates $1bn to charity". The Telegraph. December 19, 2013. Retrieved December 20, 2013.
  15. ↑ Kurt Wagner (3 January 2014). "Zuckerberg's Other Billion-Dollar Idea: 2013's Biggest Charitable Gift". Mashable. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
  16. ↑ "GoPro Founders Give $500-Million to Silicon Valley Community Foundation". The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  17. ↑ https://flipflashpages.uniflip.com/3/88537/339448/pub/html5.html
  18. ↑ "Pizarro: Silicon Valley Gives raises $7.9 million in 24 hours". Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  19. ↑ "SiliconBeat – Tech industry, others gear up for Silicon Valley Gives, area’s first ‘giving day’". Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  20. ↑ "Pizarro: Nonprofits band together for Silicon Valley Gives crowdfunding effort". Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  21. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/24/business/paul-allen-to-give-100-million-to-tackle-ebola-crisis.html?_r=1
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 22.5 "Grants". Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Retrieved 2013-04-23.
  23. ↑ "Economic Security". Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Retrieved 2013-04-23.
  24. ↑ "Education". Silicon valley Community Foundation.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Cassidy, Mike (2013-02-15). "Cassidy: Silicon Valley needs to harness its innovative spirit to level the playing field for blacks and Hispanics". Mercury News. Retrieved 2013-04-23.
  26. ↑ "Immigrant Integration". Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Retrieved 2013-04-23.
  27. ↑ "Regional Planning". Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Retrieved 2013-04-23.
  28. ↑ "Community Opportunity Fund". Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Retrieved 2013-04-23.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 "Our Strategic Grantmaking". Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Retrieved 2013-04-23.
  30. ↑ "applySVCF". Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Retrieved 2013-04-23.
  31. ↑ "News coverage". Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Retrieved 2013-04-23.
  32. ↑ Lambert, Clay (2012-06-21). "New report says coast still not ready for tsunami". Half Moon Bay Review. Retrieved 2013-04-23.
  33. ↑ Carson, Emmett. "Redefining Community Foundations" (PDF). Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2013.
  34. ↑ Potter, Maggie Jaruzel (2012-10-02). "U.S. community foundations at the crossroads of change". Retrieved 2013-04-23.
  35. ↑ "Largest Donor-Advised Funds: Silicon Valley Community Foundation". Chronicle of Philanthropy. 2012-05-27. Retrieved 2013-04-23.
  36. ↑ "Transformed Fund Reaps Windfall". The Chronicle of Philanthropy. February 9, 2014. Retrieved 2014-08-26.

External links