Silicon Valley Community Foundation awards $823 million to nonprofit organizations in 2015

News provided by

Silicon Valley Community Foundation

Feb 11, 2016, 09:05 ET


Mountain View, California (PRWEB) February 11, 2016 -- In partnership with its individual and corporate donors, Silicon Valley Community Foundation awarded a total of $823 million to charities in 2015, benefiting thousands of people and causes in the Bay Area, across the United States and around the world. SVCF made a total of 122,000 grants in 2015, including those awarded by individuals, families and companies through advised funds, and grants awarded through corporate matching gift programs.

SVCF received $1.2 billion in new gifts from individual and corporate donors in 2015, bringing its charitable assets under management to approximately $7.3 billion. These results demonstrate the tremendous generosity of Silicon Valley philanthropists and their desire to make a positive difference in their local communities and around the world.

Of SVCF’s overall $823 million grantmaking total, $358 million was awarded to nonprofits in the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties, making SVCF the largest single grantmaker to Silicon Valley regional charities. SVCF also continued its strong tradition of international grantmaking, awarding a total of $21 million to charities in 63 countries outside the U.S.

SVCF’s corporate donors continued to make a significant impact on the issues they care about most. Corporate advised funds accounted for $52.1 million in grants.

“Through the generosity and vision of our donors, SVCF supported literally thousands of nonprofit organizations in the Bay Area, around the United States and internationally last year,” said Emmett D. Carson, Ph.D., CEO. “We are proud to work with our individual, family and corporate donors to help them make a difference to the causes they care about most, and are hopeful that the year ahead will bring more chances for us to help expand the world of philanthropy. From education to immigration to housing and other issues, there is always more to be done.”

Among SVCF’s accomplishments in 2015:

  • In a first for the organization, SVCF sponsored a bill in the California Legislature, the California Mathematics Placement Act (SB 359). SVCF leadership was proud when Governor Jerry Brown signed it into law in October, correcting the unfair practice of “math misplacement” by ensuring that school districts will develop objective policies that treat all students equally. The new law will help increase the number of deserving Latino and black students prepared for college and STEM careers.
  • Hosted Silicon Valley Gives, a regional day of giving to community causes, for the second year, raising nearly $8 million for local nonprofit organizations in a single day.
  • In partnership with the County of San Mateo and the San Mateo County Office of Education, launched The Big Lift in four San Mateo County school districts to improve low-income young children’s reading skills and prepare them for academic success.
  • Spearheaded the first-ever alliance of community foundations to advocate for a national public policy issue. Fifty-seven community foundations signed a letter urging the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to adopt rules to curb payday lending practices that routinely draw consumers into long-lasting debt.
  • Visited numerous villages and sites in India on behalf of corporate partners seeking to deepen the positive impacts of their social responsibility programs there.

In 2016, SVCF will host its first Innovation Conference, scheduled for October 9-11, 2016, in San Francisco. The conference, which will address the ways that technology will change the philanthropic sector, will serve as the first in a series of events by the SVCF Learning Institute, a nonprofit education and technical assistance arm of SVCF launched in 2015.

About Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Silicon Valley Community Foundation advances innovative philanthropic solutions to challenging problems. As the largest community foundation in the world, we engage donors and corporations from Silicon Valley, across the country and around the globe to make our region and world better for all. Our passion for helping people and organizations achieve their philanthropic dreams has created a global philanthropic enterprise committed to the belief that possibilities start here. Learn more at siliconvalleycf.org.

Sue McAllister, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, http://www.siliconvalleycf.org, +1 650-450-5513, [email protected]