of the foundation discretion in determining how to prioritize issues and nonprofit
organizations to receive grants. In 2013, our discretionary or unrestricted grantmaking
totaled $8.4 million. These monies are only used to support causes and nonprofit
organizations in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, as well as statewide advocacy
that aims to improve the region and the state. Consistent with best practices and
the merger agreements that created SVCF, these grants are focused around a set
of five key strategies that we believe can have a measurable impact on improving
our community.
by individual donors, other foundations, corporations and government. This community
leadership work ranges from advocating for a new method of assessing young children's
readiness for school to launching the Community Leadership Project 2.0, a three-year
effort to build capacity for 10 nonprofit organizations that primarily serve communities
of color and low-income residents.
changing community conditions and modify their grantmaking priorities accordingly. In 2013,
SVCF undertook such a comprehensive review of our work. We found that across all of our
focus areas, our nonprofit and government partners made significant positive impacts to
make our region a better place. A series of impact briefs describing those successes can
be found at siliconvalleycf.org/publications. After considerable research and discussion,
it was decided that over the course of a year we would phase out support for some of our
sub-strategies: foreclosure prevention counseling, bridging the cultural gap, and safety-net
services (part of the community opportunity fund strategy).
that are collaborating to implement the new Common Core State Standards and for
organizations working on issues surrounding comprehensive immigration reform. Both
are areas that SVCF believes are of crucial importance. Our next comprehensive review
of our grantmaking strategies will likely take place in 2016, to take effect in 2017.