The Girl Project’s “Bravest Girls in the World” featured girls from various ages and locations. understand our seriousness or who treated us like we were another widgetmaker. I think Silicon Valley Community Foundation understood that right away.” In the abstract, philanthropy seems like a simple concept: Find people in need and deliver the money, supplies or services that will alleviate their suffering. In reality, philanthropic initiatives are complicated organisms that demand fluency in finances, public policy, project management and much more. The goodwill behind an endeavor can begin to feel like the easy part. Once you start investigating, Roth says, it can be easy to throw the project on the “too hard” pile. The key, then, is knowing what you do well and finding others with complementary skill sets. “We are unbelievably good at telling the stories that inspire someone to give, but we haven’t spent a lot of time with the tax law around philanthropic giving,” Roth notes. “They don’t cover that in journalism school. That puts people like us, who are very wellintentioned, into a very tender place.” For Maeve Miccio, vice president of corporate responsibility at SVCF, each client comes with such unique needs and goals. The needs of a newcomer in the world of philanthropy are just one example. “The diversity of this work enables SVCF to support donors ranging from long-standing philanthropists to newcomers such as Glamour,” Miccio notes. “Each company’s philanthropic programs are tailored to their specific vision for their giving as well as their corporate culture.” For The Girl Project, SVCF facilitates donations and manages the grants that are endowed to key nonprofit partners. In turn, those partners — Girls Inc., CARE, Plan International USA and Communities in Schools — focus on community engagement on poverty, school attendance, economic literacy, abuse prevention and a host of other issues. SVCF also enhances the donor’s experience through immediate acknowledgment of the gift, followed by communication from the charitable partners on how they’re supporting girls in the U.S. and around the world. Ultimately, the goal is to allow Glamour to free itself of the fiduciary labyrinth and do what it does best: get in front of key influencers and inspire them with stories. “The fact that Silicon Valley had turned these riddles into an art form is the thing that allowed Glamour to make The Girl Project possible,” says Roth. “They thought about all the hard stuff and all the things a new philanthropist can walk into on accident.” s i l i c on v alle ycf . or g All the Right SkillS “We are unbelievably good at telling the stories that inspire someone to give, but we haven’t spent a lot of time with the tax law around philanthropic giving.” — genevieve Roth, glAMouR SVCF developed The Girl Project’s donation page. While SVCF’s role in The Girl Project expanded into an entry guide of sorts, a partnership with The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation called for other skills. A global leader in philanthropy with lifetime giving of more than $2 billion, Paul G. Allen has become closely associated with the fight against Ebola. Allen has long recognized the global threat of Ebola. In response to the recent crisis, he began to mobilize his resources in July 2014. By the time the media began to beat the Ebola drum in September, his foundation had already made grants to relief funds and laid the foundation for the Tackle Ebola campaign. A month later, he committed $100 million to the cause, including funds devoted to critical Medevac programs. Soon, the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks and the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers, owned by Allen, were sporting the new Tackle Ebola ribbon to raise awareness. Timing is crucial in any global health emergency, A SPot on the teAM 8 n sp r i ng 20 1 5 n sarah Wilson