You tell a compelling, true story. Whether it’s inviting employees to get involved or securing executive approval for new endeavors, you better have a good story born of sound logic. — CoLLEEn CassiTy, oraCLE with a user, ideate solutions to user needs, rapidly prototype, test, refine, repeat — just like at Oracle. It’s fun and hard. We teach students to embrace struggles and failures as valuable learning experiences on the road to success. They develop creative confidence, as well as persistence, resiliency and grit, and they have a great time. the grid A Giving Receiver “Where’s rod streater?” that’s the question at the heart of the rod streater Foundation’s signature program. the answer: you’ll find the oakland raiders wide receiver teaching children about healthy lifestyles, visiting hospitals, raising funds for breast cancer, partnering with tech leaders to interest youth in careers, and much more. streater’s relentless off-thefield charitable work earned the svCF fund advisor one of five finalist nominations for the Byron “Whizzer” White nFl Man of the year award. rod streater at a charitable event at the Monterey Bay Aquarium 3 How do you engage employees? You tell a compelling, true story. Whether it’s inviting employees to get involved or securing executive approval for new endeavors, you better have a good story born of sound logic. OEF workshops are 28 hours long; we’re candid with potential volunteers that it’s a big commitment and a privilege, an absolute joy, to deeply, positively impact students and affect the future they’ll create. The perspective I offer is “Here’s the value proposition to you.” And “Here’s the value proposition to the world.” Train Rolls On When the Caltrain holiday train, presented by svCF, rolled through the region dec. 6–7, 2014, it gathered a tremendous amount of holiday spirit for the region’s children. Upward of 25,000 people participated and donated more than 3,000 toys to the salvation army and the U.s. Marine Corps reserve’s toys for tots program. this brings the total number of toys collected since 2001 to more than 50,000, thanks to the generosity of donors and volunteers. 4 You lead four large programs. How do you manage? The only way to manage this scope and scale of activity is to hire amazing people who are better than I am at the things I don’t do best. I recruit excellent people, help them feel deeply a part of this tribe, set them up to succeed, and let them fly. High Priorities organizations fighting predatory lending, teaching english and closing the achievement gap in math received $2.3 million in grants from svCF, announced at the end of 2014. of the grants, $767,000 supports seven nonprofits fighting the expansion of payday lending; $726,532 funds 13 organizations that develop and maintain high-quality programs for immigrants learning english; and $829,700 supports 17 groups specializing in math education, with a focus on disadvantaged students. 5 Global education is one of many causes critical to Colleen Cassity and Oracle. In 22 years of philanthropic work, what’s been your key to success? SVCF Thanks Donors for Year-End Giving during a 2014 year-end giving campaign, our generous community of donors contributed more than $154,000 to svCF’s Bright Futures scholarship program. these donations will be of direct use to well-qualified students pursuing their educational dreams. svCF applauds generous donors for responding to the call for support. the scholarships team is already in full swing reviewing applications for the coming academic year. vic valBuena Bareng “Be true to your mission.” That’s key. As a fundraiser, I worked for nonprofits whose missions I believed in profoundly, and I sought support only from funders genuinely interested in those missions. Veering off mission to chase money is deadly. It’s the same for a corporate practitioner. Standardization — of software, hardware and best practices — is key to Oracle’s business. Same thing. If there’s a question, you ask, “Does it fit our mission, our standards?” If it doesn’t, it’s off the table. Mission and standards are the friends that keep you on the right path. — Vanessa Richardson si l i c o nval l ey c f.o rg n spr i ng 2015 n 5