Overview

Community Foundation Silicon Valley celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2005. The year opened with reflections on the Community Foundation’s significant accomplishments and growth as a philanthropic leader during its first half-century as well as serious consideration about what the Foundation will look like in the coming decades. The Community Foundation moves into the next 50 years with renewed commitment to connect donors and the community, to serve as a convener to address regional needs, and to endow this region for future needs.

Highlights of the 2004-2005 fiscal year include:

  • successfully matching, in just eight months, a $5 million challenge grant from the Skoll Foundation to raise the Community Investment Fund unrestricted endowment;
  • new partnerships with The James Irvine Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation to support diverse cultural expression in our community through the Advancing the Arts Initiative;
  • a partnership with HP to provide leadership training to the nonprofits in our area;
  • the launch of the Young Readers-Future Leaders early literacy collaborative;
  • completion of revised grant guidelines and strategies, launched in the 2005-2006 fiscal year, which will include general support grants of up to $20,000 for Silicon Valley nonprofits working in the Foundation’s focus areas;
  • and continued work on oversight and the implementation of governance and accountability measures including meeting all requirements of the Council on Foundations National Standards for U.S. Community Foundations, which identify best practices for the Community Foundation field nationally.

As we present our financial review, our ongoing commitment is to serve as responsible stewards of the community’s assets, as well as to continue to improve the services we provide to our donors, our grantees, and the community at large.

Community Foundation Grants

The Community Foundation distributed $75 million in grants and scholarships this year. These grants were made from component funds of the Foundation including: supporting foundations; advised funds created by individuals, families, and corporations; endowment funds created by nonprofits; and the Community Foundation’s unrestricted endowment fund. Grants from the unrestricted endowment fund are awarded through a competitive grants process and total about 5% of the Foundation’s total grants awarded. Approximately 95% of all grants are made from CFSV supporting foundations and advised funds.

Gifts to the Community Foundation

Again this year, individuals, families, and corporations generously invested in the community by making gifts to the Community Foundation Silicon Valley. The Foundation received gifts of $140 million in 2005 from an ever-larger community of donors.

Stewardship

CFSV’s investment committee, together with our investment advisors, President and CFO, continued the work of overseeing the prudent investment of Community Foundation assets. Total funds invested at June 30, 2005 were $695 million, an increase of $99 million from last year. Funds invested include all component funds of the Foundation: advised funds, permanent endowment funds, supporting foundations, and investment agency funds.

For further details regarding Community Foundation investments, click here.