JENNIFER CHAVEZ
PROGRAM OFFICER

As a program officer, Jennifer contributes to Silicon Valley Community Foundation’s corporate and endowment grantmaking and to its community building efforts across San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.

In her role, Jennifer identifies strategic grantmaking opportunities for Silicon Valley Community Foundation’s corporate partners. Many of our corporate partners rely on Jennifer for her support and charitable expertise to successfully launch and grow their philanthropic program.

Jennifer joined the community foundation from Genentech, where she was a senior program officer with the Genentech Foundation and Genentech Foundation for Biomedical Sciences. She also managed Genentech’s employee volunteer and employee matching gifts programs and led community relations efforts.

Prior to her work at Genentech, Jennifer conducted education grantmaking and coordinated special initiatives at The San Francisco Foundation. Her role also included managing the Multicultural Fellowship Program, which aims to increase diversity in the philanthropic and nonprofit sectors by providing young professionals of color opportunities in the areas of grantmaking and community building. Additionally, she served as the director of education programs at SOMOS Mayfair, formerly the Mayfair Improvement Initiative in San Jose.

Jennifer began her career as a bilingual elementary school teacher in East Palo Alto and Denver, where she is from originally.

Jennifer graduated from Stanford University and has a master’s degree in Nonprofit Management from Regis University, where she was a Colorado Trust Fellow. She is a passionate global traveler and has community relations, service learning and educational experiences in many countries.