FOUNDERS

He wasn’t a wealthy man. But 50 years ago, Philip Hammer’s efforts resulted in more than $410 million being invested in the community to date.

In 1954, Mr. Hammer spearheaded the creation of the Community Trust of Santa Clara County (now known as Community Foundation Silicon Valley) with $55,000 left in the San José War Chest from World War II.

Mr. Hammer had recently sold his Downtown San José clothing store, and he had a vision that someday “there should be a place in the community that encouraged leaving money to general purposes for the good of the community,” said his son, Phil Hammer. He was concerned about monies given for causes no longer relevant, such as the funds sitting in the War Chest.

He had only a high school education but Mr. Hammer spent hours at the local law library planning the Community Trust fund. On June 17, 1954, a celebratory dinner was held, and the Community Trust was born.

Mr. Hammer volunteered as executive director, working out of a donated office in Room 813 at the Bank of America in San José. In 1956, the Trust gave its first grants – $295.17 to the Crippled Children’s Society to purchase a movie projector for the new Camp Costanoan. Similar grants soon followed to the Girl Scouts, San José Day Nursery, the Family Service Association in Palo Alto, Wheeler Hospital in Gilroy, and the Children’s Health Council in Palo Alto.

In 1956, the Hammer family created the Community Trust’s first donor-advised fund, the Philip and Evelyn Hammer Trust. They created the fund with a gift of 100 shares of Ampex stock – the Trust’s first stock donation as well.

Through the fund, the couple recommended grants to local charities, which were given anonymously, but 50 years later family members agreed to share their parents’ story. Both son Phil Hammer and sister Louise Ginsburg agreed that their father would be amazed at how the stock market fueled the growth of wealth in the region during the tech boom years and at the current popularity of donor-advised funds.

Today, the Hammers’ legacy continues. Their fund became part of the Community Foundation endowment, supporting the local community for generations to come.

Philip and Evelyn Hammer moved to San José in the 1920s and opened a store in Downtown. “They went bankrupt during the Depression. They lost everything,” son Phil said. “In those days, there was no safety net. In our case, the Jewish community helped until they could get into a position to start another business.”

“We learned later that my father paid off everyone after he got established again,” Ginsburg said.

After the Depression, the Hammers became more involved in the community. Mr. Hammer set up a program to resettle Jews from Europe in San José in the years leading up to World War II. He supported the USO during the War, as well as the Community Welfare Council (predecessor to today’s United Way). Mrs. Hammer was active in Temple Emanu-El, Hadassah, and proud to be the first Jewish member of the board of directors of the local YWCA – she had attended Bryn Mawr with assistance from a YWCA scholarship, and she never forgot this generosity.

Mr. Hammer died in 1958, just four years after retiring. “I regret so much that he didn’t live to see the rebirth of Downtown,” Phil said. “Dad died the year before I met Susan (his wife, former Mayor Susan Hammer). He would have loved the work she and her predecessor and successor mayors have done.”

If his father were here today, Phil said, he would be amazed at the growth of the Valley and the growth of the Community Foundation. “The Community Foundation has certainly become everything he dreamed,” he said. “I imagine if he were here, he couldn’t be more pleased.”