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Warren Buffett has famously called philanthropy "society's risk capital." The best foundation leaders view their resources in exactly this way. Here’s an example from the Bay Area.
The Silicon Valley Community Foundation may be the most intriguing—and confusing—institution in philanthropy today. It also has a surprising number of critics. IP Editor David Callahan takes a deep dive.
The fight against homelessness in Silicon Valley keeps gaining momentum, most recently with what may be the largest-ever corporate contribution to address this issue, by Cisco. What's the game plan here?
The NORCAL Group Foundation was launched in September 2017 and just gave out its first round of grants. The funder is focused on patient care, patient safety, and physician wellness.
Winners of the Kenneth Rainin Foundation's Open Spaces grants think public art can engage communities around issues like immigration, women's rights, and gentrification.
The Westly Foundation, bankrolled by venture capital wealth, is looking to back "novel" ideas to community challenges that have "strong potential to scale." Who wins its awards and why?
Michael and Xochi Birch have turned their members-only club in San Francisco, The Battery, into a platform for encouraging philanthropy. We get the inside story of how this outfit has evolved.
There just aren't a lot of foundations that are dedicated to eliminating structural racism and have a local focus. The Akonadi Foundation is among them. What's it been up to lately?
Big changes are afoot at the Koret Foundation, and Bay Area and Jewish organizations will want to pay attention. Take a look at Koret's new arts and culture initiative.
With its latest round of grants, a Bay Area funder doubled down on its commitment to bringing together players from different sectors to tackle complicated and deep-rooted problems.
A global marine conservation funder, the Moore Foundation also has an interest in the environmental struggles of its home, the Bay Area. It’s backing an extensive study of plastic pollution flowing into its waters.
The Silicon Valley Community Foundation wants to help low-income residents and people of color get more engaged in local governance and policymaking.
With rents rising, artists fleeing, and techies keeping their checkbooks closed, a new Hewlett Foundation initiative is a vital lifeline to the region's arts ecosystem. Will it be enough to make an impact?
Youth causes are typically a big deal for sports team foundations. Which helps explain why the 49ers Foundation is really diving in to STEAM education for middle schoolers.
Latinos, who make up much of the workforce in California wine country, have been among the hardest hit by fires that charred the region. The Latino Community Foundation tells us how it stepped up to help.
As part of CZI’s rapid expansion, it's created a community fund that it says will be guided by those struggling in Silicon Valley. Is this another sign of a more responsive tech philanthropy?
As if undocumented immigrants don't have enough problems these days, thousands now face hardship as a result of California's fires—and aren't eligible for FEMA assistance. Some funders are stepping in.
The nation's top donor-advised fund, which made a staggering 849,000 grants in 2016, has crunched its data to analyze what giving looks like in different regions of the U.S. It's worth paying attention.
Until health consumers have better information, it will be hard to improve an inefficient U.S. healthcare system. Can Yelp be part of the solution? A California funder hopes so.
While Gordon Getty's giving typically focuses on the music organizations, a recent donation finds him supporting his alma mater. What makes this donor tick?
While yet another mass shooting is unlikely to bring a strong federal response, the good news is that funders and advocates are doing more to tackle gun violence at the local level, including in California.
A Silicon Valley billionaire and his wife buck conventional wisdom and give big to a major U.S. museum. Are Spock-like tech philanthropists finally growing more friendly to the arts?
Mini-grants, which are often in the range of $250 to $2,500, have an important place in institutional philanthropy, even though you don't hear much about them.
With the clock ticking for 800,000 young Dreamers now facing deportation, a number of funders are mobilizing to help with legal fees, litigation, advocacy and more.
With the news that Zuck will soon begin to sell off millions of shares in Facebook, billions of dollars are set to flow to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. How will these funds be used?
The Facebook co-founder and his wife are expanding their policy agenda, moving into new and controversial issues, including criminal justice reform and housing. Where's the money flowing?
Funders have demonstrated quite a bit of nimbleness since Trump's election, rolling out various rapid-response grantmaking initiatives. Here's an example of such grants also stimulating small donations.
Even as other tech funders look to charters and other ideas to "disrupt" K-12 education, Salesforce is stepping up its support of traditional public school districts in the Bay Area.
Once the youngest school kids fall behind in literacy, they rarely catch up. The Kenneth Rainin Foundation wants to make sure that doesn't happen in Oakland, and it's ramping up grantmaking.
We look at the first round of grants from the Well Being Trust, a new health legacy funder giving millions to mental health groups in California.
