Silicon Valley Community Foundation
OVERVIEW: The Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF) is the biggest community foundation in America, and a major player on the Bay Area’s funding scene. It prioritizes a range of issues, including economic security, education, immigrant integration, regional planning and community development.
IP TAKE: The Silicon Valley Community Foundation, which conducts grantmaking through a racial justice lens, is a major regional organization in California. This is an accessible funder with a straightforward grant application process. The foundation accepts unsolicited proposals at any time of year if they are submitted through its website. However, grantseekers should be aware that each program has its own deadline, so it is worthwhile to check the website often to be sure you don’t miss anything. The foundation partners with individuals, institutions, and other organizations.
PROFILE: Established in 2007, Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF) has become the largest community foundation in the world. It seeks to “advance innovative philanthropic solutions to challenging problems.” The foundation also facilitates philanthropy “[t]hrough visionary leadership, strategic grantmaking and world-class experiences” in the form of donor partnerships that “strengthen the common good locally and throughout the world.” Since its inception, it has acquired $13.5 billion in assets. While SVCF makes a variety of grants, all of its grantmaking uses a racial justice and equity lens.
It prioritizes work centered on what it calls its Core Impact Areas, specifically advancing financial stability, early childhood development and housing. SVCF offers Emergency Response support. It also funds broadly via its Community Action Grants Program, as well as additional select programs.
Grants for Economic Development and Higher Education
One of the foundation’s core impact areas is Advancing Financial Stability, which works to address the region’s income inequality problem, especially as it breaks down along racial lines. Funded projects must have measurable outcomes and “strategies that are based on well-tested models and can be scaled or expanded regionally, while maintaining local relevance.”
SVCF also offers limited scholarships “for high school seniors, college and graduate students, re-entry students, and vocational and technical school students.” It awards almost $5 million in scholarships annually. The application cycle for these typically opens in December of the year preceding the award.
Grants for Early Childhood Development
SVCF’s Early Childhood Development program “works to dismantle systemic barriers and give all children and their families access to the care, education and resources they need to flourish.” Grants in this space support career preparation, advancement, and entrepreneurship. The foundation accepts applications for these grants by invitation only.
Grants for Public Health, Housing and Community Development
SVCF has several programs that work to create or increase affordable housing and strengthen the overall health and environmental condition of communities in San Mateo and/or Santa Clara counties, particularly those with communities of color. And, while these programs are operated independently, there is some overlap between them.
The Housing program supports organizations working to protect people from unjust evictions, preserve existing affordable housing, and create new affordable housing.
The Faith & Neighborhoods program supports faith-based organizations and seeks to address unequal health outcomes and widening disparities in communities with “low-income residents, residents who are Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) and those of undocumented status.”
The Health program is focused on social determinants of health, including “behavioral, environmental and social factors that deeply influence health outcomes, such as food insecurity, housing, income, education, civic participation and physical environment.”
Finally, the Foundation’s Environment focus area is adjacent to its Health and Neighborhoods programs and works to improve “access to clean air, water, open space and food in communities of color and undocumented communities.”
All of these programs prioritize support for organizations led by people of color and by those who engage the communities in which they serve.
Grants for Racial Equity and Indigenous Rights, Immigration
SVCF makes grants relations to racial equity, as well as immigration, across a variety of Funds and initiatives:
SVCF’s Equity Forward initiative works to close the racial economic divide in Silicon Valley. To do this, the foundation focuses on “the conditions that hold inequity in place—from policies and practices to power dynamics and relationships, to individual perceptions of our region.” SVCF operates and administers the initiative in collaboration with Stanford University and “Equity Forward is guided by a multi-sector advisory committee that includes 25 community, government, business and higher-education leaders.”
The California Black Freedom Fund “is a five-year, $100 million initiative to ensure that Black power-building and movement-based organizations have the sustained investments and resources they need to eradicate systemic and institutional racism.” To receive funding, organizations must be Black-led and proposals should focus on combating anti-Black systemic racism and state-sanctioned violence in Black communities.
The LatinXCEL Fund is a $10 million, three-year initiative designed to support Latino-led and Latino-serving organizations in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. It operates in partnership with the Castellano Family Foundation and its grants are designed to help with the organizations’ development, assist with capacity-building and infrastructure needs, and offer unrestricted funding to support work that advances equity and social justice, including policy advocacy and grassroots organizing.
The SVCF’s Immigration program supports immigration reform policies in the area. Grants through this program go to “legal service collaboratives that provide free or low-cost immigration legal services to children, families and the elderly.”
The Faith program supports faith-based leaders and organizations focused on improving interfaith and race relations and makes grants to groups working to provide services to people of color and undocumented status in the local community. Grants can go to either general operating support or program support.
The Capacity Building & Leadership Investment program seeks to “enable leaders who are from communities of color and the nonprofit organizations they lead to grow competencies and invest in business processes that can increase their organizations’ effectiveness and sustainability.”
Grants for Democracy and Civic Engagement, and Journalism
The Silicon Valley Community Foundation’s Journalism program supports local journalism in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. Grants work to correct gaps in local news that prevent news and information from reaching underserved communities, including BIPOC and residents with undocumented status. See the program page for eligibility requirements and a list of exemptions.
The Movement- and Power-Building grants program supports small organizations with operating budgets under $1 million working to increase civic participation among BIPOC and residents with undocumented status and groups “that are employing multiple approaches to achieving systemic change on issues of racial and economic justice.”
Grants for Arts and Culture
As with its other programs, SVCF operates the Arts & Culture program through a racial equity and social justice lens. These grants “support BIPOC-led arts organizations and allies that prioritize BIPOC communities to nurture artistic and cultural expressions, partner to create community-driven solutions and catalyze social change.” The maximum grant amount is $30,000. See the program page for eligibility requirements and a list of funding exemptions.
Important Grant Details:
SVCF makes large grants that prioritize Silicon Valley and California. National and international causes are occasionally funded.
Information about grantees and grant amounts is available at the foundation’s financial page.
SVCF’s grant application page offers concise directions, but applicants must stay abreast of evolving deadlines since the foundation releases requests for proposals throughout the year.
The application process is completed via the foundation’s online portal, so applicants must register their organization on the foundation’s webpage. Grant applications are no longer accepted through email or postal mail.
Grantseekers should keep in mind that many of these grants are by invitation only and each funding area has its own deadline and application process. Additionally, many of these programs prioritize support for organizations led by people of color and those that serve underrepresented communities, including those with people of color and individuals of undocumented status.
See previous grantees listed by year here or via its searchable Grants Catalog.
General questions can be directed to the foundation staff at grants@siliconvalleycf.org.
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