OUR PARTNERS

Partnerships strengthen a shared vision.

The community foundation works with a number of partners who are making an impact locally and globally. Our affiliate fund partners enable residents in Gilroy, Los Altos, Morgan Hill, Palo Alto, Saratoga-Monte Sereno and San Benito County to realize their philanthropy within the context of the affiliate representing their community. However, affiliate funds are not just limited to geographic locations. The Hispanic Foundation Silicon Valley cultivates philanthropy throughout the region’s Hispanic community.

We also partner with a number of supporting foundations, each with its own unique philanthropic goals and approach. With a supporting foundation, donations still receive the maximum level of tax deductions (as with a donor advised fund), but the supporting foundation has its own board of directors, investment policies and 501c3 charity status. Some of our supporting foundation partners include eBay Foundation, Portola Group Foundation, the Real Estate Trust at Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Skoll Community Fund and Sobrato Foundation.

Additionally, the community foundation maintains a strategic partnership with the Entrepreneurs Foundation. They maintain their own nonprofit status, staff and board members like our supporting foundation partners and The Hispanic Foundation.

eBay Foundation

Giving back to the community has been an essential part of eBay since the very beginning. In 1998, with a donation of 107,250 shares of pre-IPO stock, eBay created a charitable fund known as the eBay Foundation™. Today, eBay Foundation remains an important part of eBay and serves as the primary vehicle through which eBay contributes to community organizations. Annually, eBay Foundation provides grants to numerous non-profit groups that are working to make local communities better places to live and work.

Portola Group Foundation

The Portola Group Foundation is a public charity and a supporting foundation of Silicon Valley Community Foundation. It functions as a charitable gift vehicle for clients of The Portola Group, Inc. as well as other interested donors. The vision is to build a long-term charitable endowment for the community by helping individuals and families achieve their philanthropic dreams and support the charitable efforts of the community foundation. The Portola Group Foundation seeks to make grants to organizations for charitable, scientific and/or educational purposes to benefit the communities of Silicon Valley and elsewhere.

The Real Estate Trust

Over the last 12 years, $127 million dollars of real estate has been donated to create charitable funds and endowments. The Real Estate Trust at Silicon Valley Community Foundation manages the receipt and subsequent sale of a donor’s property, and provides a simple way for a donor and a charity to reap the rewards of a charitable donation. Once a real estate gift is contributed, accepted and transferred to the Real Estate Trust, a donor’s property is sold. The proceeds can create a charitable fund for the donor to advise, it can create a stream of retirement income or it can create an endowment for a favorite charity.

The Skoll Foundation

The Skoll Foundation encompasses two separate philanthropic entities: a private foundation known as The Skoll Foundation and a public charity with the legal name, The Skoll Fund. The Skoll Fund, created in 1999, is a supporting organization associated with Silicon Valley Community Foundation. The private foundation was launched in 2002. Each entity is governed by its own board of directors. The two share grantmaking, program and administrative resources. Both organizations were founded to support social entrepreneurship, and together they are known as the Skoll Foundation.

Sobrato Foundation

Three generations of the Sobrato family created a foundation in 1996 based on their desire to share their success throughout Silicon Valley, where their family development business has thrived for the last 45 years.

The Sobrato Foundation is dedicated to helping create and sustain a vibrant and healthy community where all Silicon Valley residents have equal opportunity to live, work and be enriched. To accomplish its purpose, the foundation invests in strong community-based organizations that promote self-reliance and economic independence, and positively contribute to the quality of life for economically, physically and emotionally challenged individuals.

Entrepreneurs Foundation

Entrepreneurs Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that works with emerging companies to facilitate and enable the development and implementation of community benefit and philanthropic programs. Entrepreneurs Foundation's mission is to engage high growth companies in corporate citizenship and philanthropic efforts so that new and leveraged resources are generated for community benefit.

Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley

In 1989, the United Way of Santa Clara County entered into a partnership with members of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Santa Clara County and the Hispanic community in order to increase community and corporate awareness and support for critically needed human services targeting Hispanic youth and families. Through this partnership, the Hispanic Charity Ball (HCB) was developed as a fund raising vehicle that reflected the values and traditions of the Hispanic community as they pertain to philanthropy, volunteerism and the love of family. In 2001, the Hispanic Foundation established its first office and hired a full-time administrative staff with grants from Peninsula Community Foundation and the Compton Family Foundation. In 2003, HFSV established a momentous collaboration with Community Foundation Silicon Valley to increase philanthropy within and for the Latino community.

Transatlantic Community Foundation Network (TCFN)

The Transatlantic Community Foundation Network (TCFN) was created in 1999 to promote the development of community foundations on both sides of the Atlantic, and particularly in parts of Europe and North America where the community foundation concept was just beginning to take root. It is a learning community comprised of four dozen community foundations and support organizations from close to a dozen countries. The Network has produced a series of free resources targeted to emerging and developing community foundations, available on the Network’s website: www.tcfn.efc.be.