CONTACT:
Rebecca Salner, Media Relations Officer
Silicon Valley Community Foundation
650.450.5525 or rsalner@siliconvalleycf.org

STRENGTHEN THE SAFETY NET CAMPAIGN ACHIEVES $1 MILLION GOAL

Organizations providing food, shelter and other basic services will receive at least $3 million in grants from Silicon Valley Community Foundation during this time of unprecedented need.

The community foundation is pleased to announce that it has received $1 million in donations to its "Strengthen the Safety Net" campaign. Those donations, which the community foundation will match dollar-for-dollar, plus $1 million committed earlier this fall, mean $3 million in grants will be awarded this year to food and shelter organizations.

In addition, the community foundation’s individual and corporate donors have contributed $1 million directly to food and shelter organizations through a community connections program since Oct. 15.

The community foundation in September committed $1 million in grants to safety net providers as part of its new grantmaking strategy. When the economic crisis deepened, the community foundation in October announced a challenge grant and agreed to match, dollar-for-dollar, all donations made by Dec. 31 up to $1 million.

"We are grateful that so many individuals and organizations in our community as well as our own donor advisers recognized the unprecedented need that food and shelter providers are seeing and donated to this cause," said Emmett D. Carson, Ph.D., CEO and president of the community foundation.

The community foundation will continue to accept donations to "Strengthen the Safety Net" through Dec. 31.

"Money is still needed," Carson said. "We have been told by multiple providers in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties that they are seeing double-digit increases in demand for their services. In many cases, the need is greater than anything these organizations have seen in their histories. Increasingly, it is residents on Main Street – not the side streets and back alleys of our communities – that are being affected."

Since the campaign began in October, more than 135 individuals and organizations have donated to the safety net fund in amounts that ranged from $20 to $250,000.

The community foundation will announce recipients of safety net grants by Dec. 19. However, Carson cautioned that the impact of the ongoing economic crisis is so great that additional measures, such as public policy solutions and advocacy on behalf of safety net clients, will be necessary.

The community foundation last week held a Food and Shelter Summit, attended by more than 100 nonprofit leaders, board members, government representatives and other funders to discuss possible policy solutions and to heighten awareness of the safety net crisis.

"We’ve got to give voice to the people we are helping every day," Carson said. "We know that money alone is not going to be enough. We both have to handle the direct needs of people who are coming into nonprofits every day and we have to find ways to develop systemic solutions."

About Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Silicon Valley Community Foundation is a catalyst and leader for innovative solutions to our region's most challenging problems. Serving all of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, the community foundation has more than $1.9 billion in assets under management and 1,500 philanthropic funds. The community foundation provides grants through donor advised and corporate funds in addition to its own Community Endowment Fund. In addition, the community foundation serves as a regional center for philanthropy, providing donors simple and effective ways to give locally and around the world. Silicon Valley Community Foundation launched in January 2007 following the landmark merger of Community Foundation Silicon Valley and Peninsula Community Foundation and is now one of the largest community foundations in the nation. Find out more at www.siliconvalleycf.org.