Celebrating the Impact of Legacy Donors

Estate gifts to The San Francisco Foundation are key to our work and mission and our donors’ lasting impact in the community. Our Legacy Society members’ gifts enable us to grow our endowment and respond to the changing needs of the Bay Area now and into the future. With a strong endowment, we are able to help create solutions to complex issues for generations to come.

Our annual Legacy Society Luncheon on May 9, 2011, honored our legacy donors for their commitments to making the Bay Area a better place for all. Two grantees and a local artist spoke of the impact our partnership has had on their organizations and our communities. 

Don Falk, executive director of Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC), described his organization’s growth over the past 30 years, and the Foundation’s role in providing affordable and supportive housing to not only individuals, but now also thousands of families and children in the Tenderloin in San Francisco. He recognized the similarities between legacy donors’ long view approaches, and the sweeping view that housing and community development require. He highlighted several examples of how the Foundation has worked closely with TNDC to strengthen the organization as well as the community it serves. It was able to seize an opportunity to merge with another organization that was shutting its doors and continue providing critical services for so many in need. And with the tools and encouragement from the Foundation to prepare to respond in a disaster, when a fire ravaged one of its buildings recently, TNDC was able to quickly take action and support the more than 100 residents whose lives were turned upside down in a matter of moments.

Dr. Nadine Burke, medical director of CPMC’s Bayview Child Health Center, started thinking about her legacy at a young age, and was driven to use her medical and public health degrees, her experience, and her heart to bring high quality healthcare to a low-income community where it was desperately needed. Since opening the Center four years ago, she has appreciated not only the Foundation’s financial support but the “true investment and partnership with those of us on the ground trying to figure out how to come up with solutions for the things that we are seeing right in front of us.” As she tried new approaches, some more successful than others, she knew The San Francisco Foundation would be there to support and encourage her.

Diana Gameros sang three beautiful songs that had the audience swaying in their seats. It has been incredibly important to her to have opportunities provided by Foundation grantees like Red Poppy Art House. As she said to donors, she is part of “a community that allows me to express my music, in any kind of genre. Thank you. It’s because of you we have these really fabulous venues.”

Below you can watch videos of Don Falk, Dr. Burke, and Diana Gameros at the Legacy Society Luncheon.

View the photo gallery from the event here.

Download a PDF of The New Yorker’s recent article about Dr. Burke and her clinic. [Note: 3.7 MB PDF]

Don Falk, executive director, Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation

Dr. Nadine Burke, medical director, Bayview Child Health Center

Diana Gameros, musician