Donor News In Depth

 

• Trustee Emeritus: Warren Hellman
• We Join in Honoring Warren Hellman
• Message from Sandra
• 2011 Year-End Giving
  
• Women Changing the World
  
• Read the latest Donor Newsletter
• Support Our New Impact Funds
  
• Strategy, Diligence, Impact - 2011 Annual Investment Report
• Give Smart Event
• 2011 Report to Donors on The San Francisco Foundation Impact Fund
• Meet Our New Director of Business Development
• Meet Our New Donor Relations Officers
  
• Honoring the San Pablo Koshland Civic Unity Fellows
• An Evening with Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood
• Celebrating the 2011 Koshland Young Leaders
• Read our 2010 Annual Report
• Celebrating the Impact of Legacy Donors
• Market Performance Summary for November 2011
  
• News Archives

 

Trustee Emeritus: Warren Hellman

Dear Friends,

The staff and I are all deeply saddened at the passing of Warren Hellman yesterday evening after a valiant struggle with leukemia.

Warren’s ties to the Foundation span almost fifteen years, having served on the Board for eleven years--four years as Chair, and an additional four years on the Investment Committee. He brought to the Foundation a keen sense of governance, a highly professional and disciplined approach to investment management, and a wonderfully exciting sense of what was possible, especially in public education and in arts and cultural organizations. He dedicated countless hours to our mission, ever reminding us of the importance of making a difference in the now.

His philanthropic largess was a testimony to his affinity for wanting to know people from all walks of life. He always wanted to know who they were and what they were trying to do in San Francisco. He would eat at St. Anthony Foundation’s dining room as unassumingly as he would put on a black tie to attend the opening of the ballet. He was unique in his ease in all settings, from the boardroom to meeting with advocates, to advising potential school board candidates, mayors and governors. He was an inspired storyteller and touched many of us at the Foundation and in the community with his more than candid citations of efforts that didn’t always go as planned.

It is impossible to recap all the places his philanthropy and his banjo has reached. The SF Foundation will always hold his standards for excellence and his propensity for boldness as his legacy to us.

We offer our sincerest condolences to Chris, his children and their families. We also appreciate the graciousness with which they have shared him with us and with the larger community. He will be deeply missed but we will hold his memory as we hike the peaks and valleys of our work.

A memorial service will be held at 1pm on Wednesday, December 21, at Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco and will be followed within a few weeks by a community celebration of his extraordinary life.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the SF Free Clinic, The Bay Citizen, or the SF School Alliance.

Respectfully,

Sandra

Sandra R. Hernández, M.D.
Chief Executive Officer

We Join in Honoring Warren Hellman

Yesterday, The San Francisco Park and Recreation Commission voted unanimously to rename Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park to Hellman Hollow in honor of Warren Hellman. We at The San Francisco Foundation wholeheartedly support this gracious and important tribute to Warren’s extraordinary impact on our community.

In that spirit, we are sharing excerpts of letters that both CEO Sandra R. Hernández, M.D. and the Board of Trustees wrote on behalf of Warren Hellman and his many years of service as TSFF Board Chair, Investment Committee member, and champion in making the Bay Area the best place it can be.

Excerpt of Letter From CEO Sandra R. Hernández, M.D.:

"Warren is a singular force for the greater good in our community. He is a creative and dedicated advocate for public education, public parks, free clinics, and dance and music for all. As a civic and business leader, Warren is a role model setting the highest standards for ethical practices and engaged citizenry.

As a philanthropist, Warren’s vision and generosity knows no bounds. Be it park bonds, public school bonds, online journalism, modern dance, or blue grass music, he invests where his heart is and has made San Francisco and the Bay Area more just, more fun, and more beautiful as a result.

Warren Hellman was the Chair of the Board of Trustees of The San Francisco Foundation and served as Trustee for ten years. He continues as a member of our Investment Committee. Throughout his tenure at the Foundation, I have had the privilege and pleasure of working closely with him on his intensely personal and broadly impactful philanthropy.

The San Francisco Foundation mission is to mobilize resources and act as a catalyst for change to build strong communities, foster civic leadership, and promote philanthropy. Warren Hellman is the embodiment of this mission, and the Bay Area is all the better for his selfless contributions."

Excerpt of Letter From The San Francisco Foundation Board of Trustees:

"Warren is a visionary and an extraordinary civic leader. His courage, compassion, and creativity have had immeasurable impact in the region, from schools to clinics, and from art to parking.

Because of Warren’s vision and generosity, hundreds of thousands of revelers celebrate every fall at Golden Gate Park’s Speedway Meadow at his the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. The Festival beautifully epitomizes Warren’s signature approach; to start with his personal passion, innovate an original idea, bring in multitudes of talented partners, and then take it to scale so that the results affect millions…we, the Board of Trustees, are honored to support this important gesture to pay tribute to Warren’s extraordinary impact on our community."

Message from Sandra

Dear Friend,

This month, we invite you to join us by investing in two new strategies that provide targeted opportunities for those in need: The Women and Girls Impact Fund and the Microenterprise Impact Fund.

The Women and Girls Impact Fund is built on a strategy that invests in the success of women and girls, opening up opportunities they need to thrive. By supporting women’s health, reproductive rights, leadership development, self-expression, and business ownership, together we can improve the possibilities for women and girls, and thereby lift up the entire Bay Area.

The Microenterprise Impact Fund employs a strategy of microlending to small business entrepreneurs, especially for those in our community with the greatest barriers to employment. The fund taps into the great energy and inventiveness within the entrepreneurial world, and harnesses it on behalf of those most in need to promote business ownership. It also supports financial education and asset building as tools for self-sufficiency. With the unemployment rate still at 8.7% for the region, your support is essential to strengthening the Bay Area.

Your contribution will be matched by The San Francisco Foundation’s $50,000 investment into each of these funds. Join us. Invest now. Together we will make an impact.

Thank you for your generous support. On behalf of all of us at The San Francisco Foundation, we wish you happy holidays.

Warm regards,

Sandra R. Hernández, M.D.
Chief Executive Officer

2011 Year-End Giving

Now is the time for making your year-end, tax-deductible charitable contributions.
The San Francisco Foundation’s Philanthropic Services team is here to help. Contact our team at 415-733-8500.

• Donation deadline: For your charitable contribution to be tax-deductible for 2011, The San Francisco Foundation must receive it by 12:00 p.m. PST on Friday, December 30, 2011. If you are transferring securities or wiring contributions, please notify Joshua Jones, donor services assistant, at 415-733-8587 or jxj@sff.org.
• Grant advising deadlines: Grant recommendations of greater than $50,000 are due by 5:00 p.m. on December 16, 2011. Grant recommendations of $50,000 or less must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. on December 23, 2011.
• Please note that the Foundation will be closed on November 24 and 25, and December 26. We will be available all day on December 30.

Women Changing the World

Women Changing the World Luncheon on November 15, 2011

Many thanks to the donors who joined us at the Second Annual Women Changing the World Luncheon on Tuesday, November 15, 2011. The inspirational gathering marked the launch of the Women and Girls Impact Fund, a collaborative strategy to focus resources on the needs of the most vulnerable women and girls in the Bay Area.

Nearly 100 guests attended the luncheon at the Futures Without Violence Conference Center in the Presidio. Speaker Deborah Santana, an activist and philanthropist, shared her passion for giving and her support for girls’ education at a school in Kenya. She founded the Do a Little donor advised fund at the Foundation.

Our second special guest, Katie Albright, executive director of the San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center, described a new Center for Youth Wellness, due to open in the summer of 2012. It will serve the thousands of children in San Francisco who are abused each year with a child-centered, multi-service agency located in the Bayview.

The speakers were followed by moving introductions from the Foundation’s program leaders, who each shared their vision and strategy for creating change in our communities. CEO Sandra R. Hernandez, M.D. concluded by inviting guests to partner with the Foundation by investing in the Women and Girls Impact Fund.

Watch video testimonials below and see photos from the event. Please join us in investing in this collaborative strategy through your donor-advised fund.

 

Read the latest Donor Newsletter

FALL 2011 Donor Newsletter Front Page Image

In this issue: Women and Girls Impact Fund, Greater Impact Together: Federal Funds to Build the Bay Area’s Workforce, Celebrating Community Impact, Meet Mark and Francesca, and Year-End Donations. Read it online or download the PDF.

 

Support Our New Impact Funds

Together, we can make a difference
We live in one of the most resourceful regions in the world; full of natural beauty, brilliant ideas, and generous people. Yet here in the Bay Area, just a few blocks away from thriving neighborhoods are areas of profound poverty where families and young people struggle for basic opportunities.

This extraordinary time in history calls for courageous leadership and transformative ideas. At The San Francisco Foundation, our donors’ and our collective work centers on creating collaborative solutions that concretely address the region’s most pressing concerns, such as foreclosures, jobs, and social justice.

We invite you to join us in these collaborations. This fall we are launching two new strategies that bring together the best ideas and the most effective leaders. The Women and Girls Impact Fund and the Microenterprise Impact Fund provide targeted and tangible opportunities for the most vulnerable in our region.

Women and Girls Impact Fund

Women and Girls Impact Fund DNewsletter Image.gif

Like many of you, we believe in the power of women and girls to change the world. With resources and opportunities, they can strengthen families, communities, and our democracy. The Women and Girls Impact Fund spells out a strategy that weaves together many of the elements that give women and girls those critical opportunities. Through economic empowerment, self-expression and esteem training, reproductive rights, and freedom from domestic violence, together we can improve the possibilities for women and girls, and thereby lift up the entire community.

With the fund, the Foundation will partner with effective Bay Area nonprofits that have a track record of helping women and girls not only overcome crises, but build skills and power, and seize economic opportunities for the future. This new fund supports community organizations that serve women and girls in three major areas: health and safety; leadership and empowerment; and economic sustainability. Please join us in supporting the Women and Girls Impact Fund.

Microenterprise Impact Fund
The Microenterprise Impact Fund capitalizes on the impressive track record over the past five years in microloans for small entrepreneurs, and their success in providing long-term self-sufficiency, especially for those hardest to employ. This fund pulls together the great energy and creativity within the entrepreneurial world here in the Bay Area, and harnesses it on behalf of those most in need. Please join us in supporting the Microenterprise Impact Fund.

How to Support The San Francisco Foundation Impact Funds
There are two ways Foundation donors can make a grant to The San Francisco Foundation Impact Funds:

A.  Recommend a grant to one of our Impact Funds in Donor Center. Please follow these steps:

1. From the Recommend a Grant tab, click Change/Select. This will take you to the Foundation’s organization search screen.

2. Search for and select one of our two Impact Funds by typing Women and Girls Impact Fund or Microenterprise Impact Fund into the Organization Name field.
3. Complete the remainder of the online grant recommendation form indicating grant amount, acknowledgment information, and any special instructions.
4. To grant to an additional Impact Fund, please repeat this process by searching for and selecting a different Impact Fund name.

B. Complete the Grant Recommendation form and return it by mail or fax.

Strategy, Diligence, Impact - 2011 Annual Investment Report

We are fortunate to rely on the strength of our Investment Committee their expert and disciplined involvement, and their guidance in investment strategy. We invite you to learn more about these strategies and review the past year's performance by downloading a PDF of our Fiscal Year 2011 Investment Report. Profiles of our investment managers are available in this password-protected PDF; please contact Roberta Schutz at rschutz@sff.org or 415.733.8538 for access.

Give Smart Event

On Friday, September 16, donors and staff from the Bay Area philanthropic community gathered at The City Club in San Francisco to engage in a discussion about high-impact philanthropy with Tom Tierney and Joel Fleishman, authors of the book Give Smart: Philanthropy that Gets Results. (Photo on right: Elliot Seeto, Dewey Seeto, and Nick Hodges at Giving Smart.)

Tierney, chairman and co-founder of the Bridgespan Group, and Fleishman, professor of law and public policy at Duke University, are on a mission to make the philanthropic sector more effective by challenging donors to ask themselves hard questions, including "Am I getting better?" They offered advice to those looking to make greater impact with their giving.  

Chief among their suggestions is the mantra "fewer, bigger, longer"--that is, do fewer things, in a bigger way, for longer periods of time. They believe that effective philanthropists achieve results by avoiding the pitfall of "peanut butter philanthropy" (spreading yourself thinly over too many causes) and instead choosing fewer organizations that have the capacity and potential to make significant change and investing long term to help them serve more people. They noted that the recession has magnified the need to ensure your dollar goes as far as possible.

Attendees had the opportunity to ask questions, including how they could be more effective in their particular area of interest. The authors espoused collaboration and transparency, urging donors to work together and share not only their success stories, but also their failures, so that others can learn from their mistakes.

The event was hosted by The San Francisco Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, and the Evelyn & Walter Haas Jr. Fund.

2011 Report to Donors on The San Francisco Foundation Impact Fund

Impact Fund Report 2011 Cover

The San Francisco Foundation is deeply grateful to our donors for helping make this year’s Poverty Alleviation and Recession Response Impact Funds so successful. Thanks to you, thousands of Bay Area families were better able to weather this financial storm and stay focused on a stronger economic future.

Our partnership is making a difference in the lives of those most vulnerable in our community, by creating opportunities for co-investment between your donor advised funds and the Foundation’s endowment. The power of aligning our giving magnifies our impact. You have given more than $470,000 this year, and a total of $1.5 million over the last four years, to our Impact Funds.

Together your generosity combined with our Program grants have a $5 million impact on the lives of those most in need. We are proud to share these results with all of our donors, as our collective investments improve the quality of life for our cherished Bay Area. Read the full 2011 Report to Donors on The Impact Fund: Poverty Alleviation and Recession Response.

Meet Our New Director of Business Development

Bobbie Chapman is the director of business development responsible for developing relationships with prospective donors and their wealth advisors. Bobbie has a 30-year background in philanthropy development, incorporating financial, corporate, community relations, fundraising, and volunteer perspectives. She joins the Foundation after four years at Schwab Charitable, where she provided education, counsel, and access to strategic charitable planning strategies and tools for individuals and independent advisors in Northern California, South-Central United States, and the Pacific Northwest. She was also responsible for relationship development with the philanthropy marketplace, affiliated associations, and with Schwab Advisor Services nationwide. Prior to joining Schwab Charitable, she served as the senior community relations liaison for American Airlines in Northern California. Bobbie is on the executive board of the Marin Theater Company and volunteers for Cystic Fibrosis and Breast Cancer Awareness organizations. She became a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy at The American College.

 

Meet Our New Donor Relations Officers

Shona Carter serves as a donor relations officer, working closely with donors to provide strategic consulting to facilitate their philanthropic aspirations. With 12 years of experience, Shona comes to the Foundation with a diverse range of expertise from the private, nonprofit, and philanthropic sectors. She is effective at identifying, engaging, and establishing formal partnerships, while also responding to changing environments. Prior to The San Francisco Foundation, Shona was an advancement officer for the Foundation of City College of San Francisco where she cultivated high net worth and corporate donors. Before this role, Shona worked at the East Bay Community Foundation as the primary manager of The Clorox Company corporate fund. In this role, she facilitated the grantmaking of nearly $4 million to Oakland’s education, youth development, and arts communities. Shona holds a Bachelors of Arts from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MBA from Mills College in Oakland. She is a former Forté Foundation fellow and current member, and a member of Bay Area Blacks in Philanthropy.

Contact Shona at scarter@sff.org or 415.733.8520.

 

Jackie Anderson Downing is a donor relations officer dedicated to supporting the Foundation’s family of donors. Whether a long-time donor or new to the Foundation, Jackie is passionate about responding to our donors’ needs to ensure they meet their philanthropic goals and make a difference on the issues that are important to them. Prior to joining the Foundation, Jackie served in senior leadership roles at several Bay Area nonprofits, including Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) Network, where Jackie ran the individual donor program, while growing GSA Network’s brand, profile, and communication’s capacity on a national scale. Prior to GSA Network, Jackie was co-director of World Bridges in Oakland, a nonprofit dedicated to developing the leadership capacity of low-income, Bay Area youth of color. Jackie is a graduate of Oberlin College and a recipient of the Howard R. Swearer National Student Humanitarian Award from Brown University. She previously served on the board of the international human rights nonprofit School of the Americas Watch and worked as a human rights observer in Colombia.

Contact Jackie at jdowning@sff.org or 415.733.8506.

 

Honoring the San Pablo Koshland Civic Unity Fellows

On Tuesday, June 21, 2011, The San Francisco Foundation celebrated 15 leaders of the San Pablo community of Contra Costa County and presented them with the 2011 Daniel E. Koshland Civic Unity Awards. We honor these leaders for their bold spirit, innovation, and perseverance to improve the quality of life within the San Pablo community. They have accepted the most daunting neighborhood problems, such as youth violence and poverty, as their personal challenge, and work tirelessly, often on a voluntary basis, to find solutions. For more information and to view the photo gallery from the event, visit our What's New page.  

 

An Evening with Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood

On June 13th, The San Francisco Foundation welcomed Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation, who shared with our donors her insights into the challenges and opportunities currently facing Planned Parenthood. Based in New York, she articulated the extreme nature of the political conflict and said that it is not only a budget or resource challenge, nor one specifically about a woman’s right to reproductive freedom. In fact, the growing momentum to disallow federal funds to support Planned Parenthood clinics overall jeopardizes patients’ rights to receive their healthcare at the provider and clinic of their choice.

Visit our What's New section for Ms. Richards' suggestions about how you can get involved, more photos from the evening, and highlights from the other speakers.

Celebrating the 2011 Koshland Young Leaders

The San Francisco Foundation honored the 2011 Koshland Young Leaders Awardees on June 2nd, celebrating eight college-bound San Francisco public high school juniors who are strongly motivated to achieve. These young leaders embrace their goals in the face of challenging responsibilities – such as being their family wage earner, caretaker, or household manager. They each receive a $7,000 award for educational expenses to encourage and support them as they continue on their path of making truly meaningful change in their neighborhoods and communities. We celebrate not only the accomplishments of these young leaders, but also the great hope they give us for the future.

 

Read our 2010 Annual Report

Cover of the 2010 Annual Report

Check out our latest annual report – read about our donors, our work in the Bay Area community, our grants, and our financial investments.

 

 

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.”

Click here to watch videos of Don Falk, Dr. Burke, and Diana Gameros at the Legacy Society Luncheon.

View the photo gallery from the event here.

Download here a PDF of The New Yorker’s recent article about Dr. Burke and her clinic.

Market Performance Summary for November 2011

From Mike Miller at Colonial Consulting, TSFF’s Investment Consultant

In what has become an all too familiar pattern November brought sharp changes in market direction as optimism and pessimism related to events in Europe took center stage. Late in the month, growing evidence of short term funding problems and rapidly declining confidence in the financial system as a whole led to coordinated action by the Federal Reserve and five other major central banks. This step was quite effective in terms of calming market fears and a late rebound converted a very poor month into one with only modest losses.

The portfolio declined 1.1% during November, a result that was modestly above the Foundation’s custom benchmark. Yet, as noted in prior reports, returns thus far this year have uncharacteristically been behind the benchmark. We attribute this to several factors including: 1) a small subset of Foundation managers that have not responded well to heightened volatility – those firms are being removed from the portfolio and 2) a much larger group of managers that have built positions in securities that are very attractively priced. We have high confidence that the decisions of this second group will ultimately prove wise. This is quite similar to the pattern witnessed in late 2008/early 2009.

 

News Archives

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