Sep 3, 2026 · 41 min · 10 segments
*“Modern wealth can move at the speed of technology. Stewardship still depends on showing up for real people in real places.”* In an era of modern wealth, founders and inheritors are asking new…
I want to start at a very basic level before we kind of dive into all that is philanthropy.
What is a community foundation and how does it compare to other giving or philanthropic formats?
So community foundations are charitable organizations that exist to serve particular geographies, particular regions, particular communities.
And there's over 800 in the United States and We each serve a particular, usually it's counties or a particular region.
And for us, we serve Silicon Valley, which technically is two counties in the San Francisco Bay Area.
But we also, because anybody who knows the Bay Area, the lines in between counties can be fluid.
And the donors that we work with end up serving and giving to nonprofits all over the Bay Area and all over the state, actually.
There's a side where we work with donors, with philanthropists on their philanthropy and primarily through donor advised funds.
And we also have a group of staff who work with those donors, philanthropic advisors.
And the other side of the house is through our own endowments, multiple endowments, we work to serve our direct community.
and give grants out, work in public policy, convene organizations and leaders and other funders around particular issues.
We carry these two parts of the house, if you will, and we always try to bring them together.
We always try to bring what's important in the community to our donors and our philanthropists.
So you're speaking to a system that is this foundation, this community foundation.
Right.
And I imagine that that system is activated differently depending on a donor's desired outcomes.
Right.
Can you kind of maybe, I'm sure it's very complex, not easy to be like, hey, can you break that down? Because it looks different, but maybe an example or a way that it's activated this system.
Yeah, so we always start with community at the center of what we do, our backyards.
And we work with our donors to remind them and to encourage them to give to their backyards as well as whatever else they care about.
I want to start at a very basic level before we kind of dive into all that is philanthropy.
What is a community foundation and how does it compare to other giving or philanthropic formats?
So community foundations are charitable organizations that exist to serve particular geographies, particular regions, particular communities.
And there's over 800 in the United States and We each serve a particular, usually it's counties or a particular region.
And for us, we serve Silicon Valley, which technically is two counties in the San Francisco Bay Area.
But we also, because anybody who knows the Bay Area, the lines in between counties can be fluid.
And the donors that we work with end up serving and giving to nonprofits all over the Bay Area and all over the state, actually.
There's a side where we work with donors, with philanthropists on their philanthropy and primarily through donor advised funds.
And we also have a group of staff who work with those donors, philanthropic advisors.
And the other side of the house is through our own endowments, multiple endowments, we work to serve our direct community.
and give grants out, work in public policy, convene organizations and leaders and other funders around particular issues.
We carry these two parts of the house, if you will, and we always try to bring them together.
We always try to bring what's important in the community to our donors and our philanthropists.
So you're speaking to a system that is this foundation, this community foundation.
Right.
And I imagine that that system is activated differently depending on a donor's desired outcomes.
Right.
Can you kind of maybe, I'm sure it's very complex, not easy to be like, hey, can you break that down? Because it looks different, but maybe an example or a way that it's activated this system.
Yeah, so we always start with community at the center of what we do, our backyards.
And we work with our donors to remind them and to encourage them to give to their backyards as well as whatever else they care about.
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