Another record-setting year of community giving has resulted in the Palo Alto Week, The Almanac and the Mountain View Voice holiday funds awarding $1.2 million in grants this spring to 98 local nonprofit organizations and eight high school scholarship winners.
More than 500 donations were received in this year’s campaign. They included gifts from readers, local businesses, the Packard, Hewlett, Peery and Arrillaga foundations and other family foundations that requested anonymity. Among those were donations of $350,000 and $100,000. The Palo Alto Weekly Moonlight Run and Walk raised $68,000.
The $1.2 million raised is the combined giving to the holiday funds of the Palo Alto Weekly ($793,000), the Almanac ($310,000) and the Mountain View Voice ($84,000). Embarcadero Media, the parent company for the three news organizations, covers all the expenses of the annual campaigns, so every dollar raised is given away in grants.
“Residents of our communities realize the importance of the work being done by local nonprofits and the value of targeting their philanthropic giving to where they live,” Embarcadero Media Foundation president Bill Johnson said. “The Holiday Fund is an example of how local journalism can serve and strengthen the community by helping to channel donations to well-vetted organizations deserving of support.”
The Almanac Holiday Fund began more than 25 years ago and each year selects 10 nonprofits providing needed services to residents of Menlo Park, Redwood City, North Fair Oaks or East Palo Alto that share equally the funds raised. This year, the Almanac raised a total of $310,000 and made grants of $31,000 to Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula, Ecumenical Hunger Program, LifeMoves, Literacy Partners Menlo Park, Health Connected, Ravenswood Family Health Center, Star Vista, St. Anthony’s Padua Dining Room, St. Francis Center of Redwood City and Upward Scholars.
In addition to numerous major gifts from individuals or family foundations, the Menlo Park Rotary Foundation donated $10,000.
Redwood City attorney sues ‘First Amendment auditors’ after Menlo Park disputeApril 2, 2026 11:31 am
