In my first five weeks as CEO of the newly created Silicon Valley Community Foundation, I have been overwhelmed by the vibrancy and innovation taking place throughout our community.
People with ideas and energy are constantly finding new ways to collaborate with each other to form new ventures with the promise of making our lives easier, more efficient and more fulfilling. There appears to be a widespread understanding that the region’s economic success depends in large part on the fortunes of the tech industry regardless of whether one works in that industry or their community is tied to that industry. Unfortunately, that same recognition of interconnectedness does not appear to have permeated the region’s thinking about our charitable giving.
The energy, passion, innovation and desire to collaborate that characterize the region’s approach to business development are not readily evident when one examines the charitable landscape. People in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties are generous; however, that generosity is often specialized around a very narrow area of interest and localized to a particular community. When this occurs, the philanthropy takes place without a broader regional context that could enhance and strengthen a community’s local work.
In other words, understanding regional trends and opportunities would better allow individuals to direct their charitable giving in ways that would strengthen their local communities. Collaborating with others throughout the region on common interests is far more likely to result in the same innovation and risk-taking that we see all around us in Silicon Valley. It would also help to interest all donors in all areas of the community as being worthy of their attention and support.
The issues of affordable housing and health care, inadequate public education, increasing traffic congestion and preserving open space cannot be solved without understanding the regional context in which local solutions will be implemented. In my first week, I was made aware of three entirely new and completely separate multi-city initiatives involving public schools in which the proponents had no knowledge of the other efforts and no easy way to find out about their existence.
The hope and aspiration of the new Silicon Valley Community Foundation is to become a place where regional strategies can be developed and local solutions tested, and where successful, replicated. We aspire to be a place where like-minded donors can share ideas, find common cause and represent a new vanguard in bringing innovative solutions to myriad challenges facing our communities.
As you consider contributing to the Almanac’s Holiday Fund and other worthwhile causes this holiday season, I ask that you take the time to consider how your gift will not only serve specific local needs but reinforce a larger strategy. If you’d like to learn more about how giving locally can also support the region as a whole, the community foundation as well as other organizations are certainly prepared to help.
Yes, this will take time and will require more than writing the check. It will, however, result in developing a new civic ethic in which our children and grandchildren will be the beneficiaries for decades to come. I recently read a bumper sticker that said that we all do better when we all do better. Imagine what a difference we could make if we acted on that belief this holiday season.
Peninsula Community Foundation and Community Foundation Silicon Valley are merging to become Silicon Valley Community Foundation — a catalyst for inspired philanthropy and community engagement serving all of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. To learn more, visit www.siliconvalleycf.org.
Emmett D. Carson is president of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
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