Oct 19, 2006

Charity merger set to sail

Foundation built from two organizations names new leader, vision

By Kristen Munson

Two of the Bay Area's largest philanthropic organizations set to merge next month introduced their new leader and new vision to donors Wednesday.

Dr. Emmett Carson, the first president and CEO of the new Silicon Valley Community Foundation, stressed the importance of engaging San Mateo and Santa Clara county residents in the process of identifying problems in their communities - and solutions. He plans to push for a higher level of community engagement from the new foundation and its donors "beyond just writing a check."

The new foundation is the result of a merger between Community Foundation Silicon Valley, serving Santa Clara County, and the Peninsula Community Foundation, serving San Mateo County.

Palo Alto resident Leonard Ely also was recognized Wednesday as the archetype of the new foundation's ideal philanthropist.

The octogenarian was presented with the Spirit of Philanthropy Award, given annually to an individual who inspires philanthropy and has a strong commitment to charitable giving. Bill Gates Jr. is a past recipient.

Ely, an auto dealer and real estate investor, has served on more than 30 Silicon Valley nonprofit boards. In 1979, he volunteered to work for $1 per year as a full-time fundraiser for the Community Foundation Silicon Valley. The foundation had $700,000 in assets at time. He oversaw a 10-fold increase in the decade that followed.

In July, the boards of both the Peninsula Community Foundation and Community Foundation Silicon Valley unanimously voted to merge, creating the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, which has combined assets of $1.5 billion and more than 1,400 philanthropic funds. Officials expect the move will allow them to better serve the communities of San Mateo and Santa Clara and impact public policy.

"This year our foundation's board and our friends to the north after months of research ... decided that (merging would) better serve this region we call home," said Greg Avis, chairman of Community Foundation Silicon Valley's board of directors. "We didn't want the new foundation just to be a grant maker."

Each week, the Community Foundation Silicon Valley grants more than $2 million to the public benefit sector in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, including neighborhood grants in Gilroy and the Start Up project in East Palo Alto. The foundation in the past decade has distributed more than $500 million in grants and raised more than $1.2 billion to fund projects such as Young Readers-Future Leaders, School Health Clinics of Santa Clara County and the Girls Club of Mid-Peninsula.

Talks of merging the two foundations began in 1991. Under the merger, the board members also expect better investment options, greater ability to connect donors to local causes and streamlined grant programs.

When Carson takes over Nov. 1 the foundation will not have a central office, let alone have compatible internal software systems.

He anticipates a slow and calculated start to the new foundation.

"My priority will be building the ship right, rather than building the ship fast," he said. "We will be shaped by a future different from the past."

E-mail Kristen Munson at kmunson@dailynewsgroup.com.