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Climate Learning Session & Environment Lightning Grant Round

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Environment issues are now at the forefront of challenges facing the world, with many implications for the Bay Area and our local communities. Regardless of your particular issue interest area(s), climate will affect it. It is all interconnected and climate is foundational to our ability to thrive as individuals and communities. Join us for a local and actionable learning session about Climate Realities: Opportunities + Resilience for All on Wednesday, April 1st 6:30-8:30pm at SV2. RSVP here.

The Lightning Grant Round (LGR) with a broader and interconnected environment focus will happen in Spring and Fall 2020. 

Both the learning session and LGR are co-led by SV2 Partners Bill Brownell and Jennifer McFarlane, and SV2 staff Amy Badiani.

This sounds amazing! What will I do and how can I sign up for the LGR?

Partners will review and select from a group of six Bay Area organizations nominated by our Funder Allies. We’re delighted and so grateful to have Heising-Simons Foundation and Sand Hill Foundation as our Funder Allies for the Spring and Fall Lightning Grant Rounds. Partners will vote on 3 organizations to become finalists.

  1. Meeting 1 (meet and get to know our three finalist organizations): Monday, May 4th 6:30-9pm in Palo Alto. | RSVP here
  2. Meeting 2 (Partners discuss our three finalist organizations and vote on Grantee): Monday, May 18th 6:30-9pm in Palo Alto. To vote, Partners must read the diligence shared about the three finalist organizations before Meeting 2 and be present in-person at Meeting 2. | RSVP here

Meeting 1 is open to SV2 Partners and Prospective Partners. Meeting 2 is open to just SV2 Partners. Both meetings will be held in the Adobe Room, Mitchell Park Community Center: 3700 Middlefield Rd, Palo Alto, CA 94303. Please RSVP by Monday, April 20th 2020. You’ll get more details once you RSVP and more information about the shortlisted organizations in the beginning of April.

What is a Lightning Grant Round?

Lightning Grant Rounds are a shortened grantmaking experience, taking place over four to six weeks with only two in-person meetings. For the Lightning Rounds, SV2 collaborates with funder allies who nominate organizations from their portfolios and share their diligence materials with us. Working with funder allies relieves the burden for nonprofit applicants and allows SV2 Partners to learn how our funder allies approach their work. 

During Lightning Rounds, participating Partners have the opportunity to research and get to know six organizations in the sector, learn from funder allies about these organizations, hear presentations from the leaders of three finalist organizations, and collectively select a single Grantee. Lightning Round Grantees receive a one-year general operating support grant of up to $30,000, and participating Partners get to engage in a fantastic hands-on learning experience.

Board of Directors Openings & Accepting Social Impact Award Nominees

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SV2 Board of Directors Openings

We are pleased to announce that we will have at least one open seat on the SV2 Board of Directors to be filled this Spring. The SV2 Board has limited terms, and some current members will be terming off. There will be an open application process – any Partner who is interested in serving on the SV2 Board should fill out the Statement of Interest form, which you can access and download here.

If you are interested in applying, please email your completed form to the chair of SV2’s Nominating & Governance Board Committee, Jim Basile, by Wednesday, March 25, 2020. The Nominating & Governance Board Committee will review all Statements of Interest in May and will be in touch with applicants individually at that time.

New Board member(s) will attend an orientation over the summer and begin serving on the Board in Fall 2020. If you have any questions about the SV2 Board or the Board application process, please do not hesitate to contact Jim Basile. The Board looks forward serving with the new members who will help steward SV2 through our next exciting chapter.

2020 Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen Social Impact Award Nominations

Each year, the Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen Award is presented to an SV2 Partner who has gone above and beyond in their service on behalf of SV2 and/or our Grantees and Impact Investees. 

Past award recipients include: Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen (2010), Mark Parnes (2011), Laura Lauder (2012), Nancy Heinen (2015), Kelly Pope (2016), Alison Elliott (2017), Bill Brownell (2018), and Tony Stayner (2019). In SV2’s 15th anniversary year (2013-14), the awardees were a group of SV2 Pioneers, Partners without whom SV2 would not be what it is today: Susan Ford Dorsey, Marcia & John Goldman, Ted & Kathleen Kelly Janus, Karla Jurvetson, Charlene & Derry Kabcenell, Jeff Skoll, Lisa Sobrato Sonsini, and Akiko Yamazaki & Jerry Yang.

Nomination process and deadline: Any SV2 Partner may nominate another Partner for the 2020 award using this form. Please submit your nominations to SV2 CEO Linda Lazor via email by Tuesday, March 24, 2020. SV2’s Board Executive Committee will serve as the selection committee. The award recipient will be unveiled at SV2’s 2020 Spring Gathering, Scaling for Impact on Tuesday, April 21, 2020.

 

Inclusive Democracy: Fostering Participation for All

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Why doesn’t everyone vote? What would be the impact if everyone did? And how can we support change to make our democracy more inclusive and representative of our population? Today, many in our communities are significantly underrepresented in local, state and national elections, both as voters and as elected officials.

Join us to hear from and engage with four panelists, each with deep knowledge and experience with representative democracy and civic participation.

We are pleased to welcome Sara Guillermo, Chief Program Officer, Ignite; Mindy Romero, Founder and Director of the California Civic Engagement Project (CCEP) at the University of Southern California’s Sol Price School of Public Policy; José Santos, Program Officer, The Grove Action Fund and Lisa Gauthier, Council Member for the City of East Palo Alto.

We’ll explore the current reality, along with efforts to change the face of who is voting and participating so that our democracy is truly representative.

The Big Picture: Voter data and who has/hasn’t been voting historically and why? What is working to increase voter engagement?

On-the-Ground: What organizations – local and otherwise – are working to increase voter participation and civic engagement across the state and beyond.

Pipeline of Leaders: How do we cultivate a pipeline of candidates representative of all people and communities, and ensure that our elected and appointed leaders are listening and otherwise connected to those they represent?

While the primary focus will be on Silicon Valley and California, our panel and subsequent interactive discussion will connect the conversation to the larger national context. Come with curiosity and questions! RSVP here.  

Dinner served at 6:15pm. Program begins at 6:30pm. 

Introducing Our Newest Impact Investee: Amped Innovation

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We’re pleased to introduce our newest Impact Investee, Amped Innovation! SV2 has made a $25,000 investment in Amped Innovation, which joins our portfolio as our thirteenth impact investment since 2015.

Amped Innovation designs and engineers high-quality, solar-powered appliances to increase income for families living under $4 per day. Amped’s products spark the conversion of latent energy demand to actual demand in off-grid regions by finally making these products and power systems economically viable. Amped’s best-in-class efficient appliances meet the needs of distributors and are affordable to low-income populations, helping families move out of poverty by unlocking rural energy access. It supports productive use appliances for those who want to watch TV, light up their homes, charge their phones, make ice, power a barber shop, preserve fish and produce, irrigate their crops and more.

Amped is focused on building

  • income generating appliances that go beyond 200W at less than $400 end-user price point that increase incomes.
  • the highest power entry-level product in the market to drive new customers to distributed energy. 
  • the backup “reliability” hardware that makes mini-grids and weak grids more cost-effective and efficient (distributed battery backup and efficient appliances).

Amped’s social impact includes both environmental and economic impact: 

  • reduction of black carbon and CO2 emissions
  • economic savings as households switch from kerosene and/or other conventional fuels 
  • improved health, especially respiratory and eye issues from reduced exposure to kerosene fumes and reduced burns
  • increased incomes as households use appliances to support and expand their businesses

Join us in welcoming Amped Innovation to the SV2 community. For more information, please visit Amped on their website.

Impact Investing? Tell me more.

If you’re new to impact investing, learn more about how it works at SV2 by checking out our helpful overview. The SV2 Impact Investing Working Group meets monthly to discuss prospective impact investment opportunities, hear pitches from social entrepreneurs, and perform due diligence in order to make informed investment decisions on behalf of SV2. All Partners are welcome to begin regularly attending IIWG meetings at any point in the year or are welcome to audit meetings on a drop-in basis. This is a fantastic way to hear from inspiring social entrepreneurs and participate in a hands-on and highly engaged investment process.

Grantee Spotlight | Center for Youth Wellness

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In early January 2020, Center for Youth Wellness was featured in San Francisco Chronicle: “Bay Area doctors target health consequences of childhood trauma.” The tool that CYW researchers and doctors helped test and develop will help doctors statewide address trauma affecting patients’ health. As of January 1st, the tool’s use is covered by Medi-Cal, and it will be available to pediatricians at 8,800 California clinics. 

Dr. Nadine Burke Harris (CYW Founder and now Surgeon General of California), shared “I feel like this is a turning point in modern medicine, to recognize and respond to trauma as a root cause of acute and long-term health problems…This work is truly historic.”

Furthermore, the CYW Team recently published an impact report “Looking Back Facing Forward” – with many great stories and examples of impact and the way forward, including CYW’s intentionality of being more than just a screening tool, and actually building community capacity. CYW shares “The key to our capacity-building work is our bottom-up approach. We work hand in hand with community members to remove obstacles and tailor a solution that works for them.”  This is for example, reflected in the success of their feasibility study in Detroit and community design sessions in Fresno and Bayview-Hunters Point. 

Also, “Since its launch in 2018, CYW’s Stress Health public education initiative has reached over 32.6 million people, raising awareness of ACEs and toxic stress across the country focusing specifically on parent and caregiver populations. CYW’s social communities grew by 18.3% over the past year.” 

The Center for Youth Wellness was selected by SV2 as a Grantee during the Early Life Grant Round in 2019. SV2’s total grant award of $115,000 to CYW was matched, translating into a $230,000 impact. CYW’s Lead Partners are Deb Dauber and Kelly Pope – both getting great reviews from CYW about their support and guidance – including help thinking through their role beyond research to implementation science, crafting a job opening, and overall being helpful advisors as needed. CYW also shares how the site-visit experience with SV2 Partners helped them build a new strategic direction.

In the continued words of CYW to you / their supporters: “You’ve helped open the door to healing this year!”

SV2 Visionary Leadership Circle: Social Impact Acceleration meets Celebration

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SV2 is an accelerator of social impact leaders. And SV2’s Visionary Leadership Circle (VLC)  is an accelerator of SV2. These SV2 Partners and supporters provide financial and strategic support that make it possible for a wider range of givers to be part of the SV2 community, as well as to continue to grow our outsized social impact in Silicon Valley and well beyond.  

Founded in 2016, the VLC includes both “pioneer Partners” who have fueled SV2 since its founding in 1998  and more recent additions to the SV2 Partner community. It has grown, with each VLC member contributing $20,000+ each year to support SV2’s organizational capacity and sustainable impact.  

VLC members connect twice a year for intimate gatherings in a special setting with an invited guest to engage in dialogue about a social impact topic using our guest’s perspective as a springboard. 

On Tuesday, February 4th from 6:00 – 8:00 pm, SV2 Partner and VLC member, Judy Koch will host the Visionary Leadership Circle for cocktails and conversation with special guest, Holly Kernan, Chief Content Officer for KQED.  We invite current Partners and those considering joining SV2 to learn more by contacting Lisa Van Dusen reach out to VLC Steering Committee members Aarti Chandna, Lisa Jones, Kelly Pope or Tony Stayner.

Welcome SV@Home — SV2’s newest three-year Grantee!

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The Affordable Housing Grant Round — part of SV2’s local Pathways to Opportunity focus — looked at approaches and organizations which are working to address the complex Bay Area housing crisis. Partners learned about the range of housing needs (from homeless to middle income residents) and considered various approaches like the “Three P’s” (Production, Preservation, and Protection), and intervention models including direct services and advocacy. Special thanks to our Funder Allies, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and Silicon Valley Community Foundation, who nominated promising organizations from their portfolios and shared their insights and best practices with SV2 Partners on conference calls. 

After an insightful kickoff learning panel and a rigorous process of hands-on learning and diligence, Partners selected three finalist organizations to make in-person presentations and site visits. Following a thorough final decision discussion, Partners selected SV@Home to receive a grant of $120,000, given over three years. Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto (CLSEPA) and Catalyze SV were awarded finalist grants of $10,000 each.

SV@Home’s mission is to drive the creation of affordable housing for a more vibrant and equitable Silicon Valley. They work at the local, regional, and state level, and have been conducting advocacy, education, research, and communications activities since July 2015. The focus of their work is to increase affordable housing options for those with the greatest need–households earning less than 60% AMI–and they recognize that many households making more than 60% of area median income also struggle to live in this high cost area. 

SV2 Partners were impressed by SV@Home’s…

  • Reputation as a “big tent” organization which values all voices and makes room for diverse stakeholders in a complex crisis
  • Value as a collaborative convener
  • Significant leveraged impact — thousands of units developed or committed
  • Potential for impact at local, regional, and state level

Join us in welcoming this effective and impactful organization to the SV2 Portfolio!

A New Year of Social Impact

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Happy New Year to all of our SV2 Partners and friends. As we start a new decade, we hope you will join us to go farther together to create positive change. 

We have a variety of opportunities  to accelerate the learning of SV2 Partners and families and to support promising social enterprises. More information is below. Mark your calendars and register for upcoming events.  We look forward to seeing you soon. 

Grant Making and Impact Investing

Our first Impact Investing meeting this year is  on Wednesday, January 15. Join us to hear from exciting social enterprises and discuss prospective impact investment opportunities.  Plan to stay a little longer for a special learning session immediately following the Impact Investing Working Group to learn more about SV2’s approach to impact investing.

Our Community Deep Dive Grant Round kicks off on January 28. This Grant Round will look at the overlapping levers of education, workforce development, and basic needs in a particular geography: North Fair Oaks.   We hope Partners will engage to learn more deeply about this local community – their history, assets, and challenges – and participate in discovering and supporting promising local nonprofits.

Our Lightning Grant Round on the Environment will take place in May. Stay tuned for more information!

Family Philanthropy 

Our SV2 Teens Program kicks off Sunday, January 12.  Our Teen social impact leaders will gain exposure to pressing local social issues, learn about nonprofit organizations and collaborate together to provide funding to three organizations.  We also invite current Partners to join our next Family Philanthropy Interest Circle meeting on Thursday, January 30. 

SV2 Learning Opportunities

A broad array of learning events are coming up in a variety of topics and issue areas.  January events include Impact Investing in Climate Solutions, Learning About Disability Issues in the Bay Area and Beyond, and Leading Community Systems Change.  We also invite you to deepen your effective giving knowledge through attending one of our Art of Assessing Nonprofits workshops in February and March.

SV2 Community Events

A range of community events enables SV2 Partners to further build connections and strengthen relationships. Our first Environment Partner Interest Circle (EPIC) meeting is Monday, January 13. Board-hosted dinners are scheduled for January and March.  And our SV2 book club meets monthly and starts up again in January.  

Looking Ahead

We look forward to going farther together in 2020 to unleash the resources and talents of our Silicon Valley community to achieve meaningful social impact. We invite all of our Partners to participate at whatever level works for you! Mark your calendars and register for upcoming events. And stay tuned for ongoing information through our monthly SV2 newsletter.

Join the Community Deep Dive Grant Round!

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The Community Deep Dive Grant Round — part of SV2‘s local Pathways to Opportunity focus — will look at the overlapping levers of education, workforce development, and basic needs in a particular geography: North Fair Oaks / Redwood City. The Grant Round is intended to help Partners learn more deeply about this particular community — SV2’s near neighbor — its history, assets, opportunities, and challenges, as well as the institutions and organizations which make up its social sector. We hope to engage with residents, community leaders, nonprofit leaders, school and government leaders, funders, and others who are invested in Redwood City’s success. 

At the Grant Round Kickoff Meeting on January 28, an expert panel of community leaders will help us learn about the history and current landscape in North Fair Oaks / Redwood City. The panel discussion will set the stage for our learning and grantmaking deep dive into this community. The meeting will take place in the community, exact location TBD. Lunch served at 11:15am. Program begins at 11:30am. RSVP here.

As this is SV2’s first geographically-focused Grant Round, we expect to include some new elements. Early ideas include:

  • The pool of applicant organizations will be sourced in part through direct input from community members
  • Some Grant Round meetings will take place in the community
  • A new approach to the application process: verbal “coffee chats” between small groups of Partners and nonprofit applicants will take the place of written grant applications
  • One or more “Get Proximate” experiences will help Partners deepen their learning through authentic engagement in the community
  • While still under discussion, the division of the grant funds (total $140k) might look different from SV2’s typical main Grantee + two finalist Grantees

The Grant Round will run from January to May, and is led by Partners Rachel Klausner and Kwok Lau and staff member Jody Chang. 

Please contact Jody Chang if you would like to have your name added to the email list for this Grant Round and participate beginning in January.

Welcome, Newest Lightning Grantee BAYCAT!

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Our Fall 2019 Building Opportunity and Inclusivity through the Performing Arts Lightning Grant Round (LGR) kicked off with understanding community insights. The insights were recently gathered by our terrific Funder Ally and Financial Sponsor The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. 

“One thing we heard clearly in all six of the listening circles was the importance of the relationships between your artistic practices, your holistic and individual identities, and the places in which you live. For some, these connections were about your own community, its presence in a certain place, and your deep desire to be of service. For others, these connections were rooted in and inseparable from your people’s culture, stories, and practices. And for others it was about diaspora, or a distance from home that led to a feeling (and in most cases, a physical) displacement from a culture in which you felt visible and respected.” – Emiko Ono, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

The six incredible organizations who participated were:

  • BAYCAT – ends racial, gender, and economic inequities by opening the media industry to underrepresented storytellers
  • Leap Arts in Education – provides students the arts education required to develop the skills, determination, and creativity to reach beyond their potential
  • Joe Goode Performance Group – promotes understanding, compassion and tolerance among people through the innovative use of dance and theater
  • School of Arts and Culture at Mexican Heritage Plaza – catalyzes creativity and empowering community
  • Women’s Audio Mission – advances women and girls in music production and the recording arts #changingthefaceofsound
  • Zawaya – contributes to the multicultural discourse of the Bay Area with the Arab Arts

After a robust review and discussion process, SV2 Partners selected BAYCAT as our new Lightning Grantee. BAYCAT is doing amazing work in driving people to create inclusive and equitable communities and changing the stories that get shared with the world.                    We’re honored to be on the journey with BAYCAT.

We’re so grateful for all the feedback and got several great suggestions to improve our process moving forward – to make it a lighter lift and better experience for participating organizations, and to enrich the Partner learning experience.

Here is a quote from Joe Goode Performance Group about their experience with us:

“Joe Goode Performance Group was honored to be a part of this granting experience, and appreciative of SV2’s commitment to uplifting the work of local non-profits in the work they are already doing. The process was clear and considered, and we felt supported throughout. It’s refreshing to work with a funder that is building philanthropy in new and innovative ways, mindful of the resource and time constraints on the non-profit organizations in our region. Thank you!”

25 Partners participated in this LGR. Of the Partners who completed the feedback survey, 43% of Partners shared that as a result of participating in this LGR, their level of knowledge about local community needs and potential solutions has significantly increased. 86% of Partners found participating in this grant round useful.

Here is a quote from Grace Mah, SV2 Partner:

“This LGR has further exposed me to the performing arts activities in the Bay Area, and has given me a greater appreciation for their contributions to our communities. The significant social impact of the performing arts was eye-opening in the high quality organizations that we considered.”

A big thank you to Adam Fong, Program Officer in the Performing Arts Program with the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (our gracious Funder Ally and Financial Sponsor). A huge shout out and appreciation to Ellen Lussier, JoAnne Tillemans, and Lisa Jones (our Partner Co-Leaders). These Leaders have truly ‘lived’ our mission through this role – from helping us empathize better with our local communities and performing arts organizations, to cultivating such rich learning, to innovating this LGR structure to encourage more participants to share and take ownership, to getting super-detailed with so many aspects of preparation, to being overall wonderful to collaborate with! 

Special kudos and thanks to all who participated and shared in making this a wonderful and insightful experience.