Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF)

Community Action Grants Program To shift more funding toward local organizations led by people of color, SVCF launched the Community Action Grants program in January 2021. In just its first year, the program awarded 108 grants totaling nearly $2.7 million to organizations across seven different issue areas: arts and culture, faith, neighborhoods, local journalism, civic participation, the environment and health. Investing in Movement- and Power-Building SVCF is working to address structural inequalities and power dynamics in the community through grant funds established in 2021: the California Black Freedom Fund and the LatinXCEL Fund. These funds were created to address unequal access to power and funding by intentionally providing unrestricted funds to nonprofit organizations that organize and serve people of color, build coalitions and advocate for public policy changes. California Black Freedom Fund Launched in February 2021, the California Black Freedom Fund (CBFF), created with Black leaders and organizers, ensures that California's growing ecosystem of locally rooted, Black-led organizing efforts have sustained investments and resources needed to eradicate systemic and institutional racism. The fund addresses a history of underinvestment in Black-led organizations and power-building by philanthropy. Since its launch, the CBFF has made $15 million in grants to support over 75 Black-led groups across California. LatinXCEL Fund SVCF launched the LatinXCEL Fund in May 2021 in partnership with The Castellano Family Foundation as a way to unleash the Latinx community's civic and economic potential through targeted, long-term investments in Latinx-led nonprofits and leaders. In 2021, SVCF awarded $1.4 million in grants to 36 inaugural grantees.