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NOVEMBER 2021
Dear Board of Trustees,

Welcome to the second edition of our Board newsletter! In response to some feedback, we added a section to highlight some quick and recent wins here at the foundation. We hope to ensure this is a valuable tool for the Board. Please see below for our feedback form.

Thank you for everything you do!

Respectfully,

Valerie Goode
Vice-President Marketing and Communications
Newsletter Feedback
SFF Recent Wins
Here are a couple of Foundation wins that we wanted to share:
  • The Foundation received a $1,000,000 grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation to support phase II of our Regional Recovery work and Partnership for the Bay Area's Future.
  • We recently announced supporting Black-led Organizations with $3.4 million in grants.
  • The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marica Fudge, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Mayor London Breed visited Sunnydale, one of our HOPE SF sites. Click here for an SF Examiner article and here for the Speaker's remarks. 
SFF in the News
We compiled a list of some of the major stories involving the Foundation over the past couple of months.  Some articles may require a username/ password. These are available in BoardEffect or you can contact Gia for assistance.
Here is an article about the philanthropic field you may find of interest:

SFF will turn 75 in 2023!  

We have begun drafting themes, tactics, and stories to strengthen SFF's brand during our anniversary year in 2023. Some of the content has been so compelling that we've already started using it in our marketing. Check out Justin Steele's video about why he believes in the Bay Area Leads Fund.

By mid-December, we plan to identify a consultant - with the endorsement of the PGP Committee - to complete a feasibility study for a fundraising campaign. A feasibility study will assess the Foundation's readiness to embark on a major fundraising campaign. It will include a recommendation for a fundraising goal and timeline, data from donors and prospects, feedback on fundraising messaging, and budget and resource recommendations. 

In Case You Missed It

Bay Area Leads Report

Check out our 2021 Bay Area Leads Report with highlights from our work. 

A Just Recovery for the Bay Area 2021 Annual Report

With a brand new format, the 2021 annual report provides a reflection on our work this past year.

Board of Trustees Corner

Bob Friedman Offers a Reflection
"With the loss of my 101 3/4-year-old uncle [Ted Geballe] - the last of that incredible generation - and other inspirations like Jim Hormel, I guess I have to grow up. I aspire to become an Elder, which I think takes more than age, and spend the rest of my days in common cause with SFF, the Rosenberg Foundation, Prosperity Now, Ecotrust, and others in the front lines seeking to finally achieve a measure of racial equity in the Bay Area and this country, including closing the gaping and inexcusable racial wealth divide in my (receding) lifetime."
Bob's Favorite Quote
"Money is like Manure. Pile it up in one place and it stinks. Spread it around and good things grow."

F. Warren Hellman, Former Chair of SFF, inspiration, relative, and friend.
 
Book Recommendations
Dorothy Brown's The Whiteness of Wealth about the role of the tax system in producing and maintaining the racial wealth divide.
Peter Barnes' Ours: The Case for Universal Property. Peter "makes a cogent case for claiming our common natural and social inheritance in the name of all, and presents a practical way of creating common wealth and a universal income flow of several thousand dollars per person per year while curbing carbon emissions and climate change. Brilliant. Compelling. 'The adjacent possible.'"
Justina Offers Book Recommendations
 
I just finished reading How to Be Animal: A New History of What It Means to be Human by Melanie Challenger which was a fascinating meld of biology, genetics, evolution, psychology and philosophy and offered a clear rejection of the concept of human exceptionalism which, arguably, has been a key driver of the environmental and ecological destruction, mass extinctions and racial injustice.

How to Be Animal also makes an interesting companion piece to another book I read a few months ago, Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea and the Deep Origins of Consciousness by Peter Godfrey-Smith. Other Minds is an equally thought-provoking book that takes a similarly multi-disciplinary approach towards the roots of consciousness and intelligence, which he suggests are not uniquely mammalian or human. Both are quite provocative and humbling reads.
 
Theodore Henry "Ted" Geballe
(1920 - 2021) 

We offer our heartfelt condolences to the friends and family of Theodore Henry Geballe. A long-time friend and supporter of the Foundation, Mr. Geballe recently passed away peacefully at his home. He was married to Francis "Sissy" Koshland for 77 years until Sissy's death two years ago. As one family member reflected, "It is the passing of the torch to a new generation, although the next Gen knows that we can't live up to the standards of our mighty Elders (referred to as "The Seven Redwoods.") Uncle Ted was described as the superconductor of infectious love, or as Steady Teddy. He only stopped going to Stanford every day until PreCOVID - when he was still 100 years young."

See below to read more about Mr. Geballe.
 
Theodore Henry "Ted" Geballe Obituary
Please use the form below to share updates with your fellow trustees.
Board Member Updates Form

SFF's Team Updates

We are always looking for talented people to join our team.
See our current openings

Upcoming Committee Meetings

Below are some key upcoming committee meetings for the Foundation. 
  • 11/18/21    8:45 - 10:00 am; Professional Advisors Council 
  • 11/18/21    3:00 - 5:00 pm; Audit Committee
  • 12/02/21    10:00 am - 12:00 pm; Investment Committee
  • 12/17/21    8:45 - 10:00 am; Professional Advisors Council
  • 02/17/22    8:45 - 10:00 am; Professional Advisors Council 
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