INSPIRED GIVING

Black Farming: Food Justice and Land Stewardship

Monday, November 8, 2021 
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm PDT 

Black communities have a long and complicated relationship with American soil. The ongoing call to address systemic racism, patterns of abuse, violence and dispossession have brought back to the mainstream the conversation of Black, Indigenous, and people-of-color (BIPOC) communities' historical connections to land. 
 
What are the connections between this history and current food deserts? How is the Black farming movement connected to changes in larger food systems and the growth of worker cooperatives? How are people incorporating environmental sustainability into their work? And what can we learn from both the rich history of resistance and current strategies to inform how we resource a world where all people have access to healthy, fresh and locally sourced food?

2021 Year-End Giving Season Resources

Your Philanthropic Services team compiled a comprehensive resource guide to help with your year-end giving. Please call your dedicated Help Line at (415) 733-8590 or email us at donorservices[at]sff.org if you have any additional questions.  

Important Year-End Giving Deadlines 

• November 15, 2021: Recommended date to initiate gifts of mutual fund shares 

• December 1, 2021: Recommended date to initiate gifts of securities or wire transfers. 

• December 3, 2021: Recommended date to initiate an IRA Qualified Charitable Distribution. 

• December 13, 2021: Grant recommendations due by 5:00 p.m. PDT. 

• December 31, 2021: This is the final date for charitable contributions to be tax deductible for 2021. (San Francisco Foundation office is closed on this day. We are also closed the week of January 3, 2022.) 

If you’re making a gift to SFF for your fund and paying by check, please note that we have a new P.O. box.

Send a check payable to "The San Francisco Foundation." Indicate the name of your fund in the memo line and mail the check to: 

The San Francisco Foundation 
P.O. Box 889275 
Los Angeles, CA 90088-9275 

(Wells Fargo, our bank, recently transitioned to a new processing location.)

• If you mail a check, the envelope must be postmarked by December 31 by USPS to count as a gift for 2021.
• Gifts delivered by a private service company (e.g., Fed Ex) must arrive at the Foundation before December 31. (We do not recommend this option while we are working remotely and out of the office.)
• Credit card gifts must be made before 12 midnight on December 31 in your time zone.

Support SFF’s Bay Area Leads Fund

The San Francisco Foundation established the Bay Area Leads Fund to support our leadership activities to create an equitable Bay Area. The fund supports our efforts to improve working conditions for workers with low wages, keep people in their homes, and harness the vibrancy of our diverse region. Specifically, the fund supports the foundation’s advocacy and action-oriented research, such as our contributions to the Bay Area Equity Atlas. 

Fred Blackwell, SFF’s CEO, recently published an opinion piece in CalMatters, the state’s premier non-profit publication dedicated to in-depth news and analysis on California’s most pressing issues. Citing research from the Bay Area Equity Atlas, Fred made a case for the importance of keeping housing as a priority in President Biden’s Build Back Better legislation under consideration.  

As you consider your year-end giving plans, we invite you to contribute to SFF's Bay Area Leads Fund. Your financial support provides SFF with the resources to engage with our communities and elected officials to promote policies that will help everyone in the Bay Area thrive.  

You can recommend a grant from your donor advised fund to the San Francisco Foundation, and for the short purpose of the grant, please indicate Bay Area Leads Fund. 

Alternatively, you can make a credit card donation on our site by selecting “Bay Area Leads Fund” in the dropdown menu for “Select a fund.” 

To learn more about the Bay Area Leads Fund and the leadership activities that it supports, we invite you to read our latest 2021 Impact Report, Civic Leadership to Build and Inclusive Bay Area.

Arts Spotlight

San Francisco Foundation is proud to bestow a variety of programs and awards in the arts that help foster innovation and individual artistic growth within our community. Follow us on social media and look out for our monthly Arts Thursday spotlight on SFF arts grantees and partners.

We are pleased to feature SFF grant partner EPACENTER: a youth creative development center amplifying the creative potential in young people through art, design, technology, and culture. EPACENTER is now offering its Fall online free arts programs to East Palo Alto youth looking for new ways to express themselves and grow in multiple creative fields.

If you would like to recommend a grant to support EPACENTER ARTS, please log into the Donor Center or contact your philanthropic advisor.  

2021 End of Year Give Guide: Advancing Racial Equity in the Bay Area

To help spark ideas for your year-end giving, our team is offering this Give Guide, curated by local experts, highlighting community-based organizations that are making significant advancements for racial equity in the Bay Area.

We invite you to join us and donors in the SFF community in recommending a grant by December 13, 2021, to help make 2022 a more prosperous and powerful year for everyone who calls the Bay Area home. Our team of Philanthropic Advisors would be thrilled to offer additional or customized recommendations at your request as well. Please contact your personal Philanthropic Advisor or email donorservices@sff.org.

Investing in Community: The Story of Tin Shing Printing

Since 2009, SFF has invested a portion of its Bay Area Community Impact Fund into Northeast Community Federal Credit Union. BACIF makes short-term, mission-aligned investments, such as insured deposits in local community banks and credit unions.  
 
In 1988, Ming Luk wanted to start a printing business in San Francisco’s Chinatown to support his young family. He had experience – he had worked in the printing industry in his native Hong Kong –but without any savings, banks wouldn’t take a chance on his business idea. Then he met Lily Lo, a manager of a new community credit union called Northeast Community Federal Credit Union. As part of a culturally competent, Chinatown-based credit union, Ms. Lo believed in Mr. Luk’s ability to pay back the loan. Which he did, more than once, as his business, Tin Shing Printing, grew. “Investing in small businesses gives back to the community,” says Ms. Lo. “Because as the business grows, it strengthens families and their futures.” 
 
Northeast Community Federal Credit Union was founded in 1981 by community members who recognized a problem: Chinatown had no shortage of banks, but many community members without savings were shut out from borrowing and saving because they couldn’t meet the banks’ burdensome requirements, like a high minimum deposit. That’s where the credit union stepped in – to help people left out of the banking system – by offering free savings accounts that required only $25 to open, as well as small personal loans. Slowly, but surely, they helped their customers in Chinatown save, borrow, and build their credit history and small businesses.

Philanthropy’s Role in a Post-Roe Reality

Wednesday, December 1, 2021
12:00pm-1:00pm PDT

Join sociologist, author, activist and SFF donor, Dr. Gretchen Sisson for a discussion about the current abortion access crisis and what donors can do as we brace for the overturn of Roe v Wade and the continued threats on women's health. RSVP Now.

Youth Access to Nature Virtual Donor Briefing

Thursday, December 9, 2021
10:30am-12:30pm PDT

Please join San Francisco Foundation for a virtual donor briefing and an exciting announcement about plans to better support the work of our Youth Access to Nature grantee partners. Contact Francesca Vietor fvietor@sff.org for more information. RSVP Now.