Cash Grants

Investing in People & Places

Community Need

Nonprofit agencies do not have enough unrestricted flexible capital to effectively sustain and support their community missions.

Our Philanthropic Response

To invest in the nonprofit enterprise as a whole, providing unrestricted funds toward an organization’s infrastructure and administrative expenses.

We believe the two fundamental assets of any business or organization are its people and places.

People create and implement solutions to address individual and community needs.
Places are required to operate businesses and programs as well as serve clients and customers.

SFF has chosen to commit its resources to build and strengthen the human resources and building capital of effective community-based nonprofits, so they can fully accomplish their missions.

Cash Grants Criteria

SFF investments are targeted toward strong community-based organizations that promote self-reliance and economic independence, and positively contribute to the quality of life for economically, physically and/or emotionally challenged individuals in Santa Clara, San Mateo and Southern Alameda Counties.

The Foundation’s broad interests include, but are not limited to:

Education
Health
Human Services (including Crime & Legal Related Services, Employment Training, Housing & Shelter, Human Services & Food Programs, and Youth Development)
Public/Societal Benefit organizations (specifically Nonprofit Capacity Building agencies)

Grant Decision Process

SFF staff and Board of Directors conduct a competitive review process for cash grants. Awards are based on the following:

Alignment with the Foundation Board’s mission and client service priorities,
The applicant’s organizational capacity to support its mission, including program quality and effectiveness, staff and board volunteer leadership, the agency’s reputation and experience, and
The applicant’s capital structure to support its mission.

SFF does not require an organization to request a specific dollar amount as part of the application process. If a grant is approved, the Foundation generally awards operating support in the range of 1-8% of an agency’s three-year average renewable private cash contributed income figure (excluding unique one-time gifts, bequests, capital campaign and endowment contributions).

Grant Award Features

This innovative program benefits the social impact of both SFF and its grantees:

Flexibility and Accountability: grantees have more discretion over fund allocation relative to their other revenue streams. We trust them to effectively invest in either or both of these expense categories:
- People (staff salaries and benefits, Board development, volunteer training, succession planning, etc.)
- Places (rent and utilities subsidy, facilities maintenance costs, building rehabilitation, etc.)
Leverage: We award support in the form of 2:1 fundraising challenge grants to help sustain and/or build nonprofits’ institutional capacity. A Challenge Grant from our Foundation is defined as a grant that is contingent upon new or increased funds raised and received from non-governmental sources during the first year of a specific grant period.
Multi-Year support with a 5% increase in the second year: We provide two years of unrestricted conditional support to ensure funding stability during nonprofits’ strategic planning and budgeting cycles. We do not require any “time off” between grants, so an agency can receive continuous funding.