For Donors > Customized Grant Making

PVF is known for customized grant making: matching a donor's giving interest with an innovative program that PVF has either designed or identified for a donor.

Immediate Response Grants

In response to a private foundation's goal to improve public education and the teaching of science, PVF created the "Immediate Response" Teacher Resource Grants Program, which enabled teachers to request funding of up to $500 each for classroom resources, field trips or professional development. As a result of the success of this program, it has been expanded to 7 San Francisco Bay Area counties, with new programs added, serving children in the dependency system and emancipating foster youth, meeting critical needs as identified by social workers, court-appointed special advocates, and juvenile court judges and attorneys  For a listing of current immediate response grants programs see PVF Programs.

Philanthropy fellowships - a memorial to Tom Ford

When donors have ideas for programs they would like to see implemented in the community, PVF works with them to formulate a giving program from the idea, then administers the program for them.

For example, when Susan Ford Dorsey wanted to create a program to honor her late husband, Tom Ford, PVF designed two programs: the Tom Ford Fellowship Program — one-year internships for Stanford graduates in U.S. philanthropic foundations related to the fellows' interests and experiences; and the Sand Hill Fellowship Program — intensive full-time summer internships for Stanford undergraduates at local foundations. These programs are in their seventh year of continued funding by the Sand Hill Foundation, and are managed by PVF in collaboration with Stanford University’s Haas Center for Public Service.

Another project funded by the Sand Hill Foundation is the Student Philanthropy Program, which gives students at Stanford University an opportunity to experience the world of philanthropy though a service learning class, co-taught for eight years by PVF Director Bill Somerville. Students work closely with a school or nonprofit, learning its mission, vision and future needs, then create service-learning or social-action projects that fellow students consider for funding from a pool of $25,000.

“In my five years at Stanford, as both an undergraduate and graduate student, I cannot recall another course that excited me intellectually, emotionally and philosophically the way this class did,” said Stanford University student Kelsey Twist. “Without funding, our project would have remained theoretical instead of becoming a transformative life experience.”
Fellow student Abby Guinn agrees: “This was the only class in the School of Education at Stanford that linked our studies to the community in a truly meaningful way. It was one of the most valuable aspects of my year at Stanford.”

 

Rancho Day - Teacher MiniGrant