The Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF) has announced that it distributed $4.58 billion in grants to more than 5,500 nonprofits and community organizations in 2023, a sharp increase of 78 percent from the $2.57 billion it awarded in 2022.

SVCF awarded $3.1 billion to organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area, an amount it described as “more than any other entity in the state of California.” In San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, which encompass the Silicon Valley, the foundation distributed $186 million. Funds distributed in the United States but outside California totaled $1.1 billion. Grants were awarded across a broad array of areas of support, including health, science, education, public safety, the environment, community development, civic participation, arts and culture, and human services.

According to SVCF, it ranks “just behind” the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as one of the largest grantmaking foundations in the country. As a community foundation, SVCF focuses its support on a specific geographical area, namely the Bay Area and California. The vast majority of grants distributed by SVCF come from over 1,000 individual and 60 corporate donor-advised funds (DAFs)—more than a third of which have balances of $25,000 or less.

“I’m always impressed at our donors’ generosity, but what they gave in 2023 went beyond anything I had imagined,” said SVCF president Nicole Taylor. “Because of them, hundreds of organizations focused on improving lives in the Bay Area received vital funding and are making tangible changes to benefit our residents.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Jason Doiy)