A Bit of Good News in Uncertain Times

It’s hard to believe that it’s been four weeks since my team and I suspended our ‘normal’ work and shifted into responding to the emerging local crisis brought on by the coronavirus.

Within a few days, we:

• Reached out to several nonprofits already responding to and affected by the pandemic.
• Allocated our seed funding.
• Launched the first funding round of LACF’s 2020 Nonprofit Relief Fund.
• Issued a call to our donors and community members to contribute.

I’ve been moved by the response from our donors, new contributors, and institutional partners. While facilitating a conference call, I choked up upon learning that a new donor had contributed $25,000 to the fund. I’m happy to report that these moments of donor generosity have been repeated more than a few times.

In the past month, our collective efforts have made a difference now and positioned us to catalyze greater impact moving forward.

The good news includes; we:

• Successfully raised $60,000 for our first funding round for LACF’s 2020 Nonprofit Relief Fund and distributed the balance of $100,000 to the initial eight nonprofit organizations we identified for support.
• Raised additional funds to provide both seed funding and a match for additional funding rounds for LACF’s 2020 Nonprofit Relief Fund.
• Forged a new partnership with the City of Mountain View and Google to launch #TogetherMV, with specific funds set up to help the small business sector and the renter community in Mountain View.
• Launched our Coronavirus/COVID-19 Resources page that includes curated resources for the three communities we serve, as well as the nonprofit and business sectors.
• Awarded $98,000 in grants to 26 local nonprofit organizations through our Community Impact Fund.
• Converted program-specific grants to general operating support as requested by grantees and automatically extended
  reporting deadlines.

I want to express a personal thanks to the LACF team and Board. When the sobering realities of the local crisis began to emerge, we moved quickly and resolutely in providing assistance. Our approach has been and continues to be based on the simple question: “how can we help?” We have embraced the mindset of seeking solutions that do right by our communities and their residents.

We’re honored to be part of the solution and humbled by the community support. Be safe and be healthy. If you can be part of the solution, please join us.