The San Francisco Education Fund advances equitable education by providing quality learning programs, community support, and transformative financial resources to students, educators and schools. They envision a future where San Francisco public school students have equitable access to quality education so that they can engage and enrich the community.

This week's Hero of the Week is Bay Area Flag Football and the 49ers Foundation, supporting the growth of women’s flag football leagues in our community. With the sport set to debut in the 2028 Olympics, they’re providing crucial funding to help more players join the game. Their efforts are making it easier for local athletes to get involved in this budding sport, paving the way for the next generation of Olympic hopefuls.

Open Heart Kitchen is committed to making a positive impact in the Tri-Valley community by serving meals and support to those facing food insecurity, whether in kitchens or at homeless encampments. Understanding that poverty and hunger often go unnoticed, we strive to ensure that no one in our community goes hungry while embracing our core values of inclusivity, diversity, equity, accessibility, and liberation. Through our programs, we address the root causes of hunger and empower individuals and families to build brighter futures. Join us in our mission—visit Open Heart Kitchen to learn how you can get involved and help create a food-secure tomorrow!

10,000 Degrees is committed to educational equity, helping low-income students succeed in college and make a positive impact on their communities. By increasing the number of college graduates, they aim to create lasting change. With a 2026 goal to expand their reach and maintain high student success, 10,000 Degrees needs your support to make this vision a reality. You can get involved by donating—every gift helps students on their college journey. Visit 10,000 Degrees for details on how to contribute!

Project Homeless Connect partners with city agencies, businesses, and volunteers to provide vital services to those at risk of or experiencing homelessness in San Francisco. Since 2004, these collaborations have helped bring essential care to people who might otherwise not have access. With over 2,000 volunteers each year, PHC works to create a more compassionate and housed San Francisco. You can help make a difference—visit Project Homeless Connect to learn more about how to get involved!

The Henry-1 helicopter unit, stationed at the Charles M. Schultz Sonoma County Airport, is ready to respond to emergencies 24/7, averaging 1,000 missions a year. Known for its exceptional rescue skills, this unit often assists beyond local borders when other resources are unavailable. Join us in supporting this vital service—consider volunteering or donating to help ensure that Henry-1 can continue its life-saving missions in our community and beyond!

The Circuit EPA is a non-profit in East Palo Alto dedicated to empowering students through technology education and youth development. At the heart of The Circuit is the 8to80 Zone, an innovative space where we run programs integrating STEAM, esports, and virtual reality, inspiring students to innovate and build the skills needed for future tech careers in Silicon Valley.

For over 40 years, Loaves & Fishes has provided food to the most vulnerable members of our community and raised awareness about food insecurity with the hope hat no one ever goes to bed hungry. We provide access to free meals or groceries through several programs, as we want to create as many avenues as possible to ensure anyone in need of a meal in our community has access to nutritious and quality food.

Offers a unique set of programs and services at our health and wellness facilities throughout the Bay Area ranging from Redwood City to Morgan Hill. YMCA provides a wilderness resident camp in the Redwoods at YMCA Camp Campbell and Before and After School Programming at multiple school campuses.

AbleCloset is a 501c3 non-profit organization that was founded on the vision of providing children with special needs a resource for borrowing needed equipment. Obtaining rehabilitative equipment can be costly and time consuming. AbleCloset provides a resource for families that find themselves in these situations, allowing them to browse and then borrow from our “library” of equipment. We act as an interim between families and organizations, accepting donations of equipment that children may have outgrown or no longer need, and then lending them out to families with children that could greatly benefit from their use. Our vision includes purchasing new and difficult to obtain equipment through donations and fundraising. Our ultimate goal is the core of our mission… to provide children with special needs with the equipment they need to reach their maximum potential.

We welcome families and individuals from area hospitals into our family for rest and self-care during the day or overnight.

The organization that we know today as NAMI Santa Clara County is the result of the efforts of a few courageous parent leaders, many families and individuals, as well as friends and professionals who worked hard in the 1970s and 1980s to give birth to an organization that would completely change the way we view mental illness. During that time families dreamed of the day when a child with schizophrenia would be treated no differently than a child with any other chronic illness like leukemia or mental retardation. They hoped for a time when mental illness could be discussed openly and their ill children and family members could be properly cared for in their own communities. Accomplishing these simple goals would not be easy.

Our Vision: We envision a world where giving brings joy, offers hope, and creates learning possibilities. Our Mission: Connecting those who can give to those in need with educational support, gifts, and volunteerism. Our Values: Community – We foster an inclusive culture of volunteerism and philanthropy with people of all ages and backgrounds. We strive to inspire people to "pay it forward" by uplifting others in our community. 

Food & Nutrition | Chronic Disease Prevention & Management | Supportive Housing. We use a multifaceted approach when tackling health disparities plaguing the most vulnerable populations in our community: older adults, recently housed individuals, and people at risk of, or living with, a chronic condition. We align our roles as a funder, a provider, and an advocate to create lasting change for the people we serve and to the systems and policies affecting their health.

Dreaming of a Job or Career in the Food Industry? A good job at a livable wage is at the heart of the American dream — to have food on the table, a roof overhead, and the financial means to thrive! Our specialty is training low/no-income Californians in the skills needed to start a career in the food industry and land their first good job. Since 2000, we have supported more than 2,000 residents of the Oakland/ San Francisco Bay Area to remove barriers to employment, skill-up, and get hired.

Helping and healing for the Bay Area's homeless. We start with the basic essentials of homeless services: a meal, a clean bed, warm clothing and any other critical care they need to begin recovering from homelessness, addiction and poverty. Once their basic needs are met, we focus on their long-term recovery. Our Life Transformation programs give men and women the practical tools and training, and spiritual guidance, to overcome their struggles for a stable, independent tomorrow.

826 Valencia is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting under-resourced students ages six to eighteen with their creative and expository writing skills and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. Our services are structured around the understanding that great leaps in learning can happen with one-on-one attention and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success.

Our holistic services aim to support the needs of individuals facing inequities and barriers to care. Shanti’s key services include care navigation, case management, client advocacy, emotional and practical support, health and wellness activities, one-on-one volunteer support, and community-building events and activities. More details about our programs follow.

Our team of experts cultivates community with nonprofits, cutting-edge leaders, partners, and our supporters at large because we know together, we can create a Bay Area where everyone prospers. We approach it with gratitude, holding ourselves accountable to our community, and putting equity at the center because background and identity should never pre-determine opportunity.

The mission of La Casa de las Madres is to respond to calls for help from domestic violence victims, of all ages, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We give survivors the tools to transform their lives. We seek to prevent future violence by educating the community and by redefining public perceptions about domestic violence.

Kids Against Hunger Bay Area packages and ships highly nutritious, life-saving meals to starving and malnourished children in developing countries and in disaster situations, as well as feeding hungry children in the United States. This is accomplished by mobilizing the compassion and energy of children, teens, and adults on behalf of needy children around the world. We seek to end the literal hunger of deprived children who receive the food, and to satisfy a hunger we all feel - a hunger to make a difference.

Healthier Kids Foundation removes barriers impacting the health, learning and life success of Silicon Valley youth. To achieve our mission, we focus on three key strategies: Improving health care access and utilization, Changing health behavior through education and Advocating for health policy and systems change.

First Tee – Silicon Valley develops youth through golf. We enable kids and teens to build the strength of character that empowers them through a lifetime of new challenges. By seamlessly integrating the game of golf with a life skills curriculum, we create active learning experiences that build inner strength, self-confidence, and resilience that kids can carry to everything they do. We make our programs accessible to youth of different backgrounds and perspectives and affordable to families experiencing financial hardship.

The largest agricultural site in San Francisco, Alemany Farm offers everyone the chance to learn where their food comes from, pitch in to help, and take home fresh produce for free. Learn more below and come get your hands dirty with us!

Their mission is to create moments of wonder that spark a lifetime of possibility by enhancing the lives of youth today for a brighter tomorrow.

Their mission is to end the cycel of youth homelessness. "we do this everyday in cities across America, one youth at a time. Our volunteers and staff are here to empower homeless and at-risk youth toward lifelong personal growth, and to create in these youth a sincere belief in themselves through open, straightforward counseling, mentoring, and life skills training."

Our mission is to provide extensive support and financial assistance for wilderness therapy to adolescents and young adults in crisis and their families in need. Supports one of Steve and Barbs Forever Young Foundations Initiatives, the ANASAZI FOUNDATION

Fighting homelessness, changing lives. Since 1965, changing the lives of the Bay Area’s homeless and hurting has been their mission. Through your support, their doors are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to care for homeless men, women and children. Food, shelter, clothing, and so much more! 

Sunday Friends empowers families to break the generational cycle of poverty by fostering positive development in children while educating and guiding parents to support their children's life success. At Sunday Friends, families find the supportive community and the means to break the cycle of helplessness and poverty. An integrated economic environment is filled with opportunities for personal growth, mutual support and education. Children build the developmental assets required for success and adults learn life skills and whole families transition together towards self-sufficiency.

Dignified emergency services are critically important, but they are not enough to realize the Sacred Heart Community Service's vision of ending poverty in Santa Clara County. To do that, they must bring the community together to change the government and economic policies that make it impossible for many to thrive. Their mission is to "build a community free from poverty by creating hope, opportunity, and action. They provide essential services, work together to improve our lives, organize for justice, and inspire our community to love, serve, and share.”

The fund exists to educate drivers on the dangers of distracted driving, reduce the number of distracted driving related deaths, and promote distracted driving awareness reform. 

The San José Public Library Foundation provides advocacy, financial support, and leadership to public libraries and educational programs throughout San José to create an educated, equitable, and engaged community.

Pivotal scholars prove that being in foster care doesn't have to equal a lifetime of disappointment. Pivotal's foster youth's college graduation rate is 10 times the national rate for foster youth. Many go on to earn advanced degrees. They help them get there by making a long-term commitment to their success. Pivotal's expert coaches work with youth one-on-one to reach their academic and employment goals, and round out their Pivotal experience by offering scholarships, academic tutoring, professional development workshops, summer internships, and job placement. Pivotal stick by them throughout high school, college and into their careers, and help them get the life they want for themselves.

Quality, affordable office space is difficult for nonprofits to find and retain in Silicon Valley, where costs are among the highest in the nation. To support the nonprofit organizations doing amazing work in our communities, Sobrato Philanthropies converted commercial office properties into multi-tenant nonprofit centers. In addition to office space, our Centers also provide free meeting space and conference rooms to further support local nonprofits.

Dress for Success is a global not-for-profit organization that empowers women to achieve economic independence by providing a network of support, professional attire, and the development tools to help women thrive in work and in life. Since starting operations in 1997, Dress for Success has expanded to almost 150 cities in 25 countries and has helped more than 1.2 million women work towards self-sufficiency.

Breath California is the local clean air and healthy lungs leader! As the local clean air and healthy lungs leader, Breathe California of the Bay Area fights lung disease in all its forms and works with its communities to promote lung health. They envision a world that promotes healthy lungs and a healthy environment, and believe in leadership through passion, integrity, excellence, accountability, and fiscal/social responsibility.​​

Breakthrough Silicon Valley empowers young people from underserved communities to reach their full potential. The multi-faceted six-year program launches low-income, first-generation students on the path to college through personalized academic advising and support, college counseling, and leadership development. They cultivate skills for success that TRANSFORM LIVES. Breakthrough Silicon Valley prepares motivated students with limited educational opportunities for success in rigorous college-preparatory high school programs and entry into four-year colleges. Breakthrough Silicon Valley also prepares outstanding high school and college students to enter careers in education.

At Healthier Kids Foundation, they believe that health care is a basic human right. Healthier Kids Foundation’s mission is to remove barriers impacting the health, learning and life success of Silicon Valley youth and to achieve their mission, they focus on three key strategies: improving health care access and utilization, changing health behavior through education, and advocating for health policy and systems change. Healthier Kids Foundation envisions all Silicon Valley Youth achieving good health, educational equity, and success in life. They partner with community organizations, schools, preschools, daycare sites, and parents to make sure that nothing gets in the way of good health.

Each day in Silicon Valley, tens of thousands of pounds of excess food and surplus goods are dumped in our landfills and go to waste. In a Valley where one in three people experience food insecurity, Hunger at Home was created to connect the food and goods with those in need. Hunger at Home partners with local convention centers, hotels, and sports stadiums to collect excess food and goods to distribute to the hungry and homeless through a robust nonprofit network. To date, Hunger at Home has donated 11 million meals locally and helped distribute much needed items like towels, blankets, kitchen items, and hygiene kits. Hunger at Home also helps the clients of its nonprofit partners with job training and placement in the very businesses that donate excess food.

Changing our city, one tree at a time. Since 1994, Our City Forest has been the leading nonprofit in Silicon Valley for urban forestry and environmental education. They believe in the POWER OF TREES to transform homes, communities and cities and the POWER OF PEOPLE to help us achieve this needed transformation. Help them continue to grow by donating or by becoming a sustaining member.

Next Door Solutions (NDS) is the premier domestic violence agency in Santa Clara County. They are the only stand-alone domestic violence agency and the largest provider of these services. Since 1971, NDS has helped thousands of survivors and families move out of crisis and violence and into safety, stability and self-sufficiency. Their mission is to end domestic violence in the moment and for all time! Their vision is of a community environment that breaks the silence, views and treats domestic violence and other forms of gender-based violence as unacceptable upholds supportive accountability for those who harm, and where survivors and families have the support and resources to achieve the highest quality of life possible.

Founded in San Jose in 1994, RAFT (Resource Area For Teaching) is a nonprofit providing educators with engaging hands-on learning resources aligned to national content standards. RAFT’s mission is to help educators transform a child’s learning experience through hands-on education to one that inspires the joy and discovery of learning. RAFT’s vision is to inspire the next generation of innovators, problem solvers, and creators, by providing educators with STEAM learning resources.

Hope’s mission is to improve the quality of life for people with developmental disabilities and mental health needs. Since 1952, Hope Services has delivered a range of services to thousands of people with developmental disabilities. They currently help approximately 3,500 participants and their families, from infants through seniors, who reside in the eight counties we serve: Santa Clara, San Benito, Santa Cruz, San Mateo, Monterey, Alameda, San Francisco, and Marin. Hope Services is Silicon Valley’s leading provider of services to people with developmental disabilities and mental health needs. 

Eastside College Preparatory School, is committed to opening new doors for students historically underrepresented in higher education. Their challenging and engaging curriculum enables students to discover their intellectual strengths, sharpen their academic skills, and embrace new opportunities in a culture of learning that supports the potential of every student to enter and succeed in a four-year college and transition to a professional career. Eastside students who are the first in their families to go to college create a ripple effect, changing their own lives, the lives of their families, and the life of their community.