Financials

The mission of Community Foundation Silicon Valley is to build a strong community, linking people together in a larger vision of what can be accomplished in a united and integrated manner. Our commitment is to serve as a leader, catalyst, and resource for philanthropy by making grants to outstanding organizations and projects and by providing exceptional services to donors.

Building requires capital, whether one is constructing an office park, or assembling a strong corporation, or creating a healthy community. The funds donated to and invested with Community Foundation Silicon Valley are working capital, an endowment designed to fund current and future needs of the community.

In the current market environment, there is understandably concern about investment performance of the Community Foundation and other public benefit corporations. As stewards of the community’s funds, our investment goals are to preserve the endowment’s capital, protect purchasing power, and provide current cash flow to fund the Foundation’s grantmaking. CFSV aims to reduce risk and see long-term returns by diversifying asset classes and managers and by prudently managing both.

The 2001-2002 fiscal year was a difficult time for all of us. Despite a strong investment strategy, the Community Foundation’s endowment has been affected by the faltering economy and uncertainty on Wall Street.
For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2002, the balanced pool (the Foundation's long-term investment pool) returned -7.6 percent for the year. This compares to -12.0 percent for the Dow Jones Industrial Average,
-18 percent for the S&P 500, and -32.3 percent for the Nasdaq Composite for the same one-year period.

In addition to the balanced pool, the Foundation’s assets are consolidated to include those of our Supporting Foundations. The Community Foundation’s total assets also include two additional investment pools, the pass-through (short-term) pool and the technology pool, as well as illiquid gifts of real estate, stock, and gifts receivable. Total assets are impacted by new gifts to the Foundation, grants made from the Foundation, and investment returns.
This past year, total assets were also impacted by an increasing response to community needs as Foundation grantmaking accelerated by 48%, from nearly $52 million in fiscal year 2001 to $77 million in fiscal year 2002. The majority of this increase came from grants from advised funds as CFSV donors recommended grants in response to local and global needs. While giving to CFSV declined from fiscal 2001’s high of $243 million, gifts to the Community Foundation totaled $105 million in fiscal 2002, demonstrating a significant commitment by our donors to build a strong and healthy community.

The majority of funds that CFSV manages are endowment (long-term) funds. Be assured that the investment committee of CFSV is continually evaluating the Foundation’s overall investment strategy and performance. We are closely monitoring the performance of our individual investment advisors and managers. Along with our professional investment consultant, we continue to explore alternative strategies in light of changing market conditions.
We look forward to continuing our partnership long into the future, toward stronger economic times.

Sincerely,

Jon Tompkins
Chair, Investment Committee

Peter Hero
President, CFSV

Statements