Giving with imagination

Every day, we work with generous, creative Peninsula and Silicon Valley donors, allowing us to channel more than $80 million of support for local and national nonprofit organizations just this year - a record in grant making for our organization. The many imaginative local families and companies working in partnership with Peninsula Community Foundation demonstrate that giving can encompass much more than donating cash (which of course, is always welcome!).

Over the years, we have explored an array of creative gifts with our donors, such as:

· Real estate, such as homes, land, and even a valuable boat slip;

· Appreciated publicly-traded and restricted stock;

· Proceeds from over-funded Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs).

And, you don't have to give alone. Gather your family, friends, colleagues, or other "birds-of-a-feather" assemblies to make gifting part of a group activity. Here are just a few examples:

· Establish an intergenerational family fund to allow the entire family (grandparents, children, grandchildren, cousins, and more!) to learn the benefits of philanthropy through participating in donating and following the impact of the fund's giving decisions.

· Create a "giving circle" with your friends or neighborhood group - book club, mother's club, religious organization, sports league, photography club, travel club and others - to support a local cause.

· Open a wedding fund if, as a soon-to-be-wed couple, you really don't need the need the gifts.

· Initiate a children's or young adult's fund in lieu of graduation, Bar or Bat Mitzvah, or confirmations gifts.

At this time of year, you may want to give in a way that directly impacts your community - today. One way is giving through our community fund. Here, your gift is quickly directed to area nonprofits providing critical assistance to those in need. For example, last year's Community Fund:

· Allowed 900 K-12 students on the Peninsula to experience their first live dance performance by the Dallas Black Dance Residency;

· Purchased classroom supplies for Ravenswood City School District's 210 teachers;

· Installed solar panels on the rooftops of 10 low-income family homes, helping them reduce energy costs by over 50 percent.

At Peninsula Community Foundation, we hope our ongoing gift to you is in helping you easily give what you can. We want you to be able to see the impact of your gift on people's lives, right here on the Peninsula. There aren't many gifts that keep on giving. Charitable gifts do.

Sterling Speirn is president of Peninsula Community Foundation. For more information about PCF, visit www.pcf.org or call 358-9369