Is it still a community foundation?

Such was the sentiment among local council members and county supervisors who attended a recent Council of Cities dinner in Burlingame. The presentation, made by CEO and President Emmett D. Carson, on the new direction of the merged foundations — larger grants to fewer nonprofits — raised concern. According to Carson, the merged philanthropy will focus on large-scale organizations that can make a significant difference. Grants will be substantial and continue over a long period to ensure success.

No problem with that.

However, the downside is that it may cut off many smaller community-based organizations which in the past have relied on the Peninsula Community Foundation for seed money and technical support.

For example: A church group which has organized volunteers to tutor neighborhood kids after school but does not have a fundraising director will miss that little bit of essential financial help which previously might have been available. Or it may be a nonprofit, focused on a local problem or on kids, that requires some seed money to get started or some technical help in writing grant proposals. At one time, Samaritan House and the Boys and Girls Club were such worthy fledglings.

A similar presentation was made to the San Mateo Rotary Club earlier in the year with the same concerned reaction. Rotarians questioned how San Mateo would fare in the new merged organization where mega giving and emphasis might be placed elsewhere.

True, bigger is often better, providing economies of scale, more efficient use of staff, concentration of resources and leveraging of investments.

And the new foundation has much to brag about. Grants from the foundation’s endowment from January this year, through Sept. 30, have been $4.4 million. The foundation is on track to make grants of more than $7.5 million during 2007. These are large and impressive figures. But sometimes effective and creative ideas start out small.

In fact, isn’t that how Silicon Valley has thrived? The small startup, the incubator, the tiny office above a pizza parlor in San Mateo (YouTube), two guys puttering around in a Palo Alto garage (Hewlett-Packard). I hope the merged foundation will provide some discretionary funds for sound and efficient community based nonprofits that have small budgets but big ideas. The Silicon Valley Foundation cannot fund every worthwhile organization, but I hope they will take some risks with seed money, technical assistance and continuing support for local groups whose work may have a huge ripple effect. That would be the Silicon Valley approach to philanthropy we can all applaud.

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Eight-hundred people gathered in Oakland Oct. 26 to get serious about global warming. The event was a joint meeting of the Association of Bay Area Governments and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to start work on the 2035 regional transportation plan (Unfortunately only a few elected officials from San Mateo County were in attendance because a Housing Leadership meeting was scheduled for the same day). Still, supervisors Adrienne Tissier and Rose Jacobs Gibson; South San Francisco Mayor Richard Garbarino, Redwood City Mayor Barbara Pierce, and council members Heywood Robinson, Menlo Park, and Carol Klatt, Daly City, were there.

Attendees were told about specific actions which would reduce congestion, improve air quality and save the planet. These included paying more to drive during peak hours, speeding up existing traffic with synchronized street lights and ramp metering and offering solo drivers an option to use HOV lanes at a price (the price would rise with the amount of traffic on the road). Other remedies to reduce driving and congestion are to build housing near transit, increase telecommuting and make driving undesirable by raising parking and gasoline fees. With the recent wildfires in Southern California and the long hot autumn a reminder that global warming is upon us, attendees were willing to swallow some pain and change their ways (unplug appliances, buy green, car pool, walk and bike more, use canvas shopping bags, drink tap water, etc.).

There was talk of favoring an electric car which could be plugged in at night in the garage or buying a hybrid, especially when prices came down.

And most amazing of all, poll results showed the attendees and the Bay Area public at large was willing to walk the talk if it didn’t cost too much. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom gave an impressive luncheon speech. He urged California to finally get with it on high-speed rail and talked about how the new Transbay Terminal would be the Grand Central Station of San Francisco linking Muni, Caltrain, BART and AC Transit in one downtown location. You can view the charts and statistics on MTC’s Web site: www.mtc.ca.gov.

Sue Lempert is the former mayor of San Mateo. Her column runs every Monday. She can be reached at sue@smdailyjournal.com.