Bay Area Giving Guide
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Firsthand reviews by volunteers, donors, and clients. Discover Make a trustworthy donation. nonprofits. Great*Guide to Giving and Volunteering San Francisco Bay Area 2009 More than 100 organizations doing great work. Give your time. Published by GreatNonprofits.org Welcome to the launch of the Great*Guide If you picked this up, you’re first responsibility is to care on our Web site: www. probably someone who is for our families and ourselves, greatnonprofits.org. interested in making a greater to ensure that these needs are social difference by finding provided for. Then, however, How did we pick the nonprofits great local nonprofits to we all share a greater social that are included in this guide? support. responsibility: to move beyond We started with GuideStar’s list the personal and consider what of most researched nonprofits, As you know, this is expected we can do to help those less and then put the word out— to be one of the most fortunate than we may be. through local associations, difficult years for nonprofit funders, and support organizations in a long time. It’s during times like these that organizations. Nonprofits Due to the jittery financial your community needs your that were able to get three or and credit markets, most help. You have an opportunity more reviews with an average middle-class people—and even to make a difference in rating of four or more stars wealthy people—have seen someone’s life either as were included in this list. Our their savings and investments a volunteer or a financial Stanford interns wrote up short decline. The size and amount contributor. editorial summaries that are of donations that are needed included in this guide. to sustain many grassroots In this guide, you’ll find stories groups are likely to shrink. and reviews by people who’ve In the process, we discovered had firsthand experiences that there are many, many But the needs that nonprofits with local nonprofits, and who donors and volunteers who serve in our communities are therefore can speak personally want to know if their giving is not decreasing—they are on the about the results. going to make a difference. We rise. The mortgage crisis means invite you to discover what a thousands of our neighbors are By no means is this a complete difference your involvement in a in peril of losing their homes. list of nonprofits worthy of nonprofit can make. Friends are losing jobs, the support in the Bay Area. This is ability to put food on the table, simply a sample of nonprofits in Sincerely, and pay the doctor’s bills. our community. You can find a Perla Ni and David Weir In such troubling times, our lot more great local nonprofits Editors Thanks to... To all the nonprofits whose stories of San Francisco and San Mateo, editorial advice from Exbrook we have been privileged to help and CompassPoint were essential helped transform our idea into make visible to the larger public, to getting the word out about this reality. Jennifer Seigal exceeded thank you. Thank you for inspiring endeavor. all expectations when she us and making the Bay Area such a took on formatting this book. wonderful community. We couldn’t Shari Ilsen headed up our Lawrence Sanfilippo, copy editor have produced this without the marketing and outreach with extraordinaire, helped us get financial and moral support of our Stanford outreach managers everything in on time. And we the Gerbode, Morgan Family, Allison Bayani, Sarah Johnson, couldn’t have done this without and Sand Hill foundations. CEN, Erin Kim, Caroline Kusin, Lisa a roof over our heads—thanks to THRIVE, United Way, Silicon Valley Ruskin, and Kathleen Ryou. Our Northern California Grantmakers Community Foundation, Craigslist Stanford students also wrote up and Silicon Valley Community Foundation, San Francisco the short descriptions of each Foundation for housing us while Foundation, AFP, Volunteer Center of the nonprofits. Design and we put this guide together. Organizations in this issue community building ................................ 2 education .............................................. 5 children and youth .................................. 9 arts and culture .....................................15 social enterprise and employment ............18 animal welfare .......................................21 What Is GreatNonprofits? health and medicine ..............................22 GreatNonprofits is a place agriculture and environment ....................25 to find, review, and talk about great—and perhaps energy conservation and green living ........27 not so great—nonprofits. human services .....................................28 If you have direct experience with a law, politics, and human rights ................37 nonprofit, share your knowledge and help other people discover Top 10 Ways to Give Without Costing You a Cent 17 trustworthy organizations Don’t Leave Your Kids Home! Family Volunteering Activities 26 that are making a difference. Get Creative! Give Your Talents and Imagination! 39 If your nonprofit wasn’t Organizations by Primary Service Region 40 included in this year’s Organizations by Name 41 guide, we encourage you to participate in the next one by getting reviews on to our site. It’s quick, How Do I Use This Guide? easy, and free. Organizations are grouped by topic in this guide. Find the areas that interest you and you’ll see listed nonprofits that focus on that issue. Contact us at: You can use the index at the back to look up nonprofits alphabetically support@greatnonprofits. by name or by geography. org Each listing contains an organization’s contact information, description, and a selected review of that nonprofit by someone who Printed on recycled paper has had direct experience with it—a client, a volunteer, or a board using soy-based inks. member. You can read more reviews and get further information on our Web site: www.greatnonprofits.org community building TechSoup $50 could: TechSoup provides hardware, software, and know-how for nonprofits. send staff to grassroots Serving about 400,000 unique monthly users in more than 190 conferences to get the countries, TechSoup provides a dizzying array of free or discounted word out about TechSoup’s software, community forums and webinars, and much more. services. 435 Brannan St., Ste. 100, San Francisco, CA 94107 Web site: “Tech Soup, and especially TechSoup stock, has been a godsend techsoup.org to our organization. When I was first hired to operate a community computer lab, all the computers had pirated software and ancient versions of the legitimate software. Through TechSoup stock we were able to update our lab affordably and teach our students work skills!” Kiva $50 could: As the world’s first person-to-person microlending Web site, Kiva sponsor two entrepreneurs allows individuals to lend directly to entrepreneurs in the developing in the developing world. world. You can follow what happens with your money and join a In hours: community of other socially minded lenders. travel to the country of 3180 18th St., Ste. 201, San Francisco, CA 94110 one of Kiva’s partner “Kiva is always keeping me updated on the latest projects being microfinance institutions. funded and how the businesses I have loaned to are doing. It is very Web site: rewarding to hear the stories that come from families who benefit kiva.org from the loans.” One Brick $50 could: One Brick makes volunteering easy. Its events are as short as two provide leadership training hours and as varied as sorting cans at a food bank or face painting for five prospective event at youth events. Just log on to their Web site, find something that managers. appeals to you on their events calendar, sign up, and go! One Brick is In hours: also about creating a community and establishing a social network, so serve food to the expect to find participants at happy hours and kayak trips around the homeless, socialize bay when they’re not busy helping local nonprofits. with veterans at a VA 1629 Lake St., San Francisco, CA 94121 hospital, or bartend at San “Hello, I am a volunteering junkie, and One Brick is one of my Francisco’s Oktoberfest. enablers. The variety of events are great and since the events are Web site: so short and flexible, it completely fits the motto “Volunteering onebrick.org Made Easy.” Even if something comes up and I can’t make the event, there is no big guilt trip involved. My first event was a canned goods sort at a Bay Area Food Bank. It was chaotically fun with all the volunteers running around sorting the cans on to different tables, and before I knew it, it was cleanup time!” Great*Guide to Giving and Volunteering / greatnonprofits.org Taproot Foundation Taproot provides millions of dollars worth of marketing, human $50 could: relations, Internet technology, and strategy management services $50 of Taproot’s volunteer for nonprofits. They place teams of skilled professionals nationwide resources translates to in six-month pro bono projects. A single Taproot volunteer contributes $400 in benefits to a the equivalent of $8,000 to a nonprofit in services, and sometimes nonprofit. stays on in the nonprofit world. In hours: 466 Geary St., Ste. 200, San Francisco, CA 94102 register online to volunteer “The Taproot Foundation has one of the best business models your professional skills I have ever seen in a nonprofit. Taproot has an extremely well- and expertise with a organized structure to deliver marketing support services to other nonprofit client. nonprofits. The staff is top-notch, the volunteer tools are superb Web site: and professional, and the impact of the organization’s work is taprootfoundation.org significant.” HandsOn Bay Area Socially conscious individuals can navigate HandsOn Bay Area’s In hours: project calendar by attribute (close to public transportation, good help restore wetlands for families, etc.), impact area (community enrichment, health and in the San Francisco wellness, etc.), or location to find an event that fits their needs and Bay, prepare and deliver interests.