Northern California Grantmakers

NCG was pleased to partner once again with the San Francisco Business Times as a sponsor of the 2012 Corporate Philanthropy Awards which was held Wednesday, July 18 at the Fairmont hotel here in San Francisco.

We were also excited to see so many of our members honored during the awards breakfast.

Here are some member highlights:

• The list of Top Corporate Philanthropists in the Greater Bay Area included 18 NCG members–28% of the list.
• NCG members took 13 of the top 20 spots.
• NCG member JPMorgan Chase & Co broke into the top 5 for the first time.
• NCG member Wells Fargo received a “Beyond the Check” Community Partner in Sustainability award.
• NCG member Clorox Company received a “Beyond the Check” Community Change and Impact award.
• Several NCG members were recognized with the Community Commitment Award given to companies who gave 1% or more of their company-wide net profit to community organizations. They included: JPMorgan Chase, PG&E, Salesforce.com, Levi Strauss, GAP, Clorox and Bank of Marin.

The top 10 corporate givers  honored at this year’s event were:

1. Google
2. Chevron
3. Wells Fargo*
4. Safeway Inc.
5. JPMorgan Chase & Co.*
6. Cisco Systems Inc.*
7. Bank of America*
8. PG&E*
9. Genentech Inc.*
10. Intel Corp.

*NCG member

Congratulations to all the award recipients and honorees at this year’s event. And for a complete list of the 65 corporate grantmakers honored, check out the latest issue of the San Francisco Business Times.

Marc Benioff, founder of Salesforce.com Inc. has announced that he and his wife will give $100 million to UCSF for the creation of a new children’s hospital in San Francisco.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and his wife, Lynne, are donating $100 million for a children's hospital, part of a new medical center at UCSF.

“The gift is expected to give a major boost to San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood, where UCSF is planning a $1.5 billion hospital system. The facility, slated to be open by the end of 2014, will include a cancer center, women’s hospital and children’s hospital, which will be called UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. The 14.5-acre medical center will be financed by a combination of debt, equity, cash from the school and private donations.”

According to the Wall Street Journal, this gift puts Marc in the league of “super donors” such as Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. And like Buffett and Gates, Benioff has announced that “he intends to give away the majority of his wealth in his lifetime.”

Interestingly enough, this news comes on the heels of the Buffett/Gates announcement to encourage billionaires to do just that, give away at least 50% of their net worth in their lifetime.

Read the full Wall Street Journal article.