Bay Area AFN is a regional chapter of grantmakers who invest in opportunities for low and middle income individuals and families to build economic well-being. Members include private, public, corporate, and community foundations, public-sector funders, and financial institutions who want to help residents of the Bay Area (San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose) secure economic stability, for now and for years to come. Bay Area AFN connects funders and their peers in the nonprofit, public, and private sectors. Together they share promising programs and smart strategies, gather knowledge to make their grantmaking more effective, and work to increase investments in asset building.
Bay Area funders joined national funders in 2006 to launch the national AFN. The Bay Area funders then evolved into a regional affinity group and became the first regional affiliate of national AFN in 2010. Membership is open to funders (including invited intermediaries) who invest in a range of initiatives that build assets for Bay Area residents, from early childhood education, college access, or workforce development to health, financial education, or micro-enterprise. Bay Area AFN members meet quarterly and host events to share ideas. Bay Area grantmakers should contact Mona Masri if interested in joining this chapter.
How We Work
- Connect: Bay Area AFN members support peer-to-peer learning and cross-sector collaboration. Members identify and leverage replicable and scalable high-impact strategies and innovative approaches to connect and inform influential funders of actionable investments. Members provide an insightful voice to inform both regional and national conversations.
- Build: Bay Area AFN works to increase the number of grantmakers and resources focused on strategies that help low and moderate income people build and protect assets. Members leverage one another’s interests and investments and actively look for additional funders willing to co-invest in Bay Area.
- Inform: Bay Area AFN members learn from one another and other stakeholders as they seek solutions to local challenges. The chapter hosts issue-based programming and calls- to-action that reflect research and philanthropic thought leadership that highlights actionable roles for philanthropy. While focusing on a variety of topics, the chapter gathers local leaders and national experts together to share data and ideas, promote innovative approaches, and help establish common language to build collaboration.
- Influence: Bay Area AFN is working to raise the visibility of asset-building strategies within the broader community of foundations, public-sector funders, and financial institutions. Members seek opportunities to accelerate economic prosperity, especially for low-income individuals and communities while also reducing racial, ethnic, and gender wealth gaps by addressing structural and systemic changes which have created barriers to individuals ability to build and preserve their wealth.
Chapter Highlights
Bay Area AFN led several convenings locally on the Care Economy. Bay Area AFN invited the Ford Foundation to participate in one of the webinars, leading to them reengage with AFN and become a formal member again. Following this lead, AFN is also developing a national primer on the care economy supported by local and national funders—Walter & Elise Haas Fund, Ford Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and New York Women’s Foundation. The primer will be released in May 2021.
Several Bay Area funders have been supporting strategies on survivor wealth. Informed by the funders in the Bay Area, AFN released a national publication, Making Safety Affordable: Intimate Partner Violence is an Asset-Building Issue, exploring the ways that philanthropy can support survivors of domestic violence.
Collaborative funding projects: As a result of meetings with key community based organizations (including CDFIs) the Bay Area AFN launched a jointly funded initiative, the Small Business Vulnerability Mapping Project with The Center for Urban Displacement Project at UC Berkeley. The project will create a map of vulnerable small businesses (including race) around the Bay Area and provide policy level recommendations to support BIPOC small business owners during and after COVID 19.
Upcoming Events
Contact
Are you a Bay Area grantmaker interested in joining this chapter? Contact us to learn more.
Mona Masri, mona@assetfunders.org
Steering Committee
Citi Community Development
The San Francisco Foundation
First 5 Alameda County
The California Wellness Foundation
Kaiser Permanente
Y & H Soda Foundation
Silicon Valley Community Foundation
RCF Connects (Formerly Richmond Community Foundation)
East Bay Community Foundation
Bay Area AFN is grateful for financial support from the following sponsoring and contributing member foundations:
Bank of America Foundation
Blue Shield of California Foundation
Citi Community Development
East Bay Community Foundation
eBay Foundation
Excite Credit Union
First 5 Alameda County
First Republic Bank
Friedman Family Foundation
JP Morgan Chase & Co.
Kaiser Permanente
RCF Connects (Richmond Community Foundation)
Silicon Valley Community Foundation
The California Wellness Foundation
The James Irvine Foundation
The San Francisco Foundation
The Wells Fargo Foundation
U.S. Bank
United Way of the Bay Area
Walter and Elise Haas Fund
Y&H Soda Foundation
Last Year In Detail
Meeting their Mission: How CDFIs Can Better Serve Communities of Color
On October 7, 2020, BA AFN hosted a webinar on the important role Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) play in supporting local communities, including providing access to capital for small businesses left out of traditional financial markets, many of which are owned by women and people of color. We explored key questions such as:
- Where are the gaps in products and services for entrepreneurs of color?
- How are CDFIs of color filing this need?
- What more can be done to support CDFIs lead by people of color?
- What are the opportunities for funders to support innovative approaches to support greater access to products and services small business owners of color?
Expert Insights on Integrated Capital Approaches to Racial Equity
On September 9, 2020, Bay Area AFN held a virtual convening on Integrated Capital Approaches to Racial Equity. Using an integrated capital approach not only brings coordinated resources to bear on potentially catalytic solutions but also helps to leverage the diversity of resource which the philanthropic sector has available but does not always utilize in a coordinated fashion. We learned what is meant by integrated capital, how it can be a part of a long-term approach to systems change, how strategies are developed internally, whether this approach been successful, and what role funders can play in this catalytic form of support.
Why Care About Care?
Intersectional and Intergenerational Policy Solutions for an Equitable Care Economy in a New World
On Wednesday, May 6, BA AFN presented a briefing and discussion on the interwoven issues of the caregiving workforce, racial and gender justice, economic security, and health, within the context of the current pandemic. We identified intersectional short-term responses and long-term policy solutions such as paid family leave and universal family care related to these issues.
Building a More Inclusive Economy
On November 5, 2019, the Bay Area AFN held our annual conference: Building a More Inclusive Economy: Catalyzing Ideas Into Action.
The full-day event explored new and emerging practices, shared the latest research, and examined the challenges, opportunities, and ideas needed to build a more inclusive and equitable Bay Area.
