SVB Financial Group :: Community Activities

Community & Philanthropy

Overview

Community Activities

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Responsibility

Our employees support a wide variety of programs by volunteering time and donating money to help make our communities better places to live and work. Some of the organizations we support include:

Best Buddies International
Best Buddies International is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to enhancing the lives of people with intellectual disabilities by providing opportunities for one-to-one friendships and integrated employment.

Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America
Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America (BBSA) is the nation's oldest and largest youth mentoring organization. BBSA enables one-to-one mentoring relationships between adult volunteers and children primarily from single-parent families. There are more than 500 BBSA chapters throughout the United Sates, including in each community where a Silicon Valley Bank office is located. Several of our employees have become Big Brothers or Big Sisters, each making a positive difference in the life of a young child.

Businesses United in Investing, Lending and Development (BUILD)
BUILD is a social venture, chartered in September 1999, which bridges the divide between youth in East Palo Alto and Eastern Menlo Park ("EPA") and the business and intellectual resources of Silicon Valley. BUILD empowers youth from low-income communities to excel in the classroom, on the job, and beyond by giving them an education in entrepreneurship. By encouraging students to develop their own small businesses, BUILD extends traditional entrepreneurial education far beyond the classroom and provides students with real-world business experiences. Intensive involvement of local business and community leaders in mentoring and support of the students, and an operating youth incubator are central and distinctive components of the program. SVB Financial Group employees volunteer their time and support and serve as judges at events like the Youth Business Plan Competition, the annual culmination of a year of hard work by BUILD's students and their mentors.

Entrepreneurs Foundation
Entrepreneurs Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to strengthening the ties between entrepreneurial companies in the San Francisco Bay Area and the communities in which they operate and their employees reside. Entrepreneurs Foundation enables companies to incorporate corporate citizenship, community involvement and philanthropy into their corporate culture. Since its inception, over 140 companies have joined Entrepreneurs Foundation and established corporate citizenship programs. SVB Financial Group employees act as key liaison to facilitate links between Entrepreneurs Foundation and the Venture Capital community and early stage companies.

The Illinois Coalition
The Illinois Coalition is a nonpartisan private/public partnership of the state's leaders from business, labor, government, education, and research. It is dedicated to one overriding goal: to strengthen the Illinois economy through advances in science and technology. SVB Financial Group has long been a supporter of Illinois Coalition initiatives. That involvement has included providing the coalition with guidance relating to its investments in seed-stage companies and referring a number of opportunities to the organization for review.

Leukemia-Lymphoma Society's Team in Training
Team in Training is a comprehensive endurance training program for runners, walkers, cyclists, and triathletes to benefit the Leukemia-Lymphoma Society. The goal of Team in Training is to increase funding to support the society's mission while promoting fitness and healthy lifestyles. SVB Financial Group employees participate by training for the rides/runs as well as coaching and mentoring the participants. Over the past few years, some 25 SVB Financial Group employees have actively participated in Team in Training and raised upwards of $100,000 for Leukemia research. Additional support has been provided by The SVB Foundation.

Rebuilding Together
Rebuilding Together is a nonprofit, nondenominational organization providing free home repairs to low-income families, seniors, and disabled persons. Each year, thousands of skilled and unskilled Rebuilding Together volunteers set aside the last Saturday in April to donate countless hours of service and perform millions of dollars worth of home repairs. SVB Financial Group's participation in Rebuilding Together has grown to include participation in National Rebuilding Day and support of the Dreams Happen fundraiser. In addition, a representative serves on the organization's board of directors. In recognition of its commitment to Rebuilding Together, Silicon Valley Bank was awarded the 1999 Katrina M. Wollenberg Outstanding Volunteer Award.

Salvation Army Adopt-a-Family Program
Adopt-a-Family pairs a needy family with a host who provides gifts and food for Christmas. Families included in this program have suffered a hardship that has temporarily set them back such as:

Being burned out of their home
Having a primary earner die or became ill
Having a grandparent or family member suddenly become the guardian of a child/children
Unemployment

SVB Financial Group employees participate by adopting families in Santa Clara County.

Second Harvest Food Bank
The Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties is a private, nonprofit organization that collects and distributes more than 26 million pounds of food each year to low-income children, adults, and seniors. The food bank currently serves an average of 167,000 individuals each month, of which nearly 60 percent are families with children. SVB Financial Group employees support the Second Harvest Food Bank by participating in the National Food Drive Challenge. Information about the national organization can be found at www.secondharvest.org.

Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation
The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation is the nation's leading private funder of breast cancer research and community programs dedicated solely to breast cancer. It was established in 1982 by Nancy Brinker in honor of her sister, Susan G. Komen, who died of breast cancer at age 36. The Foundation is also an advocate for education and provides life-saving information about early detection and treatment of breast cancer.