"Tehuana"
	by Miguel Corraboas Collection of The Mexican Museum

In 1989, a group of civic minded Latino leaders conceived of a vision to create a vehicle for Latino philanthropy by which Latinos could help themselves. The National Concilio of America in collaboration with the United Way of the Bay Area created the Hispanic Community Fund of the Bay Area, providing the impetus for our earliest beginnings.

Along the way many individuals have contributed to this vision through their volunteerism and financial support.

We salute our outgoing Trustee, Mario P. Díaz, Regional Vice President, Wells Fargo, for his generosity, goodwill and commitment to the Latino community. For more information on who we are please visit our Board of Trustees page.

Today

The Latino Community Foundation has undergone an intensive strategic planning process over the last two years. In 2004 we launched an exciting new initiative, Lee Y Serás ("Read and You Will Be") focusing on a critical concern-early childhood reading and our interest to promote literacy and parent participation. We also launched a new capital formation concept, The Isabela Project, to promote investment and increase viability of Latino small business. Both of these efforts continue to evolve in 2005 as we continue to refine our internal processes.

We are not accepting grant proposals at this time.

About Our Partnership

In 2002, LCF amended its charter to become a Supporting Organization of The San Francisco Foundation. This structure, unique to community foundations, enables us to build upon the investment and endowment expertise of The San Francisco Foundation, while maintaining a separate and independent non-profit tax status. We share with them a common vision: to strengthen Latino communities and to build awareness and participation in Latino philanthropy.

Our Philosophy

We recognize that our community is diverse and multinational and lives in una frontera sin línea, a borderless frontier of issues, cultures, and economies. Our 2004 focus on reading, math/science and financial empowerment was based on our recognition that highly developed skills in these areas will directly impact our community by creating a bridge to increased opportunities.

We are committed to identifying best practices and approaches so that our programs may be replicated in other regions or in other parts of the country in partnership with other Latino organizations.

Our Statistics

This vision has been borne out by the unprecedented growth of the U.S. Hispanic population. Today, Latinos are a significant part of the U.S. economy: there are 38.8 million Latinos in the U.S., which represents population growth in excess of 10% in two years. California is home to the majority of U.S. Hispanics: 11 million Hispanics, 1/3 of California's population and 1/3 of the U.S. Hispanic population.

The Bay Area is a unique Hispanic market: 1.4 million Latinos reside in the San Francisco Bay Area and this segment experienced 43% population growth from 1990 to 2000 and is projected to grow an additional 1.9 million (or 39%) by 2012. The dynamic growth of the Hispanic population requires leaders that understand the issues affecting U.S. Latinos. LCF endeavors to support Latinos in building a strong future through personal, academic, and financial development.

Our Approach

The growth of the Latino community as well as the unique characteristics of the challenges and opportunities we face as Latinos, require us to focus on community service that is innovative and culturally relevant:

Our commitment to community service seeks to bridge significant gaps that often prevent effective solutions from reaching the Latino community. We seek to raise funds and develop programs through both traditional grant making as well as through strategic partnerships with organizations interested in developing and/or supporting programs and services for the Latino community.

Our Method

We ascertain the needs of our community in each of our areas of programmatic interest (See The State of Latino Education in the San Francisco Bay Area under Publications.)

We identify potential partners with the capacity and desire to develop measurable solutions in these areas for the Latino community.

We identify leaders in our community who can provide assistance, particularly subject matter expertise or those that can help expand upon established programs or developing new programs, initiatives or services.