The von Emster Family

By early 2020, Beth von Emster and her husband, Kurt, had already developed a clear process for identifying the philanthropic organizations the family would support by recommending grants from their donor advised fund at SVCF. Von Emster’s background as a volunteer with local social justice and human rights organizations had given her behind-the-scenes knowledge into some of the nonprofits that made the best match for the community’s needs. “We’re intentional and analytical about it,” she says. “We’ve got spreadsheets to figure how much and to where.”

When the coronavirus pandemic struck in March, however, the von Emsters quickly realized that the community’s needs had grown and changed. They asked their SVCF philanthropy advisor, Diane Nguyen, to help them identify which local organizations would make the biggest impact in the areas they most wanted to champion.

“SVCF made such a good match for my husband’s and my values — and a really good fit for our community,” von Emster says. “The foundation is so transparent, and its staff are amazing communicators about the process for assessing the potential recipients of grants. Donors know that the organizations SVCF recommends have been well researched. The foundation has identified grass-roots and authentic, high-quality people.”

Making the Right Matches

For their first round of grant recommendations, the von Emsters were specifically keen to support three types of organizations that provided emergency relief related to COVID-19.

“I was particularly concerned that stimulus checks would not be going to undocumented immigrants, who wouldn’t have as much support as others,” von Emster says. Nguyen, who is SVCF’s vice president of donor engagement, worked in concert with SVCF’s community action, policy and strategy department to not only identify organizations that supported that group specifically but also suggest that the von Emsters broaden their scope to include a second food bank and housing organizations that helped citizens and noncitizens, housed and unhoused alike.

Social justice was the family’s second area of focus. They were already familiar with the landscape and had been supporting some groups, von Emster says, but with Nguyen’s guidance, they added more organizations and support. “She connected me with two groups in San Mateo County that I’d heard of but didn’t know much about. Her recommendation reassured me that they were providing high quality services.”

“SVCF made such a good match for my husband’s and my values — and a really good fit for our community. … Donors know that the organizations SVCF recommends have been well researched.”

The von Emsters’ third major category centered on helping solve the challenges of voting during the pandemic, again drawing on help from Nguyen. As the family increased their grantmaking, the von Emsters felt confident they were making the best decisions possible. “Since Nicole Taylor took the helm as president, SVCF has been precise and intentional about what the foundation stands for, and that message resonates with us,” von Emster says. “She and the staff around her are such strategic thinkers that everything seems to be in alignment with their goals for building a stronger, more equitable community. In terms of programming for donors, SVCF has so many offerings to share with the community — a broad array that feels like it’s enriching and helps us make our decisions.”

Supporting Standout Organizations

Among the many organizations that the von Emsters have supported through their donor-advised fund, these three stand out to the family for the work they do for underserved communities in need. Beth explains:

Samaritan House: “Everyone in the local area knows the amazing work it does to support community members with low incomes. I’ve been a regular volunteer for several years and see first-hand what essential and high-quality support it provides. As the pandemic has wreaked havoc on the local economy and food insecurity has tripled, Samaritan House has worked miracles to meet the increased demand for its broad array of services.”

San Francisco and Marin Food Bank: “We’ve been supporters and admirers of this nonprofit for more than a decade. If you go to its main warehouse to volunteer, you get a sense of what a superbly run organization it is. The staff have the highest-caliber skills and a passionate dedication to their mission. They scour and maximize every possible resource — including an enormous volunteer workforce — to provide an extraordinary quantity and quality of food to every conceivable corner of our community in the most dignified, creative, efficient and convenient ways possible.”

OneJustice: “Lack of accessibility to legal services on issues such as housing, medical care and domestic violence can have profoundly negative consequences for individuals and their communities. OneJustice trains, facilitates and supports for-profit attorneys and nonprofit legal services organizations in offering legal services to those who need that assistance. As pandemic-related eviction moratoriums are coming to an end, for example, OneJustice is training attorneys to represent clients facing eviction — particularly in rural areas, where such resources are scarce. We found out about OneJustice through SVCF and knowing that the foundation had already vetted it gave us confidence that it was an excellent organization.”