Local Giving, Lasting Impact: The Central Valley Community Foundation

The Central Valley Community Foundation (formerly the Fresno Regional Foundation) weaves together community vision, dedicated nonprofits and generous donors to work toward a Central Valley with no barriers just opportunity for all people. Gathering to learn about community needs is an important component of CVCF’s work. At the May 2024 Friends Forum event, UCSF leaders shared information with donors and the CVCF team about the state of healthcare in the region.

While community foundations can be complex organizations, their purpose is simple – to make it easy for people to give and make a difference in their own community.

In 1966, The Fresno Regional Foundation, as it was called then, was introduced by local leaders as a way to get the greatest return for the community from charitable contributions. An article from The Fresno Bee from December 13, 1966, described it as “a method of permanent trust fund management for charity.” The article points out that the foundation was not, itself, a non-profit organization and would therefore not compete with other charities in town. 

The article also highlights another characteristic of community foundations: their ability to change and grow as a community evolves. As The Bee explains, “the original purpose of a bequest sometimes becomes obsolete, and the flexibility of the community trust makes it possible to carry out the original intentions of the donor but adapted to changed conditions.”

One such moment of change for the Central Valley Community Foundation happened in 2015. It’s what drew retired surgeon and entrepreneur Alan Pierrot, MD, to the organization. As he remembers it, “I joined the board in 2015 because the organization accepted this challenge of transformation to a new kind of mission that was exciting to me.” Pierrot went on to serve as Board Chair from 2016 until 2019, and is currently Chair Emeritus. 

The idea Pierrot shepherded was to adopt a community leadership model driven by a budget based on mission, not determined by fees generated from assets under management. This model calls for community-wide collaboration and engagement to identify and solve problems in a specific region.

“This was a different kind of focus. One that was no longer tied to a fee schedule but tied to the dreams and goals of the community,” Pierrot said. “We went from managing the philanthropic goals of other people to delivering on the needs of our community.”

And, the change is working. “We’ve made incredible progress, and the return on investment of the Central Valley Community Foundation is absolutely amazing,” Pierrot said. 

The Central Valley Community Foundation brings together community members, nonprofits and donors to learn about the region's needs and celebrate what makes our region special. During the Friends of the Foundation event in October 2022, guests gathered under the lights on Fulton Street in Downtown Fresno, where they shared a meal and learned about the people and neighborhoods involved in Fresno Drive’s Civic Infrastructure initiative. Fresno Drive is an impact program of the Central Valley Community Foundation.

In the past five years alone, CVCF has helped its community partners secure over $630 million to advance their work in the region, which is chronically undercapitalized, under-resourced, and underserved. It continues to leverage this investment to change countless lives for the better.

This story is part of the Central Valley Community Foundation’s “Sixty Stories That Shaped Us” initiative to help mark 60 years since our founding. We invite you to join us in celebrating this milestone as well as this special place we call home. To learn more, visit us at centralvalleycf.org and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn @centralvalleycf.

 Putting community dreams and goals to action: Sierra San Joaquin Jobs, an impact program of the Central Valley Community Foundation, hosted the Spring Sprint Kick-Off event that gathered more than 300 community members, nonprofits and donors from across Madera, Fresno, Tulare and Kings counties in May 2024. This effort resulted in the most comprehensive, community-led, economic development plan ever written in our region.