Town Square

Post a New Topic

Second executive resigns from foundation amid scandal

Original post made on May 2, 2018

Amid a storm of complaints of workplace harassment, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation announced Tuesday its executive in charge of human resources will be leaving.

Read the full story here Web Link posted Tuesday, May 1, 2018, 5:44 PM

Comments (7)

Posted by This pocket-the-profit corp does what?
a resident of Old Mountain View
on May 2, 2018 at 2:26 am

What does this so-called "non-profit" corporation do - other than pocket the profit?


Posted by @This pocket-the-profit corp does what?
a resident of Another Mountain View Neighborhood
on May 2, 2018 at 10:54 am

Looks like they didn't do anything but abuse their workers and push them into the ground.


Posted by Maher
a resident of Martens-Carmelita
on May 2, 2018 at 2:47 pm

Maher is a registered user.

I'm glad bullies of all sorts are being de-closeted and penalized for their cruelty. The #METOO movement has awakened suffering people to the option of banding together and speaking up against "bosses" who, in any way, abuse their status vav subordinates. Let's get rid of as many as we can asap. This toxic way of business needs to be countered, esp for women but also for anyone who is bullied.


Posted by Iam_a_fool_too
a resident of Gemello
on May 3, 2018 at 12:27 pm

I feel so ashamed that I donated money to this entity. It is shocking how badly behaved these people at the top are. So much money pouring into their coffers made them invincible and do all kinds of bad things and get away with it for a long time and still going to get away with it because they are not walking away empty handed. They are sure taking at least few millions with them. Non profits are corrupt and crooked just like our local/state/federal govts are. One would think the board of directors would have common sense and decent ethics to make sure the foundation is working properly. No, that is anything but what is happening in this foundation. They need to be criminlly charged and put behind bars, yes, the board of directors who are supposed to keep an eye on everything. I do believe there are lot more scandals especially with travel expenses, gifts etc with this foundation


Posted by MyOpinion
a resident of Sylvan Park
on May 3, 2018 at 4:22 pm

MyOpinion is a registered user.

The biggest scandal that has come out of this is the paltry amount of money going to Moutain View's Community Services Agency from SVCF, helping those truly in need. CSA received a TOTAL of 317K in THREE YEARS, yet SVCF took in $1.4 billion in donations and disbursed $1.3 billion in grants in 2017, ONLY ONE YEAR. SVCF HQ is in Mountain View, yet they and their donors (many who live in Los Altos) turn a blind eye to the socio economic issues associated with homelessness. Try parking a decrepit RV in Los Altos, zero tolerance, zero concern. Let Mountain View deal with it.


Posted by MyOpinion
a resident of Sylvan Park
on May 3, 2018 at 4:25 pm

MyOpinion is a registered user.

@pocket the profit - with donor advised funds, the donors put money into the fund and then in turn are meant to distribute it to 501c's of their choice. I don't see local social agencies (5013) getting much of that money.


Posted by Gaston
a resident of Old Mountain View
on May 5, 2018 at 8:35 am

There's another big problem here, that the focus on employee abuse misse. After the 1969 Tax Act, community foundations had to claim all of their named (advised or directed) funds as being part of the foundation's own endowment. Otherwise, these funds were designated as private foundations and subject to higher taxes and less deductions on the donor's tax filings. Owning the funds means that the funds can't be taken away. Yet, the reporting shows that many donors have taken their funds out of the community foundation and moved them to other donor-advised fund services (like Fidelity.)

The tax laws have been weakened over the years, and the IRS lost a big fight against Fidelity over 15 years ago on whether their service even met legal minimums for getting a charitable deduction. But while the law is weak, the ethics of giving haven't changed. If you give a gift to a charity it should be a full gift - no longer yours to control and dictate. It is unfair in the extreme that very wealthy people get whopping big tax deductions for gifts that they still control - they get to say how money is spent, or even 'if' money is spent.

Once the air clears, a lot of donors are going to leave the SVCF, and if they do, their tax savings on past gifts should be rescinded and they should be made to pay back taxes.


Don't miss out on the discussion!
Sign up to be notified of new comments on this topic.

Email:


Post a comment

On Wednesday, we'll be launching a new website. To prepare and make sure all our content is available on the new platform, commenting on stories and in TownSquare has been disabled. When the new site is online, past comments will be available to be seen and we'll reinstate the ability to comment. We appreciate your patience while we make this transition..

Stay informed.

Get the day's top headlines from Mountain View Online sent to your inbox in the Express newsletter.