Send this story Print this story

Adjust text size

Record $100K donated to Holiday Fund
Family's contribution is largest individual gift ever received

An anonymous $100,000 donation from a Palo Alto family foundation has propelled this year's Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund total to more than $330,000, the largest amount ever raised.

The gift is also the largest individual donation ever received by the Holiday Fund, according to Palo Alto Weekly Publisher Bill Johnson, who oversees the annual grant-making process that provides funds to local nonprofit organizations serving children and families.

"This extraordinary gift comes at a time when nonprofits are serving more clients than ever before, and it will enable us to go much further in meeting their funding needs this year," Johnson said.

In a statement accompanying the donation, the donors stressed their desire to support local causes.

"We grew up in Palo Alto and have always appreciated the extraordinary services provided by the city, the schools and the many community-based organizations. We wanted to support these efforts so they can continue, especially in these times of tight budgets and increasing needs.

"The Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund is a great way for us to have that support distributed among the worthy projects and organizations in Palo Alto and our surrounding communities."

Over the last 18 years, the Holiday Fund has raised and distributed more than $4 million to local nonprofits that serve children, families, seniors and others. Since the Palo Alto Weekly and Silicon Valley Community Foundation donate the necessary administrative services, 100 percent of the funds raised are distributed in the community.

It's not too late to make contributions to this year's campaign. Information is available online at PaloAltoOnline.com/holidayfund. The final publication of donors' names will be in the Friday, Jan. 20, edition of the Weekly.

The Holiday Fund is a fund at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, which serves as its fiscal agent, and receives support from the Packard, Hewlett, Arrillaga and Peery foundations in the form of matching grants.

— Palo Alto Weekly staff

Posted by UsuallyNotAnonymousHere, a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on Jan 6, 2012 at 10:22 am

"It's not too late to make contributions to this year's campaign. Information is available online at PaloAltoOnline.com/holidayfund. The final publication of donors' names will be in the Friday, Jan. 20, edition of the Weekly."

----> [anonymously] done, just now, though shorter # of zero's. The PayPal-mediated donation checkout process is heavy-handed ito trying to push the donor to pay via PayPal.

Posted by Hmmm, a resident of East Palo Alto, on Jan 6, 2012 at 4:06 pm

So nice to read this story and the above comment. There are so many locally generous folks, even in these hard times.