2020-2021 Funder Spotlights
Adobe has a long kindred relationship to manufacturing, offering product design solutions for manufacturers and much more. Adobe also became SFMade’s neighbor in 2019 when they moved into the adjacent 100 Hooper project. And just this year, they became one of our major program funders. When the COVID-19 crisis hit, they then went one better and proactively increased their funding of SFMade. Adobe is a shining example of how a partner, funder, and leader in tech-driven philanthropy can work for our community.
Bank of America is lending, investing and giving in local communities like ours in order to advance local economies and create positive change. This year, Bank of America renewed their support of our work in San Jose as a way to help small manufacturing businesses and the people they employ, and to improve the quality of life in the local community.
Bank of the West is one of the key supporters of SFMade’s flagship Manufacturer’s Accelerator program with a specific focus on women and micro entrepreneurs, providing them with a true ecosystem of support consisting of technical assistance, peer networks and continued education, and we will continue to create more job opportunities for low-income women and individuals from low-income communities. By supporting women-owned businesses, Bank of the West is helping to close the wealth gap and to foster innovative products and services in the marketplace.
SFMade has been supported by and worked in partnership with the City of San Francisco since our inception. Together, SFMade and the City jointly pursue key strategic initiatives to encourage and enable local manufacturers to stay, start and grow in San Francisco and create jobs for its less traditionally educated, economically disadvantaged, and immigrant populations. The newest program we collaborate on is the Next Generation Manufacturing Training Program which we launched in 2019. The City of San Francisco is also a critical supporter of our business advising and youth programs.
The City of San Jose is a critical partner and supporter of Manufacture: San Jose; our program that delivers workforce, hiring and advising services to manufacturers in San Jose. San Jose has an expansive and diverse manufacturing landscape — the largest in the Bay Area — and a great potential to grow the job base and connect local communities to those opportunities.
California Manufacturing Technology Consulting (CMTC), through the federally funded Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program, provides critical funding for SFMade’s manufacturing advising and education services. CMTC also supports our Bay Area Manufacturing Initiative and regional work. And CMTC’s support during the COVID-19 crisis has been critical; under a partnership with CMTC and California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-BIZ), Small Business Technical Assistance Expansion program administered by Office of the Small Business Advocate, SFMade received additional funding to help Bay Area manufacturers navigate the crisis.
The work we do at SFMade would not be possible without dedicated, generous funders like JPMorgan Chase & Co., an organization that has supported our work since 2013. JPMorgan Chase & Co. was the first organization to invest in our successful youth program, and is currently partnering with SFMade to advance solutions creating new career pathways centered around Next Generation Manufacturing. Manufacturing is a beacon of hope, and JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s support is critical to building bridges to employment.
For more than 150 years, MUFG Union Bank, N.A. has been committed to supporting the communities it serves. They appreciate the work SFMade is doing in supporting local manufacturers and manufacturing jobs in San Francisco and renewed and increased their support of our work this year.
Kaiser Permanente has been a supporter of SFMade for the past six years, and with their early leadership we founded the Bay Area Urban Manufacturing Initiative in 2016 to leverage the Bay Area’s interwoven economies and communities to grow manufacturing jobs and pathways to economic inclusion region-wide. Kaiser Permanente continues to support our regional work along with our business advising, education and hiring support to strengthen Bay Area manufacturing resiliency.
When SFMade launched Manufacture: San Jose (MFG:SJ) in 2018, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation was one of our founding partners and they have been a critical supporter ever since. With their support we work to create pathways to economic equity for diverse, low-income San Jose residents through training and employment, and to create a robust system of support for local, entrepreneurial manufacturers so that they can thrive, create, and sustain jobs.
The Sobrato Family Foundation supports the work of our Manufacture: San Jose program to create pathways to economic prosperity for diverse, low-income residents of San Jose and the South Bay through employment and training in next generation manufacturing.
In 2016, SFMade was recognized by The James Irvine Foundation for our innovative work when our CEO Kate Sofis received their Leadership Award along with Todd Rufo, the Director of San Francisco’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development. The James Irvine Foundation, through their Better Careers Initiative is focused on creating a California where all low-income workers have the power to advance economically and currently support our efforts to scale and deepen the impact of our workforce programs, including our Next Generation Manufacturing Training Program and a research project to map out what types of skills will be needed in the manufacturing sector in the San Francisco Bay Area, Fresno, and Stockton in the next 1-3 years.
Together with the San Francisco Foundation, we work to connect HOPE SF residents to careers in manufacturing through our Next Generation Training Program that we run in partnership with Humanmade. They are helping us “ bring a bold new idea to life!”
U.S. Bank knows that a strong small business environment and an educated workforce ensure the prosperity of our communities. During the COVID-19 crisis, U.S. Bank renewed and deepened their support of SFMade enabling us to meet the increased demand of front-line support to local manufacturing businesses.
Wells was one of SFMade’s founding partners when we started and they have provided support every year throughout our ten-year history; and this year, in a time of crisis, Wells Fargo has provided funding for our Small Manufacturer Disaster Response Initiative that provides manufacturers in San Francisco and San Jose with intensive, hands-on support to help them re-open, re-hire, and survive. Wells Fargo also supports us by holding a position on our Board of Directors, where we chart the future of SFMade and make critical decisions that impact local manufacturers throughout the Bay Area.
SFMade was honored this year to be selected as one of seven grantees for Zoura’s first-ever Community Impact Grant, which supports nonprofits that are addressing their communities’ highest needs and working to overcome barriers to economic participation by underrepresented communities. With Zoura’s support we will continue helping local manufacturing companies recover, rebuild, and rehire from the community post-COVID-19.
