Slowdown in Charitable Giving Kicks In

November 19, 2009, The Wall Street Journal — Thanksgiving is around the corner, but Silicon Valley's charitable giving is on the back burner.

Evidence of that comes from the Mountain View offices of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, which manages the philanthropy efforts of many techie multimillionaires and wealthy locals. The foundation offers an investment vehicle called a donor-advised fund, in which individuals and families can put in some of their wealth and then use those assets for charitable purposes. Those who have donor-advised funds with the foundation include former Yahoo Inc. Chief Executive Tim Koogle, E*Trade Financial Corp. co-founder Bernie Newcomb and Prosper Inc. CEO Chris Larsen.