As I prepare to begin my freshman year at Stanford University and step back from day-to-day involvement at the Los Altos Institution, a student-led global policy think tank I helped build, I find myself reflecting on one partner without whom none of our work would have been possible: the Los Altos Mountain View Community Foundation (LAMVCF).
In a community known for innovation, excellence and community spirit, LAMVCF stands out as an institutional pillar. For us at the Los Altos Institution, and for so many others with ideas bigger than our resources, the foundation has been a powerful catalyst. My friends and I came up with an idea, but we had no legal or financial infrastructure to collect donations or scale a nonprofit organization.
LAMVCF’s nonprofit incubator program helped us grow from a lunch table idea into a real policy organization. Today, the Los Altos Institution empowers students across the world to engage in high-level research and regularly meets with officials at the highest levels of government to both understand current decisions and advise on those in the future.
Too often, we overlook the backbone organizations that make local impact possible. LAMVCF doesn’t just write checks; it builds infrastructure. Its commitment to nonprofit incubation, often known as fiscal sponsorship, is unique. Few organizations on the Peninsula or in the South Bay offer this kind of support. The fiscal sponsors that do exist in the Bay Area typically serve over 100 projects and charge significantly higher administrative fees. LAMVCF, by contrast, chooses to subsidize the cost of supporting local initiatives like ours by contributing not only funds, but also staff time, reputation, space, technology and strategic guidance.
Running this program costs the foundation an estimated $140,000 to $230,000 each year. That includes direct and indirect support ranging from financial management and branding to oversight that protects the foundation’s reputation and mission. But the return on this investment isn’t measured in dollars. It is measured in local teens launching nonprofits, neighbors building mutual aid networks, and grassroots projects gaining a foothold. It is measured in lives changed and ideas realized.
For members of our community, especially young people, who want to make a difference but lack the legal, financial or professional tools to act, LAMVCF provides something invaluable: a real chance. The foundation turns ambition into action and intention into impact. And it’s not just the Los Altos Institution, 18 other projects are part of LAMVCF’s Local Impact Collective.
I’m proud of what we built at the Los Altos Institution. But I’m even prouder that we did it here, in a community that supports its changemakers.
As I begin a new chapter, I want to thank everyone at LAMVCF for believing in us, supporting us and showing that strong local infrastructure can be the foundation for global change.
Los Altos, Mountain View and Los Altos Hills have a true gem in LAMVCF. Let’s make sure this institution remains a constant in a time when steadfast support is more important than ever.
Maulik Dhakal is a recent Los Altos High School graduate. He co-founded a nonprofit organization that was fiscally sponsored by the Los Altos Mountain View Community Foundation.
