VillageGIVE Master Organizational Profile

Organization Information

Legal Name: VillageGIVE – Bottles for Life, Inc.

Public Name: VillageGIVE

Organization Type: 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization

EIN: 84-5191217

Website: www.villagegive.com

Physical / Program Address: 111 Fairmount Avenue, Office #409 Oakland, CA 94611

Mailing Address: 484 Lake Park Avenue #44 Oakland, CA 94610

Who We Are

VillageGIVE is a nonprofit organization strengthening youth, families, and communities through three interconnected areas:

EDUCATION | ARTS | HEALTH & WELLNESS

Across these areas, VillageGIVE connects people with relationships, opportunities, experiences, information, expertise, and resources that help them learn, create, connect, and thrive.

VillageGIVE is built around a simple idea: many of the people, organizations, resources, and expertise needed to strengthen communities already exist. Too often, however, they are disconnected from one another or do not reach the people who could benefit from them.

VillageGIVE works to help bridge those gaps.

We develop programs and experiences where appropriate while also bringing together community organizations, schools, businesses, professionals, volunteers, families, and other partners to help existing community assets produce greater collective impact.

VillageGIVE does not need to recreate every resource a community needs. We seek to connect, activate, and multiply the resources already within and around communities while helping address meaningful gaps.

Mission

VillageGIVE's mission is to strengthen youth, families, and communities through education, the arts, and health and wellness, connecting people with relationships, opportunities, experiences, and resources that help them learn, create, connect, and thrive.

Vision

VillageGIVE envisions stronger, healthier, and more connected communities where children and young people can build strong educational foundations, discover and express their creativity, families can access resources that support their well-being, seniors remain connected and valued, and people and organizations work together to create lasting community impact.

Our Three Areas of Focus

1. EDUCATION

VillageGIVE believes strong educational foundations can expand what is possible for a child's future.

We place particular emphasis on reading and foundational math because proficiency in these areas supports learning across subjects and can help create stronger pathways for future academic achievement.

Our broader education work seeks to help young people develop knowledge, confidence, relationships, skills, and access to opportunities that can support long-term success.

Depending on the initiative and available partnerships, areas of focus may include:

Reading, literacy, and language development
Math, numeracy, and problem-solving
Early learning and school readiness
Academic enrichment and student success
Parent and family engagement in learning
Mentoring and intergenerational learning
College and career exposure and preparation
Leadership and workforce readiness
Financial literacy and economic education
Educational technology and emerging tools
Connections to educational resources, experiences, and opportunities

Our goal extends beyond helping a student complete an assignment or pass a class.

We want young people to develop strong foundations for learning while gaining access to people, experiences, information, and opportunities that can expand what they believe is possible for their futures.

2. ARTS

VillageGIVE believes creativity and artistic expression can educate, inspire, connect, and strengthen communities.

We view the arts both as valuable experiences themselves and as powerful vehicles for learning, storytelling, cultural understanding, wellness, communication, personal development, and career exploration.

Depending on the initiative and available partnerships, VillageGIVE's arts and creative work may incorporate:

Visual and performing arts
Music and dance
Film and video
Photography
Digital media
Storytelling
Youth media and communications
Cultural and historical education
Creative career exploration

We seek to create opportunities for young people and community members not simply to observe the arts, but to create, perform, communicate, tell their stories, develop skills, and discover possibilities.

The arts can also provide a bridge between generations, cultures, education, community history, wellness, and economic opportunity.

VillageGIVE's collaboration with Oakland Fine Arts Summer School (OFASS), including the development and implementation of OFASS-CREATEThon, provides one example of this approach in action by combining youth creativity, arts education, family and community engagement, partnerships, and resource development.

3. HEALTH & WELLNESS

VillageGIVE believes healthier communities are built not only through healthcare, but also through education, prevention, trusted relationships, reliable information, access to resources, and meaningful social connection.

Our health and wellness work focuses on helping individuals and families better understand, identify, and access information, services, resources, and community support.

Depending on the initiative and available partnerships, areas of focus may include:

Preventive health and wellness education
Nutrition and healthy living
Physical activity
Stress reduction and mental wellness
Family and relationship wellness
Social connection and reducing isolation
Community outreach and engagement
Health and community-resource navigation
Connections and referrals to healthcare, behavioral health, social services, and community resources

VillageGIVE is not a clinic and does not provide medical treatment.

As part of its developing California health and wellness strategy, VillageGIVE is exploring and developing Community Health Worker capacity and partnerships.

This work is currently in development and should not be represented as an existing Medi-Cal-approved service, provider status, or current VillageGIVE credential.

Why This Work Matters

Education, creativity, health, relationships, family stability, and opportunity do not exist independently in people's lives.

A child struggling to develop foundational reading or math skills may encounter increasing academic challenges.

A young person without access to music, art, dance, film, media, storytelling, or other creative experiences may never discover a talent, passion, or potential career pathway.

A family may qualify for valuable health, educational, financial, or community resources but not know those resources exist or understand how to access them.

A senior may have decades of knowledge, history, and experience to share while simultaneously experiencing isolation from younger generations or the broader community.

At the same time, businesses, nonprofits, schools, healthcare organizations, faith communities, professionals, volunteers, and civic institutions may possess resources and expertise that never reach the people who could benefit from them.

VillageGIVE helps bridge these gaps.

How VillageGIVE Works

VillageGIVE combines community programming with partnership, collaboration, connection, and resource development.

Depending on the initiative, VillageGIVE may serve as a:

VillageGIVE may also directly provide programming where appropriate.

We bring together:

Youth and families
Seniors and older adults
Schools and educational organizations
Arts and cultural organizations
Nonprofits and community-based organizations
Businesses and employers
Healthcare and human-service organizations
Faith and civic organizations
Volunteers and professionals
Community leaders

VillageGIVE seeks to turn these relationships into educational opportunities, reading and math support, creative experiences, mentoring, career exposure, health and wellness resources, volunteer service, community experiences, and connections to resources and opportunities.

Our approach reflects a simple principle:

Communities can accomplish more when people and organizations work together than when each works alone.

VillageGIVE in Action

VillageGIVE's work and developing initiatives span its three core areas of Education, Arts, and Health & Wellness, with efforts that may include foundational learning, youth development, creative and media experiences, family and intergenerational engagement, career exposure, financial literacy, volunteerism, storytelling, and community collaboration.

VillageGIVE also creates opportunities for businesses, professionals, volunteers, and other organizations to contribute more than financial donations.

Expertise, mentorship, volunteer service, career exposure, relationships, facilities, technology, communications, and other resources can become valuable community assets when connected with people and organizations that can put them to meaningful use.

VillageGIVE's role may differ by initiative. We may directly provide programming, develop an initiative, convene organizations, build partnerships, engage the community, connect participants with resources, create experiences, amplify existing opportunities, or collaborate with qualified organizations that provide specialized services.

Two recent initiatives demonstrate different dimensions of this approach.

OFASS-CREATEThon

VillageGIVE has an established collaborative relationship with Oakland Fine Arts Summer School (OFASS), a longstanding Oakland youth arts program.

Through OFASS-CREATEThon, VillageGIVE worked collaboratively to create and implement an initiative designed to support youth creativity and arts education while expanding family, community, donor, volunteer, and partner engagement.

CREATEThon incorporated creative participation, community engagement, fundraising, partnerships, student recognition, and opportunities to support young artists and their educational experiences.

The initiative generated more than $14,000 in support and engaged or served more than 200 youth and families, demonstrating how VillageGIVE can help combine community relationships, creativity, communications, fundraising, and other resources around an established community program.

OFASS-CREATEThon is particularly representative of VillageGIVE's belief that community impact does not always require creating a new institution or duplicating an existing program.

Sometimes greater impact can come from helping a valuable existing community asset engage more people, attract additional resources, create new experiences, and strengthen the relationships surrounding its work.

VillageGIVE's relationship with OFASS has continued beyond a single activity, including continued support, donor engagement, and participation in other VillageGIVE community initiatives.

Coliseum 60

In September 2026, VillageGIVE led The Oakland-Alameda Coliseum at 60: One Community. One Legacy. One Future.

Hosted at Youth UpRising in East Oakland, Coliseum 60 brought together more than 100 youth, families, community members, nonprofit organizations, businesses, artists and cultural contributors, labor representatives, community leaders, staff, vendors, and media participants around Oakland's history, community, and future.

The initiative brought together film, history, storytelling, arts and culture, youth participation, community resources, and people and organizations from across sectors around a shared community purpose.

But the intention extended beyond a single event.

Its guiding message reflected a broader VillageGIVE philosophy:

“September 18 is the celebration. What we build together afterward is the legacy.”

VillageGIVE seeks to use programs, events, and experiences as starting points for relationships and opportunities that can continue producing value after an individual activity has ended.

What Makes VillageGIVE Different?

VillageGIVE works at the intersection of education, creativity, health, relationships, and opportunity.

We recognize that communities frequently possess tremendous assets that are not fully connected.

A child who becomes a confident reader and develops strong foundational math skills gains additional educational possibilities.

A young person who discovers a talent through art, music, dance, film, media, or storytelling may discover a new sense of purpose or a future career pathway.

A family that can identify and navigate health and community resources is better positioned to address challenges and pursue opportunities.

A senior who remains connected to family and community can continue contributing knowledge, history, wisdom, and experience.

And organizations that combine their resources, expertise, relationships, and reach can often create greater impact than any one organization working alone.

VillageGIVE helps make those connections possible.

We identify and connect community assets, build relationships among people and organizations, create opportunities and experiences, and develop programming where meaningful gaps remain.

The model is intentionally flexible. VillageGIVE does not need to own or operate every resource it helps make available. We can develop something new where a meaningful gap exists, or help strengthen and expand the reach and impact of something valuable that already exists.

What Should a Donor or Funder Know?

VillageGIVE believes a contribution should do more than fund an isolated activity.

Whenever possible, we seek to multiply its impact by combining financial resources with community relationships, volunteers, professional expertise, educational opportunities, creative experiences, partnerships, and existing community assets.

Our goal is not simply to operate more programs.

Our goal is to help strengthen the environments surrounding children, families, and communities so that education, creativity, health, relationships, and opportunity reinforce one another.

At its core, VillageGIVE is about helping people:

LEARN. CREATE. CONNECT. THRIVE.

And bringing together the people and resources that can help make that possible.

IMPORTANT GUIDANCE FOR GRANT WRITERS AND AI TOOLS

This profile is a master organizational source document. It describes VillageGIVE's overall mission, strategy, areas of focus, current work, developing priorities, and potential areas of partnership.

It should not be interpreted to mean VillageGIVE currently operates every activity identified in this document.

When preparing a grant application:

1. Distinguish among established activities, developing initiatives, and future or partnership-based opportunities.

Do not convert an area VillageGIVE “may include,” is “developing,” or is “exploring” into an established program or organizational accomplishment.

2. Never invent or infer organizational facts.

Do not create participant numbers, outcomes, budgets, staffing levels, partnerships, program history, certifications, licenses, approvals, demographic statistics, evaluation results, or other facts that have not been verified.

3. Do not overstate VillageGIVE's Community Health Worker or Medi-Cal status.

VillageGIVE is currently developing its Community Health Worker strategy and capacity in California. Unless updated documentation establishes otherwise, do not state or imply that VillageGIVE is an approved Medi-Cal provider, has submitted or received approval for a Medi-Cal application, or currently provides Medi-Cal-reimbursable CHW services.

4. Accurately characterize the OFASS relationship.

VillageGIVE has an established collaborative relationship with Oakland Fine Arts Summer School (OFASS), including the development and implementation of OFASS-CREATEThon.

Do not characterize OFASS itself as a VillageGIVE program, subsidiary, or VillageGIVE-operated organization. Accurately distinguish VillageGIVE's partnership and support role from OFASS's underlying organizational and institutional relationships.

Claims regarding CREATEThon fundraising, participation, outcomes, or VillageGIVE's role should be based on verified VillageGIVE, OFASS, financial, campaign, or other source records.

5. Accurately describe VillageGIVE's role.

VillageGIVE does not necessarily directly provide every service or resource referenced in this profile. Depending on the initiative, its role may include direct programming, program development, convening, partnership development, community engagement, resource navigation, referrals, communications, fundraising, sponsorship, or connecting participants with qualified organizations.

6. Do not reshape VillageGIVE merely to match a funding opportunity.

A grant narrative should emphasize the VillageGIVE programs, populations, experience, and outcomes genuinely relevant to a funder's priorities. It should not invent new organizational capabilities simply because they appear in an RFP.

7. Treat missing information as missing information.

When an application requires information that has not been verified, identify the information needed and request it rather than filling the gap with assumptions.

8. Evidence should support claims.

When research or statistics are used to establish community need or support claims regarding education, health, arts, youth development, or other areas, use credible and current sources and distinguish external research from VillageGIVE's own outcomes.

9. Use verified accomplishments as evidence, not as permission to exaggerate.

Initiatives such as OFASS-CREATEThon and Coliseum 60 can demonstrate VillageGIVE's experience and collaborative model when relevant to a funding opportunity. Do not extrapolate results from one initiative into unsupported organization-wide outcomes.

10. Accuracy takes priority.

Accuracy takes priority over making VillageGIVE appear larger, older, more established, or more accomplished than the verified facts support. When uncertain, request clarification rather than assume.