Ripple founder donates to retail groups
Chris Larsen, cofounder of tech payments company Ripple, has donated $1.7 million to aid San Francisco’s neighborhood merchants as the city recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.
The new philanthropic program, named Avenue Greenlight, will allocate $50,000 each to the city’s 34 merchants associations, which will use the funds to beautify retail streets, invest in public safety and hold more events. Larsen hopes it will boost small businesses that have been hurt by dwindling customer spending and health restrictions, which are loosening as cases drop.
Larsen hopes it’s just the start to expanding business aid and is calling on his fellow tech and business leaders to contribute.
“Small businesses are really in a tough spot,” Larsen said. “If they can just hang on a little longer, we’re almost out of this thing.”
The funds won’t directly go to individual merchants but could assist them by funding vandalism repairs and providing nointerest loans.
The first neighborhoods to receive funding will be the Castro, Bayview, Chinatown and the Richmond’s Clement Street merchant associations, which are now developing spending programs, with more neighborhoods to follow in the coming months.
Morgan Mapes, president of the Clement Street Merchants Association, said the funding will have widespread benefits for the Richmond.
“We want to reengage our community,” said Mapes, who is also owner of the Golden Hour, a vintage clothing store. Possibilities include a Saturday outdoor street market, creating another parklet and adding trees. The group is also providing Clement Street merchandise for local retailers to sell.
The funds could also help with more security cameras. “We have been hit very hard with vandalism and burglaries,” Mapes said.
Her business has dealt with its own challenges, with her two employees leaving as business activity was limited. But things are picking up and Mapes received a $10,000 grant from Salesforce as part of a program announced late last year.
“We’ve weathered the storm,” she said.
After years of booming tax revenue before the pandemic, San Francisco is now facing a budget deficit and has sought philanthropic assistance to bolster its economic recovery. Separately, the city’s Give2SF fund raised $32.3 million for small business and resident aid, with donors including Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson. But many small businesses and restaurants have closed permanently.
“Our recovery from COVID is going to take the entire city coming together,” Mayor London Breed said in a statement. “I really appreciate how Chris is stepping up to demonstrate his commitment to San Francisco by not only supporting our neighborhoods and our small businesses, but also by rallying others to join him in this effort. That’s the focus and spirit we need to lift this city up,”
Larsen is hopeful about San Francisco’s future, predicting a second “Roaring Twenties” that will restore energy and commerce to the city after vaccines have been distributed. “I think there’s going to be a mad rush into the city,” he said.
Apartment and office rents have fallen, making the city more affordable to a wider range of people and companies, he said.
Ripple, which has 450 total employees with a majority in San Francisco, continues to hire locally and will keep its headquarters in the city. Larsen said he doesn’t want to criticize tech executives or companies that have moved out, but he said San Francisco remains the best place to do business for Ripple, where he is executive chairman.
“We’re committed to the city,” he said. “It’s got the most diversity, creativity ... it’s got the critical mass.”
Avenue Greenlight is the latest in numerous civicminded efforts by Larsen, whose net worth is an estimated $2.9 billion by Forbes.
Larsen previously funded more than 1,000 security cameras across the city to help fight vandalism and robberies in business districts, with local Community Benefit Districts deciding where to place them.
In 2019, he donated $25 million to San Francisco State University, his alma mater.
Larsen was one of the largest local political contributors in November’s election, spending $300,000 in support of Proposition A, a $487.5 million bond for parks, homeless services and bonds, and Proposition H, which streamlined some business permits. Both measures won. He said he’s now donating $12 million to help refugees.
Larsen said a key way to help the city recover is for various political and business groups to communicate more, compromise, and limit the infighting over city policies and issues.
“We’re at each others’ throats way too much,” he said.