a love letter · san francisco bay area
more of this,
please.
The world needs more weird, wonderful, creative things.
And the people making them need us.
A tiny, very opinionated guide to Bay Area organizations doing extraordinarily good things for creativity, curiosity, and culture.
Actual humans doing actual good.
Every organization here is one I know personally — I've sat on their boards, volunteered in their programs, or watched their founders build something beautiful.
This is my little corner of the internet dedicated to helping more people discover and support them.
↓ some of the good ones (so far: 4)
Literature / Translation / Independent Publishing
Transit Books
Great stories don't need passports.
Transit Books is an independent nonprofit publisher bringing extraordinary literature from around the world to new readers.
They champion voices that might otherwise go unheard, bridge cultures through storytelling, and prove that great literature can come from anywhere.
Their authors have even received the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Who started it
Founded in 2015 in Oakland by Adam Z. Levy and Ashley Nelson Levy, who started publishing translated and international literature out of their living room.
What your donation does
- ✺ Pays translators to bring new voices into English
- ✺ Gets debut and international books into readers' hands
- ✺ Keeps an independent, nonprofit press bold enough to take risks
Donations go directly to the organization. No middlefolk.
Youth / Creativity
Big Wonder
What if curiosity was the whole point?
Big Wonder creates space for young people to experiment, make things, discover what inspires them, and explore who they might become.
Because growing up shouldn't mean growing out of wonder.
Who started it
Founded by Minnie, who has spent years making creativity accessible, prevalent and actionable for kids.
What your donation does
- ✺ Brings hands-on creative programs to kids at a crucial age
- ✺ Helps expand digital programs to kids in Oakland and beyond
- ✺ Keeps programs open to kids who wouldn't otherwise have access
Donations go directly to the organization. No middlefolk.
Youth / Writing / Education
826 Valencia
Plot twist: every kid is a writer.
826 Valencia helps young people find their voices through free writing, tutoring, and publishing programs.
From imaginative stories to powerful personal narratives, they make sure young people have the tools, confidence, and encouragement to tell stories only they can tell.
Who started it
Founded in 2002 in San Francisco's Mission District by author Dave Eggers and educator Nínive Calegari — behind a pirate supply store.
What your donation does
- ✺ Funds free tutoring and writing workshops for students
- ✺ Publishes young writers' work in real books
- ✺ Trains and supports the volunteers who work with kids
Donations go directly to the organization. No middlefolk.
Literature / Translation / Community
Center for the Art of Translation
Because the world is bigger than one language.
Great literature doesn't stop at borders, and neither should our curiosity. The Center for the Art of Translation champions the writers, translators, and ideas that help us see the world through someone else's eyes. From their beautifully imagined thematic publications to conversations that bring literature and culture together, they make translation feel like what it really is: an art form.
With a new space opening in the heart of San Francisco, they're creating even more room for the city to come together around words, ideas, and the joy of discovering something unexpected.
Who started it
Translator Olivia Sears co-founded the journal Two Lines in 1993; the Center became a San Francisco nonprofit in 2000. Today it runs Two Lines Press, public events, and the Poetry Inside Out school program.
What your donation does
- ✺ Publishes 8–12 translated books a year through Two Lines Press
- ✺ Brings poetry translation into classrooms, grades 3–12, through Poetry Inside Out
- ✺ Hosts events that have gathered 10,000+ people around world literature
- ✺ Supports a new downtown SF literary center, opening in 2027, with the West Coast's only all-translation bookstore
Donations go directly to the organization. No middlefolk.
Little acts of creative support.
Every click is a little vote for more creativity in the world.
People sent to donation pages · Counts clicks to donation pages, not completed donations.
gift guide
Gifts that give twice.
Every one of these supports the people making it. Wrap a book, sponsor a kid, spread the good stuff.
Transit Books
826 Valencia
Why I'm making this little corner of the internet.
A world without creativity is a darker world.
I've called San Francisco home for the past 16 years. I'm a technologist, a creative, and someone who believes that the places we live in don't just happen to us. We shape them, through what we build, what we value, what we protect, and what we choose to support.
I studied translation and live a tricultural life, which is probably why I believe so deeply in stories that cross borders.
San Francisco is a city that prides itself on imagining the future. We build technologies that change how people live, work, and connect. And I love that about this place. But I've always believed that progress is about more than what we can invent. It's also about the stories we tell, the ideas we challenge, the beauty we create, and the opportunities we give others to discover what they're capable of.
A city needs more than innovation to thrive. It needs artists, writers, dreamers, independent thinkers, and kids who have the freedom to make something just because they're curious. It needs places where creativity isn't measured by productivity, where stories can cross borders, and where imagination is valued for its own sake.
And none of that happens by accident.
The cultural fabric of a city is something we create together. Every independent publisher, every community arts program, every space that gives a young person permission to experiment exists because people believe it's worth keeping alive.
I've had the privilege of working alongside organizations doing exactly this work. I've spent a decade on the board of Transit Books and volunteered with 826 Valencia while working at Pinterest. I've met the people behind their missions and seen the care, conviction, and sheer amount of effort it takes to make these spaces and opportunities possible.
I run Good Idea Factory, where projects like this one get made, and I started More of This, Please. because I believe we all have a role to play in shaping the communities we want to live in. And because sometimes supporting something wonderful starts with simply knowing it exists.
This is a small collection of organizations I know, love, and believe in. My hope is that you'll discover something here that moves you, makes you curious, or reminds you why creativity matters.
And maybe you'll find yourself thinking: more of this, please.
— Silvia Oviedo, Good Idea Factory
know a good one?
Suggest an organization.
Bay Area, creative, doing real good. I read every suggestion personally. I only add organizations I know firsthand, or ones clearly credited to another curator.