VALIANCE FOUNDATIONTheValiance Foundation
Education can change the trajectory of a life
Our mission
To remove barriers and expand opportunity for underserved children and youth, through scholarships and educational support in Vietnam and the Bay Area.
A Taste of Our Mission
Talent is everywhere. Opportunity is not.
Through scholarships and educational support, the Valiance Foundation helps give those students something simple and decisive: the ability to stay in school and keep going.
A student’s future should not be decided by whether their family can cover tuition, a room near campus, or the bus fare to get there.
Across Vietnam, capable students face a choice no eighteen-year-old should have to make: sit the entrance exam, or go to work so the family can eat. Start university, or stop at the point where the cost becomes impossible. Here at home, the challenges may take a different form, but the reality is very much the same. Circumstances beyond a student’s control can put education and opportunity out of reach.
The Valiance Foundation exists to help students build a better future. Through our charitable partners, we provide scholarships and educational support that let a student finish what they started.
From Vietnam to the Bay Area, education is what connects us.
From Vietnam to the Bay Area
CIFE · Vietnam · Since 2025
Chipping In For Education
CIFE helps students in underserved communities throughout Vietnam pursue an education that might otherwise be out of reach. Building on our partnership that began at last year’s inaugural gala, Valiance continues to support CIFE’s scholarships and educational programs that help students continue their studies and build sustainable futures.
The work of our partner CIFE, Chipping In For Education, since 2018.
How CIFE selects and supports a student
- 01Applications openMarch to May
- 02Screening and home visitsApril to early June
- 03Recipients approvedLate May to June
- 04Awards presentedJuly to September
- 05Renewed each yearEvery semester, through graduation
Every application is screened and every family is visited at home before an award is made. Awards go to the strongest students in the hardest circumstances, with priority for the ones most likely to drop out without help.
Berkeley Youth Alternatives · Bay Area · New in 2026
Berkeley Youth Alternatives
BYA supports children, youth, and families across Berkeley, Oakland, and Alameda County with resources that extend beyond the classroom. Through our new partnership, Valiance is establishing a dedicated scholarship fund for students in its programs, complementing its broader work in education, counseling, mentorship, career development, and wellness.
This evening is only the beginning. Every contribution ripples outward: expanding access to education, uplifting underserved families, and creating opportunities for children in both the Bay Area and Vietnam.
Every gift goes to the students
Our sponsors and ticket sales cover the cost of the evening. That leaves every gift free to do one thing: keep a student in school.
- 1
Sponsors and tickets
Pay for the gala itself.
- 2
Donations and paddle raise
Fund scholarships and educational support through our charitable partners.
- 3
Live auction
Net proceeds go to the students. We deduct only the cost of any items we purchase to complete a lot.
One student. One year.
A full academic year costs $1,156 to $2,541 per student, about $1,600 on average, depending on where they study and what they need.
Tuition
Keeps a student enrolled for another academic year.
Housing
A rented room when university takes a student away from home.
Living costs
Food, utilities and the everyday expenses that decide whether they can stay.
All ten students, for the whole of this school year, come to $15,976. That is close to what one evening raised in 2025.
Stay with one student, all the way to the diploma
Proceeds go to students who are doing everything right and are about to lose school over money. Support continues year after year, until the diploma is in their hands. Each of these students received a full scholarship for the year.
She almost gave up her place at university
Thủy Tiên lost her mother when she was five. In 2023, while she was preparing for her university entrance exam, she lost her father as well.
Living on her own at eighteen, with tuition and rent ahead of her, she had begun to accept that the future she had worked for was not going to happen.
Support let her sit the exam. She is now a junior at the University of Economics, and volunteers on its admissions team.
At the moment when I almost had to give up my dream, CIFE reached out and gave me hope.
The people behind the Foundation
Nhan Nguyen Le
Founded the gala and serves as host of the evening. Through his leadership of Valiance Capital and the Valiance Foundation, Nhan drives the partnerships that turn the gala’s proceeds into scholarships and community programs in Vietnam.
Diem Nguyen
A 2025 honoree, Diem returns as co-chair and oversees the Foundation’s financial stewardship. She brings institutional investment expertise and a longstanding commitment to expanding opportunities for women in commercial real estate.
- Nhan Nguyen Le
- Diem Nguyen
- Rosalina Tran Lydster
- Daniel Ha
- Jennifer Kim-Anh Tran
A gift of any size matters
Every gift goes to the students: scholarships and educational support for students in underserved communities across Vietnam and here in the Bay Area.