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The Valiance Foundation presents
The Second Annual
VCRE
Charity Gala
Berkeley, California
Black tie · By invitation
The Valiance Foundation presents
The Second Annual
VCRE
Charity Gala
Berkeley, California
Black tie · By invitation
I
The Evening
Destination Vietnam | The Senses
An immersive evening experience engaging the senses: sight, sound, smell, taste and touch.
Act I: Cocktail Reception · 6:00 PMClaremont Ballroom Act II: Dinner & Program · 7:00 PMEmpire Ballroom Act III: Dancing & Drinks · 9:00 PMClaremont Ballroom
Date & Time
Saturday
October 24, 2026
6:00 PM – 11:00 PM
Venue
The Claremont
Resort & Club
41 Tunnel Road | Berkeley, California
Attire
Black Tie
Áo Dài optional
(Traditional Vietnamese Attire)
Accommodations
Guest Room Block
A discounted block is held at The Claremont.
Hotel booking link is provided with your ticket confirmation.
II
Our Purpose
An evening with purpose
One evening can open the door to an entire year of school.
The gala brings together leaders, professionals and friends for a night rooted in Vietnamese culture, connection and shared purpose. Proceeds support students in underserved communities across Vietnam whose talent and determination run into costs their families cannot cover.
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.
The 2025 VCRE Charity Gala Recap Video
Hosted by the Valiance Foundation
By invitation only. One hundred percent of net proceeds fund scholarships and community programs for underprivileged children in Vietnam.
Why it matters
Talent is everywhere. Opportunity is not.
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.
The Valiance Foundation exists to help take that choice off the table. Through our charitable partner, we fund the tuition and living support that let a student finish what they started.
Vietnam is where we serve. Education is what connects us.
III
Where a gift goes
A school, and then a student
Money raised on the night works at two levels. It clears whatever is keeping a whole school out of class, and it helps individual students stay enrolled, year after year.
40
Projects completed
37
Schools supported
22
Provinces reached
9
Years of work
Our partner CIFE, Chipping In For Education, since 2018.
The Projects
What stands between a child and a classroom
It is rarely the child, and rarely the teacher. It is a canal at the school gate, a six mile walk, a winter with no coat. Every project starts with a visit to find that one thing, and ends when it is gone.
2018 · Hau Giang
A schoolyard and a fence
A canal ran past the gate, and small children played at its edge. The yard was paved and the canal fenced off. They arrive dry now, and nobody has to watch the water.
2019 · Gia Lai
A boarding house
Children here walked six miles of hill paths to school, then six miles home. With beds at the school, they stopped having to choose between an education and a night’s sleep.
2020 to 2024 · Twelve schools
Sanitation blocks
Broken bathrooms spread illness, and they keep girls home. Twelve have been rebuilt, more than any other kind of project.
2023 to 2025 · Four provinces
Winter coats
More than 3,500 coats have gone to children in four northern provinces, where winter arrives in the mountains and most families cannot buy one. Many schools now use the red coat as their uniform.
Swipe for more projects
A coat gets a child through one winter. A scholarship gets them through school.
Why the scholarships began
The Students
Then stay with one student, all the way to the diploma
It goes to students who are doing everything right and are about to lose school over money. It keeps paying, year after year, until the diploma is in their hands. That is what the gala funds.
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.
Lê Thị Hồng Gấm
18 · Freshman · $1,695
Her older brother gave up his own education so she could keep hers. Her father works as a laborer, in failing health, with everything riding on her results.
Châu Minh Phát
19 · Sophomore · $1,157
His mother died of cancer in 2021. His father supports him and three younger siblings from his grandparents’ house. He studies at HCMC University of Technology and Education.
10
Students on full scholarship
$16,000
Raised at the 2025 gala
100%
Of net proceeds to the work
How students are selected
Every applicant is visited at home
The scholarships are administered in Vietnam by our partner CIFE. Students apply through their schools, every application is screened, and every family is visited before a single award is made.
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01
Applications open
March to May
Students apply through their schools. Nominations also come from local education associations and partner organizations. Nothing is accepted unsolicited.
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02
Screening and home visits
April to early June
Every application is reviewed, and every finalist’s family is visited at home. This is the step that decides it. The paperwork shows income and grades. The visit shows the roof, the walls, and the corner where the student studies.
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03
Recipients approved
Late May to June
The list and the budget are approved together, so every scholarship is funded before it is offered to a student.
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04
Awards presented
July to September
Presented in person at the student’s school, with their family there.
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05
Renewed each year
Every semester, through graduation
Grades are reported every semester and the award renews, year after year, until the diploma. Students are visited at Mid-Autumn and Lunar New Year.
Awards go to the strongest students in the hardest circumstances, with priority for the ones most likely to drop out without help. That last part is what decides it.
What a gift covers
One student. One year.
A full academic year costs between $1,156 and $2,541 for one student, depending on where they study and what they need. The average is about $1,600.
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.
Give
Help keep a student moving forward
You do not have to attend the gala to be part of what it funds. One hundred percent of net proceeds supports students and schools in Vietnam, through the Valiance Foundation and its charitable partner.
Contributions are processed securely by our fundraising platform. No payment details are entered on this website.
Unable to join us? Send your regrets
Contributions may be tax deductible to the extent permitted by law, and a written acknowledgment will follow.
The Room
The community behind the evening
The gala brings together leaders from across commercial real estate for a night built on relationships, culture and collective giving.
200
Guests, by invitation
Seats are not sold
94
CEOs & executives invited
70
Institutional & regional CRE firms invited
10
Scholarships funded by the 2025 gala
IV
Leadership
The Valiance Foundation
Built on the belief that access to education can change the direction of a life.
-
Nhan Nguyen Le
President & Co-Chair
CEO, Valiance Capital
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
Treasurer & Co-Chair
CFO/SVP, Flynn Hospitality/Flynn Properties
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.
The 2026 Gala Committee
- Nhan Nguyen Le
- Diem Nguyen
- Rosalina Tran Lydster
- Daniel Ha
- Jennifer Kim-Anh Tran
V
Sponsorship
In partnership
This special evening is made possible by the people and companies that invest in this community year-round.
2026 Diamond Sponsor
Five Star Bank joins the Valiance Foundation as Diamond Sponsor of the 2026 gala. A longtime partner to commercial real estate operators across California, the bank shares our conviction that capital is at its best when it builds people as well as places. Its support helps ensure that every dollar raised advances the scholarship fund.
2026 Venue Partners
2026 Media Partner
Past Supporters
VI
Honorees
This year's honorees will be announced soon
The Valiance Foundation recognizes institutional Vietnamese American leaders who are trailblazers in commercial real estate, and whose leadership has created meaningful impact in their communities.
Honorees will be recognized on October 24th, selected by the committee from nominations received through the spring.
2025 Honorees
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Michael Duong
Managing Director
Pacific Life
Leaving a legacy means creating something that endures, something that keeps making a difference long after I'm gone.
-
Diem Nguyen
CFO/SVP
Flynn Hospitality/Flynn Properties
The industry has evolved a great deal in a decade. Diversity is growing, and there is more room for different voices and leadership styles.
-
Michael Nguyen
Executive Vice President
Banc of California
Ultimately the goal is to leave our community a better place than when we arrived.
-
Le-Quyen Le
Senior Vice President
Gaw Capital
So few women are in commercial real estate. Learning to trust your instinct matters as you gain experience and manage teams.