Dear SVP Friend,

A chasm exists between the challenges we face as a society and the scale at which we are engaging those challenges.  How can we, as a collective of Social Venture Partners, tap into our strength and make the biggest dent possible on deeply entrenched social issues?

I look around the SVP network and am more optimistic than ever before.  I see progress – and potential for far more because of our strength, ingenuity, dogged persistence and creativity.  

Take, for example, the innovative campaign recently launched by Social Venture Partners in Rhode Island.  Buy with Heart is the United States' first social enterprise consumer awareness campaign and aims to encourage purchasing of products and services from Rhode Island's 100+ social ventures.  The social enterprises provide high-quality, competitively -priced, locally produced products and services while addressing some of Rhode Island’s most pressing challenges.   Many social enterprises train and create jobs for populations with barriers to employment.  Other ventures are adopting market-based solutions to address social challenges, decreasing their dependence upon public dollars.  500 jobs and 120 ventures later, SVP Rhode Island is scaling up and maximizing impact for small, successful ventures.

In the 2010 SVP Network Growth Report  you’ll see proof of the strength of the network.  Since 1997, SVP Partners have contributed close to $41 million (USD) in grant investments to 500 nonprofits.  Even more important, thousands of volunteer hours in business management, human resources, legal, marketing and finance support have been invested to help nonprofits stretch to their next level of impact.  As a network, we expect to grow by 11% in 2011. Read the Strategic Plan Summary to learn of our six strategic priorities over the next few years.  How will you participate?

The Annual Conference  is a singular event that unleashes the collective power of SVP so we can deepen our transformational work.  Don’t wait, register now.  We’ve heard time and time again that after attending a conference, partners are more energized than ever before.  See you in Minneapolis, October 13 -15. 

Looking to play a larger role in the network?  We are seeking at least three individuals to join our board and be a part of taking this extraordinary network to the next level. The new directors will be elected in October 2011.  Click here to learn more about the qualifications and nomination process.

I invite you to read more about the momentum we are building together in your community and across the network.

     Warmly,

    
     Ruth Jones
     CEO, Social Venture Partners International

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 Contents:

• Unleashing Potential - One SVP at a Time
• Update from SVP Tokyo 
• Fellowship Opportunity Available on Diversity and Inclusion - Applications Due July 29 
• The Ripple Effect is Definitely Working! 
• Welcome Pat Landrum, New Executive Director in Denver! 

• Thank You to Our Conference Media Sponsor Stanford Social Innovation Review

Unleashing Potential – One SVP at a Time

As a collective, we number 25 currently with 2,100+ Partners.  We’ve contributed close to $41M (USD) to over 500 nonprofits. That’s something to feel good about.  Is that enough?  What would it take to double those numbers?  Just how many struggling kids, vulnerable families and environmental solutions could we reach with a bigger net? 

SVPI board members have set in place an Expansion Plan tied to measureable goals in our strategic plan.  Over the next five years, we expect to see a minimum of 17 new SVPs at cities around the world.  We see the potential, we have the tools, and there is no better time than right now to ramp up our efforts. 

Jeff Tollefson, a partner in Minnesota, serves as Chair of the SVPI Expansion Team.  Why take this on?  Jeff says, “SVP has had a profound impact on my life, leading me to my current leadership role at Genesys Works and providing a platform from which I can practice my own form of engaged philanthropy.  I have seen first-hand the power of the SVP model and the partners that drive it, and I’m excited by the prospect of significantly expanding the reach and depth of our partnership.”

SV2 partner Scott Kupor is deeply engaged in the expansion effort. He’s made expanding SVP – and investing in the network’s capacity – his primary volunteer commitment.   Two introductory events have been held in Austin: members of the Expansion Team are moving ahead in target cities Houston, Chicago, Atlanta and Raleigh.  An exciting opportunity exists in India, led by partners who have close personal and professional connections there.

"Having experienced the SVP network firsthand through my family's involvement in SV2, the local Silicon Valley organization, I am absolutely convinced that our message is one that will resonate across a broader set of communities,” says Scott.  “There is no better time to move forward with an SVP expansion than right now.  With the help of our existing network of SVP organizations, we can dramatically increase the scale and scope of SVP's mission in new geographies."                        

We do need your help with one crucial component:  please complete this form to help us determine who might have connections or support they can offer in the targeted cities.  This will help us identify likely candidates to be a Founder or early Partner in those cities.  Strategically tapping into our own networks can make this effort successful and sustainable.

Update from SVP Tokyo

Hideyuki Inoue and his wife Yuki, with Bob and Maryann Ness in Tokyo in May

“It’s clear that the Japanese people are still shocked,” says Bob Ness, SVP Seattle partner, about the daunting task ahead for Japan’s disaster recovery.  Bob and his wife Maryann recently visited Japan and did not find many Japanese willing to talk deeply about the tsunami disaster.

SVP Tokyo founder and Chair, Hide Inoue and his wife, Yuki visited the Fukushima area not long before they met with Bob and Maryann.  Hide said that they were completely unprepared for the level of devastation, and their own emotional response to the losses that people experienced there.

They discussed how the disaster may have actually encouraged Japanese society to consider social entrepreneurship and the development of philanthropy and volunteer/nonprofit organizations as more essential parts of their society. There are needs for skills that are not easily accessible in Japan, such as process skills for disasters, skills to re-invent communities, and of course direct reconstruction.

Our friends at SVP Tokyo express heartfelt gratitude for the generous donations of $32,000 received from North American partners.  The SVP Tokyo project team (Ken Ito, Hideyuki Inoue, Takuya Okamoto, Shinichi Kamiyo, and Mio Yamamoto) has decided to channel the contribution, together with $13,000 of donations from current and alumni Tokyo Partners, into three organizations taking leading roles in relief/rebuild efforts.  A description of the work is here.

Here’s what the nonprofits report:

Shoko So, Executive Director, Tokyo Midwife Association
“We've helped more than 25 pairs of mothers and babies and received about 100 applications. Donations from SVP will be used for capacity building activities such as making an online list of available midwives and hospitals and facilitating coordinators who will connect them from the disaster area to Tokyo. We recognized the need to help mothers not only in Tokyo but in the disaster area because some of them find it difficult to leave their small village and evacuate to Tokyo. We want to create a new system to meet local needs and help mothers and children more effectively.”

Koji Yamauchi, Director, Entrepreneurial Training for Innovative Communities
“We have sent 18 managers to the affected areas so far and provided mentoring and advisory services, using our skills and experiences in human resource development. We will use the donation from SVP to open a new website in order to inform more young individuals about our program and to encourage them to get involved.”

Takashi Kawazoe, President, Carepro
“Early detection and treatment of diabetes are desperately needed because many people have to stay in evacuation centers for months and changes in their diet have resulted in severe aggravation of diabetes and high blood pressure. Many family doctors were engulfed by the Tsunami.  We’ve sent nurses and organized free medical checkups for evacuees and introduced those who need further treatment to local healthcare facilities. Not only are the physical problems grave but also mental health is a big issue. An eighty-year-old evacuee lost all her family. She said she was hopeless and even thought of killing herself. We would like to help such people through dialogue as well.”

SVP Tokyo continues to raise funds for these efforts. If you’d like to give, click here.

Fellowship Opportunity Available on Diversity and Inclusion - Applications Due July 29

The Funders' Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities is announcing a fellowship opportunity, PLACES, that focuses on diversity and inclusion. 

“I was a fellow in this program three years ago, and I found it so powerful that I joined the advisory board when I finished,” says SVP Seattle Partner Todd Vogel, now chair of the Advisory Board chair of PLACES.  “This program changed the way I approach philanthropy.  I traveled to cities around the country and saw first-hand the systemic nature of the challenges we face.  PLACES introduced me to many people doing good work on making long-term changes.  I learned how other funders approached local problems and the importance of collaboration among funders for long-term transformation.

“While the program focuses on race and class and how we improve communities, The Funders Network is dedicated to funding across silos.  Our site visits and conversations always include the interaction of diverse areas such as education, food and job training.”

The PLACES program is now accepting applications for the 2012 class. The application deadline is July 29, 2011. The year-long fellowship begins in October 2011.

Learning and leadership are the hallmarks of the PLACES program. The fellowship includes site visits to cities around the country to understand how funders contend with historic race and class barriers in smart growth.  Fellows learn the national context of race and class from thinkers such as john a. powell of the Kirwan Institute, speak with local leaders and funders about the place-specific challenges they face, create a learning cohort with other fellows around the country and receive one-on-one coaching to help them take lessons back to their foundations and to become better leaders.

For more information and to apply, please see Funders' Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities.

The Ripple Effect is Definitely Working!

SVP Partner Pam Robbins speaks to how SVP is weaving through her life: 
 
“I’m noticing how much my involvement in SVP has influenced my friends’ and acquaintances’ philanthropic development.  For example, one of my friends is going to join one of our investee’s boards, another friend is exploring crossing over to nonprofit work, and a third is considering starting a nonprofit. Similarly, I’m hoping my meeting with Lisa, a prospective partner, will help her get more connected in the nonprofit community.  That’s a benefit to the nonprofit sector as well. Although the timing isn’t right for these folks to join SVP right now, their efforts have increased the value of my SVP partnership to the community. The ripple effect is definitely working!”

Welcome Pat Landrum, New Executive Director in Denver!

Pat Landrum comes to Social Venture Partners Denver from the Bay Area where she served for eight years as  Executive Director for the Healthy Community Consortium (HC2) in South Sonoma County. At HC2, Pat facilitated a number of community-wide change initiatives and worked with organizational leaders and volunteers across all sectors of the community to improve the outcomes for children and youth, reduce the problems related to alcohol and other drugs, and help the community prepare for emergencies. In her spare time, Pat served as CEO for the Center for 21st Century Transformation, a meditation center in the Financial District of San Francisco.

Prior to her stint on the West Coast, Pat lived and worked  in Mesa County, Colorado where she was Executive Director of the Civic Forum and built a home “off the grid” on the Colorado National Monument, with her husband, Nick.

Pat received degrees in Communications from New York University and Speech Pathology from the University of Washington.  She dedicated the first 20 years of her career to developing specialized neuro-trauma rehabilitation service systems and establishing national guidelines for rehabilitation planning and case management.  She also developed an active meditation practice and introduced the tools of meditation to heath care workers and brain injury survivors.

Pat is an avid outdoorswoman and would be happy living in a tent in the Aspen groves above 8,000 feet. However her love for people and community change keeps her moving and grooving in the urban scene, taking pleasure in her garden patch and dancing wherever she can get away with it.

Thank You to Our Conference Media Sponsor Stanford Social Innovation Review

 
Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR) is an award-winning magazine and website that covers cross-sector  solutions to global problems. SSIR is written for and by social change leaders in the nonprofit, business, and government sectors who view collaboration as key to solving environmental, social, and economic justice issues. Published at the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, SSIR bridges academic theory and practice with ideas about achieving social change. Its aim is both to inform and to inspire.

Subscribe to SSIR at the discounted SVP rate! Enter 2SVPI12 (in place of WEB11) to receive the discount.