2009 continues to be an out-of-the-ordinary year for the nonprofit sector as the importance of philanthropy garners increased attention, particularly in the United States.

Earlier this summer, a representative from Genesys Works, a grant recipient of SVP Minnesota, was invited by President and Mrs. Obama to the White House to participate in the formal kick-off of the new White House Office for Social Innovation.  President Obama highlighted the contributions to the community by Genesys Works as one of four examples of results-driven, entrepreneurial approaches to solving some of this nation's pressing social problems.

Genesys Works is a nonprofit organization operating in Houston and Minnesota dedicated to connecting economically-disadvantaged high school students with businesses seeking technology-proficient workers. The goal of the organization is to create a culture within inner-city schools in which the pursuit of a professional career becomes “the given” for all students. 

With the Social Innovation Fund in mind, I’m proud to tell you that SVPI has created an SVPI Policy Working Group designed to help SVPs reach out to their federally elected officials.  The working group’s goal is to build relationships with United States senators and congressional representatives in order to educate them about the SVP model and its results in American communities. The new Social Innovation Fund is part of the Serve America Act passed earlier this year that will make matching grants to intermediary nonprofit training and technical assistance entities.

Once again, SVP partners are thinking big. I invite you to join us this October when we will gather in Dallas for our annual conference. This year’s theme is Give Big Together! Designed with an emphasis on collaborative engagement, conference sessions will leverage the vast expertise of partners across the network as we discuss current challenges and opportunities in our communities. We also have two stellar keynote speakers: Andy Goodman, author of Storytelling as Best Practice and Melinda Tuan, thought leader in high engagement philanthropy. You can learn more about Andy and Melinda and this year’s conference at www.svpi.org.

As we embrace and enjoy these final months of summer, I want to thank all of the 2,000 SVP partners working with nonprofit organizations in the US, Canada and Japan. Thank you for all you do to help local nonprofits deliver valued and needed programs and services for their communities.

In closing, I urge those of you interested in further exploring the SVP venture philanthropy model to consider coming to Dallas in October for the 2009 SVP Conference. SVPI is proud to provide ongoing opportunities for SVP partners to connect, learn and build community with philanthropists from around the world.

Regards,

Ruth Jones, Executive Director
Social Venture Partners International

In this Issue:

Cowboy Boots and Chanel Suits: Give Big Together in Texas!

Calgary Raises Volunteer Hours for Nonprofits   

Minnesota Hosts Engaged Philanthropy Conference

Seattle Partner Calls Experience a Win/Win   

The Path of a New SVP Partner in Dallas

Word of Mouth Marketing: Learn the Art in Dallas   

What We’re Reading

Cowboy Boots and Chanel Suits: Give Big Together in Texas!

Register today for the 2009 SVP Conference and book your ticket to Texas. You don’t want to miss this BIG opportunity to connect with partners around the network to learn, share and be inspired.

Breakout sessions this year include interactive conversations with Sean Stannard-Stockton, Tactical Philanthropy blogger and Tim Delaney, CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits. Sean will lead discussions on "SVP and Social Media" and "SVP's Potential Role in Sector-Wide Initiatives" and Delaney will facilitate a discussion on advancing the nonprofit sector.

Keynote speakers Andy Goodman, author of Storytelling as Best Practice and Melinda Tuan, a thought leader in high-engagement philanthropy, are some of the most sought-after speakers and presenters in the sector today. Goodman will also be leading a workshop during the conference called "Storytelling: The First Big Thing."

100 Years of SVP Wisdom is a first-of-its-kind event at which some of SVP’s experienced and accomplished founders and partners will come together to share what they’ve learned over the years and discuss ideas for the future.

Opening day events include an afternoon bus tour, sponsored by Dallas AfterSchool Network, to visit successful after-school programs as part of Lights on Afterschool 2009, a national day of recognition for the importance of after school programming. That evening will find conference participants at Eddie Dean's Ranch for an authentic Texas barbeque.

This year’s conference also features a ”What’s the Big Idea?” Innovation Session and cocktail reception, dine-arounds on Friday evening and a "Dueling Blackberries" session on Saturday morning that will demonstrate the reach of this network!

Special thanks to Dallas Social Venture Partners for hosting this year and to Foundation Source for sponsoring the event. Foundation Source is a leading provider of outsourced support services for new and existing private foundations in the United States. Register today at Brown Paper Tickets and we’ll see you in Texas in October!

Calgary Raises Volunteer Hours for Local Nonprofits

250 people came out in June to Calgary's 4th Annual Timeraiser at Flames Central to raise volunteer hours for local nonprofits.  In trade show fashion, Calgary partners spoke with participants for over two hours on the role that SVP Calgary plays within the community. 

A highlight from the event was meeting Anil Patel, creator of the Timeraiser events across Canada and an SVP Toronto Partner.  Anil created Timeraiser in 2002 in response to a group of friends wondering how it could be easier to find meaningful, relevant volunteer opportunities.  Now, 7 years and 10 Timeraisers later, the grass-roots initiative has flourished into a well-known, annual event that operates in 6 cities across Canada.

You can learn more about SVP Calgary at www.svpcalgary.org.

Minnesota Hosts Engaged Philanthropy Conference

SVP Minnesota Engaged Philanthropy Conference

In a celebration of social innovation and the social entrepreneurs that create it, more than 350 nonprofit, philanthropy, and business leaders gathered on June 18 at the Engaged Philanthropy Conference hosted by Social Venture Partners Minnesota. Conference attendees took part in a series of learning sessions on topics ranging from youth philanthropy to social purpose business taught by leading practitioners.

The sessions gave attendees the chance to hear about the work of local social entrepreneurs and share their own experiences.

Local nonprofit  Rural Renewable Energy Alliance (RREAL), was selected as the winner of the 2009 Social Entrepreneur's Cup after impressing judges with an innovative business model and potential for rapidly expanding its service to Minnesotans trapped in 'energy poverty'.

RREAL manufactures and installs a proprietary home solar heating system for low-income families that qualify for public heating assistance.  RREAL's solar heating systems can offset as much heat in one season as a family receives through heating assistance and are part of the long-term solution to address rural poverty, energy security, and sustainability.  As the winner, RREAL will receive a $20,000 general operating grant and 40 hours of consulting services from the experienced entrepreneurs who make up the Social Venture Partners membership in Minnesota.

Seattle Partner Calls Experience a Win/Win

Over the last two years SVP partners in Seattle have dedicated more than 5,300 volunteer hours to help strengthen local nonprofits and leverage grant dollars. But statistics don’t tell the full story. Seattle partner Susan Loosmore and Tanya Kim, Executive Director of Powerful Voices (one of SVP Seattle’s local investees) tell us how they worked together to make sense of the numbers.

In light of the recession, executive director Tanya Kim knew that she needed to move fast to ensure financial sustainability for Powerful Voices.  Her organization needed to develop financial monitoring tools and a method for forecasting and planning in uncertain economic times. To accomplish these tasks on an expedited timeline, Tanya needed help.  She turned to SVP and was matched up with Partner Susan Loosmore.

Powerful Voices Executive Director, Tanya Kim and SVP Partner, Susan Loosmore

Susan explains that she built a tool for Powerful Voices that helps Tanya “track progress against their budget and…to forecast their financial position through the remainder of the year.”  This allows them to identify potential shortfalls and adjust accordingly to maintain ongoing operations.

This tool is just a piece of the whole, however. “In the short-term we are reviewing our financial policies and practice, identifying cost savings, forecasting revenue and expenses and monitoring cash flow,” explains Tanya. Over the long term they plan to establish a reserve to help accomplish their financial goals. 

“Susan’s financial expertise in the corporate sector is invaluable,” says Tanya.  “We are building our financial knowledge while stabilizing and preparing PV for this tumultuous economic landscape.”

For Susan, this partnership has provided an opportunity to learn about Powerful Voices and “all of the wonderful programs they provide the community. It is rewarding for me to able to provide my skill set to an organization that could truly benefit from my time.  It is really a win / win situation.”

To read more stories about Seattle partners in action, click here.

The Path of a New SVP Partner in Dallas

Dallas Social Venture Partners recently asked one of its newest partners, Barbara Errickson, to reflect on how her journey was unfolding.

Retiring from 35 years in the business applications software business was a tough decision. Having been a focused career person for all those years, quitting “cold turkey” was not appealing. Enter DSVP – a way to continue applying my knowledge and skills in new ways while rounding out my “self” to include my more community-oriented side. And what a great set of partners as I embark on my new “career” !

Getting acclimated to any new environment can be a challenge, and DSVP has smoothed out that process by steering me to investee projects that fit my skills while also linking me up with other like-minded partners. Hence, my assigned “buddy” George, along with tours of Youth Village and Samaritan Inn - truly eye-opening events for me to understand better how local, non-profit organizations are helping children and their families avoid being totally left behind. It helps underscore how important it is for those of us who have been blessed with successful careers to give back to our communities.

Along with participation on our DSVP membership committee, I am now linked in to assist with the next Dallas Youth Village strategic planning session, and am joining several Samaritan Inn Board of Directors managed “IT modernization” teams. What a terrific adventure to help Collin County’s only homeless shelter plan for well-managed growth into the future.

Barbara’s experience is captured in a blog on the Dallas SVP website where you can learn more about SVP in Dallas and the work done by partners to address issues in North Texas.

Word of Mouth Marketing: Learn the Art in Dallas!

As social networks, wikis, blogs and other Web 2.0 technologies become part of the communication lexicon, executives and managers from every sector continue to ask the age-old question: How do I get people to spread the word about my product, service or purpose?

It’s simple. You must capture and share your stories.

Andy Goodman, author of Storytelling as Best Practice, explains that most nonprofits and foundations have wonderful tales to tell but many of the stories are laden with jargon and technical language. He believes this is in part due to a sector that is devoted to data and enamored by empirical evidence. SVP is no exception. In fact, measuring impact is a key component of our model and we work hard to accurately report the numbers associated with grant dollars and volunteer hours donated each year.

Such data tracking is important for a variety of reasons, however the numbers associated with the work we do are not likely to be the topic of conversation between an SVP partner and a stranger at a cocktail party or PTA meeting.

For example, how many of you would say to someone you’ve just met “I belong to an organization that supports five nonprofits in this community and I volunteered more than 100 hours of my time last year.” I suppose it’s possible, but I think it’s far more likely you might share something more personal like “Last night, I helped the Executive Director for YouthFocus look at some cost-saving measures and think about some potential partnerships. They do so much for our community; I really want them to succeed.”

Both statements contain facts: however the stats associated with the number of nonprofits your SVP serves and the hours you volunteered convey nothing about the people or purpose associated with the nonprofit or the experience you had in volunteering your time. While some people might have a thoughtful follow-up response to such a statement, I suspect many would simply nod silently or say “good for you” and leave it at that.

The second statement is a more realistic example of how people actually communicate with other people and the true power of word of mouth. In this example, the partner shares what she did the night before. In doing so, she tells the other person about a local organization that she cares about and how she volunteered her professional skills to help another person directly.

It’s certainly possible that this type of conversation opener might also be greeted with a head nod or “good for you,” but because this partner has shared some personal and meaningful information, the listener is much more likely to ask follow-up questions that will lead to a conversation about SVP and how or why the partner got involved with the organization.

We have no control over whether or when SVP partners choose share their experiences with friends or colleagues; however we do have the ability to solicit such stories and amplify them by sharing stories on our web sites, blogs and in real-time gatherings. In doing so, our organizations become more accessible to current and prospective supporters. How? Because reading or hearing stories about a partner’s personal experience with SVP or the personal outcomes experienced by an SVP grant recipient is far more compelling than reviewing a list of statistics about dollars granted, nonprofits served or volunteer hours donated.

Don’t miss the opportunity to learn how to start your own storytelling initiative at your SVP: come hear Andy Goodman at the SVP Conference in Dallas this fall. He will also be leading a workshop on October 23 called "Storytelling: The First Big Thing." Learn more about Andy: visit www.agoodmanonline.com and www.thegoodmancenter.com.

What We’re Reading

Nonprofit Mergers and Acquisitions *
by Alexander Cortez, William Foster and Katie Smith Milway – Bridgespan

Ten Nonprofit Funding Models *
by William Landes Foster, Peter Kim, & Barbara Christiansen

Tactical Philanthropy
by Sean Stannard-Stockton

*To request assistance accessing resources in SVP's intranet, email intranet@svpi.org.