Dear Social Venture Partners and Friends,

One of the most rewarding parts of my job is ensuring that SVP partners can connect with and learn from the more than 1,900 philanthropists who are transforming communities in North America and Japan. Most of our network updates are on activities in the US and Canada, however I’m pleased to report that I visited SVP Tokyo this summer and also attended an exciting symposium on venture philanthropy and social enterprise in Seoul, where there was great interest in the SVP model.

SVP Tokyo partners are doing fascinating work and approaching it with such zeal and thoughtfulness. During my stay, I visited a small, inner city apartment on a hot Saturday afternoon.  Inside, 15 partners were developing a business plan for a new, online agency which matches social entrepreneurs in Asia with Japanese donors. Long working days mean the Tokyo partners devote a considerable portion of their weekends to SVP. You can read more about my trip to SVP Tokyo and my participation in the International Symposium on Policies to support and promote Social Enterprises in Seoul here.

Partners in Tokyo and throughout the SVP network are transforming communities by becoming engaged in civic life and collaborating with a variety of stakeholders to bring about positive change. At the same time, SVPI is looking at the next steps in our evolution as a philanthropic network and discussing how we can best work together to address regional, national and global issues.

We need your help in looking at where we want to take SVP tomorrow and what tools are necessary to get us there. This month, the SVPI board will host a series of teleconferences to get your feedback, comment and suggestions on the future of SVP! I hope you will join us in these provocative discussions. You can view the call schedule here.

All of here at SVPI hope you have had a relaxing summer. We are gearing up for what promises to be one of the most exciting conferences to date. Be sure you’ve registered for the SVP Annual Conference in Long Beach, California this October. We have a fantastic line-up of speakers, informative sessions and many networking opportunities. Register today and perhaps your city will win the award for bringing the most partners to the conference!

Thank you for all you do to support the Social Venture Partners movement.

Kind regards,

Ruth Jones, CEO
Social Venture Partners International

Contents:

• Tomorrow's SVP: Help Us Define the Future
• Countdown to California: Will Your SVP Take Home the Award?
• Early Childhood Development Forum Debuts this Fall
• Way to Go Tokyo!
• SVP Represented at International Symposium of Policies in Seoul
• A Bright Star from Cleveland: SVP Leader Profile
• A Decade of Giving in Colorado
  
• Minnesota Extends Investee Selection Process to Network at Large
• Portland Waits for Superman
• What We're Reading
  

Tomorrow's SVP: Help Us Define the Future

Social Venture Partners has a unique role in contemporary philanthropy. We are the largest network of engaged donors in North America and possibly the world. Together, we invest, learn, connect and lead.

The SVPI Board of Directors is hosting a series of conversations this month designed to gather the thoughts and ideas that YOU have about the future of your local SVP organization as well as the SVP network.

Let's hear your voice on one of the calls being hosted in September:

• Tuesday Sept, 21, 11 AM Pacific, 12 PM Mountain, 1 PM Central, 2 PM Eastern
• Thursday Sept, 23, 8 AM Pacific, 9 AM Mountain, 10 AM Central, 11 AM Eastern
• Tuesday Sept, 28, 9 AM Pacific, 10 AM Mountain, 11 AM Central, 12 PM Eastern
• Thursday Sept, 30, 10 AM Pacific, 11 AM Mountain, 12 PM Central, 1 PM Eastern

Call in details:
     U.S. & Canada -- 866.740.1260, Access Code: 7287872
     Tokyo --  00531190031, Tokyo Access Code: 7287872

Please take a few minutes to learn more about how SVPI is planning for the future. Click here to read a short briefing paper and click here for Paul Shoemaker’s exciting take on what SVP’s future could look like.

We look forward to talking with you!

Countdown to California: Will Your SVP Take Home the Award?

SVPI Board Member, Sarah Bock, has issued a challenge to SVP Denver and the SVP network at large. She’s committed to ensuring that 10 partners from SVP Denver attend this year’s conference. Not one to ignore a challenge, Claude Case, SVPI Board Member and co-founder of SVP Santa Barbara, has committed to bringing 15 partners to the conference and rumor has it that Paul Shoemaker in Seattle is working to match that goal!

SVPI quickly realized that we should reward such efforts and give an award to the city who brings the most people! This will be presented each year to the SVP that has the highest number of partners in attendance at the conference.

While the award is a fun motivator, we believe all of you will want hear from these stars of the social sector: On Friday morning, David Haskell will explain how networks trump organizations. On Saturday, tactical philanthropist Sean Stannard-Stockton will spark your imagination with stories of individuals catalyzing big change and Andy Goodman of “An Inconvenient Truth” fame will wrap up the conference by hosting the inaugural "SVP Idol" storytelling competition. For those of you joining us for the Social Innovation Fast Pitch on Thursday evening, Peter Diamandis will take us to a new ‘space’ as the keynote at that event.

Register today!

Early Childhood Development Forum Debuts this Fall

Dear SVP partners and staff members,

If you share my passion for working, giving and learning about Early Childhood Development, then please join me for the first in a new SVP network series – The Early Childhood Development Forum.

This quarterly teleconference series is for SVP partners and staff who care deeply about this topic.  It’s an opportunity for free-flowing discussion: to learn what SVPs are doing in this area; share information about developments in the field; and sharpen our philanthropic and volunteer focus.  In time, I hope it may lead to collaboration among SVPs and partners on specific projects.

Our first one hour call is scheduled for Wednesday, October 6th at 10:00AM Pacific.  Click here to register.  Call in details are: 1-866-740-1260, access code: 7287872. 

SVP Seattle Partner Dawn Trudeau will get the conversation rolling with a brief on SVP Seattle’s involvement in the Washington State Business Partnership for Early Learning. I will also set aside plenty of time during the forum so we can learn more about each other and our specific ECD projects and interests.

I hope you’ll join me for the first in this series and that together we can learn from each other and strengthen our contribution to the field.
    
Kind regards,

Bob Wood
Dallas SVP

Way to Go Tokyo!

At SVP Tokyo, almost all the partners’ volunteer work is conducted outside of work hours – this means a considerable portion of their weekends are devoted to SVP. Ruth Jones, SVPI CEO, met with some of these dedicated partners along with three investees during her visit this summer. One investee is a young farmer who is leading a movement to encourage young people to remain in agriculture. The second is a former publicist for luxury brands who has established a social enterprise selling beautiful children’s clothes sourced from Tibetan refugees living in western China. The third are the founders and principal of the first school in Japan focused on teaching deaf children in sign language. To date, sign language has been downplayed in Japan in favor of speech therapy. Ruth also met with SVP Tokyo’s corporate (UBS) and foundation (The Japan Foundation) sponsors and spoke at two meetings – an evening recruitment gathering and an annual general meeting.

SVP Represented at International Symposium of Policies in Seoul

Presented by the Gyeonggi Welfare Forum, the International Symposium on Policies supports and promotes Social Enterprises in Seoul, the capital and largest city of South Korea. The Gyeonggi Welfare Foundation is a quasi-governmental body, charged with developing policies designed to build a sustainable nonprofit sector.

Ruth Jones was one of three non-Korean speakers invited to participate in the forum which attracted academics in the field, government economists, public servants, nonprofit leaders and former student leaders/democracy activists who have played a major role in promoting a nonprofit sector within Korea.

Over the course of two days, Ruth gave two presentations and had extensive discussions with the Chairman and the chief economist of the Gyeonggi Welfare Foundation and with Seed:s, an organization focused on advocating for a stronger nonprofit sector in the region. She met the governor of the Gyeonggi Province (in which Seoul is located) and also met with local social entrepreneurs.

The Seoul National Capital Area, which includes the Incheon metropolis and most of Gyeonggi province, has 24.5 million inhabitants and is the world's second largest metropolitan area. Almost half of South Korea's population lives in the Seoul National Capital Area, and nearly a quarter in Seoul itself, making it the country's foremost economic, political, and cultural center.

Throughout the course of her visit in Seoul, Ruth was overwhelmed by the degree of interest in the SVP model.

A Bright Star from Cleveland: SVP Leader Profile

Mary Bright is a long-time partner with Cleveland SVP along with her husband, Jim. Mary sat on both CSVP’s Board of Directors and is currently on the Board of SVPI, serving as its President from 2008 to 2009. A retired attorney, Mary has contributed her time and expertise to nearly all of CSVP’s programs and efforts, including leading two Investee engagements (Youth Opportunities Unlimited and E CITY).

Cleveland SVP recently profiled Mary in their partner newsletter. Read more about Mary here.

A Decade of Giving in Colorado

SVP Boulder County is celebrating its 10th anniversary of giving back to the community. Since inception, SVP partners in Boulder have invested more than $1,000,000 in cash grants and an additional $1.5 million of in-kind support in sixteen Boulder County nonprofit organizations. You can learn more about the impact from this support in SVP Boulder County’s 2007-2008 Biennial Report.

Partners in Denver have also been giving back for a full decade. Dedicated to supporting organizations whose missions include early childhood education, K-12 education and youth development programs, SVP Denver is having a 10th Anniversary Celebration on September 30th at the Grant Humphrey Mansion in Denver. You can learn more about this event here. SVP Denver is also seeking an Executive Director. To learn more about the position, click here or contact Ms. Malisa Thammarath.

Minnesota Extends Investee Selection Process to Network at Large

In the spirit of trying something different by leveraging the power of the SVP network, partners at SVP Minnesota are launching a new investee selection process. In short, any SVP is welcome to invite a nonprofit that is currently funded by SVP to submit a proposal to SVP Minnesota if the organization is interested in expanding into the Minneapolis-St. Paul region.

“We had great success bringing Genesys Works to Minneapolis-St. Paul after it had acheived proof-of-concept in Texas with the support of Houston SVP,” says Brad Brown, Executive Director of SVP Minnesota.

“It has been very successful here and they are now launching operations in Chicago this fall.” He adds that, “We are not trying to entice an investee to move to Minneapolis if they weren't already considering it. We are simply offering to entertain a proposal from any investees from the network that had already targeted the Twin Cities as a possible expansion location.” For more information, contact Brad directly at bbrown@svpmn.org.

Portland Waits for Superman

Proving that networking and community building can be fun and SUPER inspiring, partners at SVP Portland will gather together on October 6 to view the Portland premiere of “Waiting for Superman,” a documentary by the director of “An Inconvenient Truth.”

“Waiting for Superman” is a family documentary film from director Davis Guggenheim and producer Lesley Chilcott. It received the Audience Award for best documentary at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.

The film analyzes the failures of American public education by following several students through the educational system and reminds us that education “statistics” have names: Anthony, Francisco, Bianca, Daisy, and Emily, whose stories make up the engrossing foundation of the movie. Guggenheim offers hope by exploring innovative approaches taken by education reformers and charter schools that have—in reshaping the culture—refused to leave their students behind.

What We're Reading

From Crisis to Opportunity: Learning from One Region's Response to the Economic Downturn by FSG Social Impact Advisors

What's Next for Philanthropy: Acting Bigger and Better in a Networked World by the Monitor Institute

Are the poor more compassionate than the rich? The Economist points out that's not the case in Wealth, Poverty and Compassion: The Rich Are Different than You and Me.