SDSVP Earns 2011 PAWS Partnership Award

Congratulations to SDSVP’s Outcome Planning Resource Team including Kimberly Cantlon, Sherri Neasham, Richard Bockoff, Juliet and Ken Davenport, Diane Branon and David Lynn! They have been awarded the 2011 PAWS Partnership Award in honor of their guidance and support during the creation of PAWS' five year Strategic Plan.

PAWS' Volunteer Executive Director, Lisa Lipsey notes, "SDSVP's expertise and gift of time and talent has proven invaluable to us during this critical growth period. From all of us at PAWS, we look forward to our continued partnership with Social Venture Partners. Things are really starting to take-off as we work to further develop our brand, streamline core service and engage collaborative partners. Together we can meet our greater vision of measurably improving the well-being of pets and the low-income elderly, disabled and chronically-ill people who love and need them. Thank you, thank you!"

The 2011 PAWS Partnership Award will be presented on Saturday, June 11th at PAWS' annual fundraiser, Fiesta del PAWS, a festive afternoon garden party.

Previous Awardees: Gary and Mary West Foundation and PETCO Foundation

To learn more about Pets Are Wonderful Support (PAWS), visit www.pawssdc.org

Dream Big! Thoughts from SDSVP's Board Chair

I recently returned from my fourth SVPI Conference, held this year in Long Beach, CA. Hundreds of fellow SVP Partners from around the world gathered to learn, share best practices and, of course, have a great time. For me, the conference was especially poignant because of the keynote speaker Friday morning, David Haskell. David is the CEO of Dreams InDeed International. He spoke of dreams, not the kind of dreams when you sleep, but the dreams you imagine when you are awake. He spoke of big dreams like Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream.”

Coincidentally, at San Diego Social Venture Partners we have just begun a process of outcome planning where imagining a bold dream for the future is part of the process. I am so very excited that in the next few months, we will have settled on a dream for SDSVP’s future. We will be more than a great organization that cultivates philanthropists and helps San Diego nonprofits. We will be an organization that has a dream so big and so bold that we fundamentally improve the San Diego region. We will have a dream so big and so bold that philanthropists from around the world will look to SDSVP and San Diego for their inspiration. We will have a dream so big and so bold that we will attract the best, the brightest and most importantly, the most caring people to help achieve this dream.

What are your dreams? What should SDSVP dream of accomplishing? What do you want to accomplish? I hope something really BIG!

Mark Fackler

Check out Mark's Blog at http://facklerfamily.org