Meet Program Associate, Mandy Sherlock!

By Paul Thiel

San Diego Social Venture Partners hear about each other every month in the newsletter. But what about the people who keep the programs moving forward every day – the professional staff? This month we decided to spend a few minutes with Mandy Sherlock, SDSVP’s Program Associate.

Having spent her career specializing in children with special challenges – she came to her present position last year after working as a teacher and sign language interpreter for the Los Angeles Unified School District – SDSVP is a natural fit. “I envision SDSVP making a deeper commitment to the area of youth and children in San Diego,” she says, adding that one of her most rewarding experiences so far has been her work with this year’s Investment Team, a group that selected SDSVP’s two new Investees who help children facing life-threatening challenges.

A native of Carlsbad where her mother owned a dance studio, Mandy left home in 1996 to go to Texas Christian University, which Charger fans will recognize as the place where another prominent San Diegan – LaDainian Tomlinson – attended college. In fact, football was one of the things that attracted Mandy to TCU: It was a small school that nonetheless fields a Division 1-A football team.

At TCU Mandy was on the dance team and earned a degree in Deaf Education before coming back to California. For the next several years she worked in the deaf community at the National Center on Deafness at California State University Northridge and LAUSD.

Introduced to the deaf community by an aunt who was an interpreter, Mandy loved her work but saw an opportunity to return to San Diego with SDSVP. She remains involved in the community, however, with friends. Mandy is part of a group that travels to Big Bear annually for scrapbooking. “It’s like silent weekend,” she says. “Everyone is signing. No one is talking.”

At SDSVP, Mandy does a little bit of a lot of things, ranging from handling the database, web site and intranet to the newsletters, events, the annual report and administrative chores. “My favorite part of the job is getting to interact with Partners,” she says. “They are such brilliant people who want to make an impact and create social change. It is very inspiring to see them at work.”

When not working, Mandy continues to dance (ballet, jazz and hip-hop) and spend time with her dog, Rylee. “She’s a spaniel mix and a rescue dog,” says Mandy. “She is my baby. She is with me all the time.”

That will change for at least a couple of weeks this September, when Mandy heads to Kenya to work with the deaf and abandoned street children. Long interested in the East African republic – she sponsors a boy there and exchanges letters with him throughout the year – Mandy is in the process of raising $3,000 to pay for the two-week trip. “Kenya has always had a special place in my heart,” Mandy says. “So when this opportunity came up I knew I had to go.”

SDSVP Investee Emeritus - Human Development Foundation’s Open Gate

Grooming the Young, Gifted and Disadvantaged

From Voice of San Diego
March 29, 2009

Brandon Tamariz was once deemed a problem student. He cried and screamed before going to school, racked up bad grades, and complained that other children called him "un tonto" -- a fool. His mother, Norma Perez, worried that he might have a learning disability. It turned out he was highly gifted….The story might have ended there had it not been for an unusual program called Open Gate, which aims to chip away at the underrepresentation of students from disadvantaged families in programs for gifted youth.

Click here to read the full article.

SDSVP Investee Emeritus - Second Chance on KPBS Radio

From KPBS.org
April 13, 2009

There are some people and some programs that are trying to chip away at the system and make a difference. One such program, Prisoner Re-entry Employment Program is in San Diego and its run by a local organization called Second Chance. Last year, KPBS talked with Scott Silverman, founder and executive director of the Second Chance program, and Regina Nolte-Ware, a graduate of Second Chance's Prisoner Reentry Employment Program.

Click here to read more and listen to the broadcast.

Social Network with SDSVP!

San Diego Social Venture Partners has joined the online world of social media networking! Maybe you’re wondering…what is social media? You may have heard of social media networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. Social media combines technology and social interaction with the sharing of words, pictures, video and audio. Rather, social media is a conversation that happens online. Why join in? We want to keep you up-to-date with the latest SDSVP news, allow you to build better connections with like-minded people and inspire you to action!

Click on the links to join the SDSVP Groups on Facebook and LinkedIn and follow us on Twitter!

SDSVP Selects New Investees!

SDSVP is thrilled to announce our two newest Investees, A Reason To Survive (ARTS) and the Tariq Khamisa Foundation (TKF)!

The Investment Working Group (IWG) worked very diligently this year in selecting SDSVP’s two new Investees in the area of youth and children. The process was exciting and the Partners were passionate in looking for the perfect fit for us to lend our time, expertise and resources. The IWG divided into teams and reviewed 42 Letters of Intents, then regrouped and requested 16 organizations to submit proposals. After a thorough review, we requested 8 nonprofits to make a presentation, then we conducted 6 site visits and selected two incredible organizations. Hats off to Joyce Ross, Sherri Neasham and the entire IWG team for a job well done! Partners, your investment will go a long way with these two groups… let us tell you more about them.

ARTS focuses on empowering children facing life challenges to unleash their creative abilities and discover hidden talent to boost self-esteem and propel them to future success.

TKF envisions a world free from youth violence, using a powerful, personal story to motivate students in schools to realize that personal responsibility and respect are the foundation for building strong neighborhoods and strong communities.

In addition to a financial commitment over the next 3 years, each organization will benefit from gifts of Partners’ time and expertise to assist with strategic planning, financial review, technology implementation and publicity to insure their growth and sustainability.

SDSVP’s unique model for long-term success is especially crucial today, as the current economic downturn is requiring all organizations – especially non-profits – to do more with less.

Our passionate and dynamic Partners continue to make a difference for our Investees and San Diego by leveraging their decades of business and community leadership, cementing SDSVP’s position as a leader in the philanthropic community.

Thanks to Wendy Gibson, Lead Partner for TKF, and Scott Tritt, Lead Partner for ARTS. There are lots of opportunities to get involved this year, so please contact Wendy or Scott if you’re interested.

Social Media for SDSVP

We are pleased to announce that SDSVP is in the process of developing and integrating an online marketing and social media campaign as we rebrand ourselves and begin to develop our new website. Please stay tuned for more updates as we continue to evolve our online strategies.

Investment Team Update - March 2009

The Investment Team selected two nonprofit organizations to become SDSVP's 2009 Investees. This year's cycle was one of the best yet! The decision process was tough as all the applicants were top notch and doing great work in the community with youth and children. The two new Investees will be announced in May.

Historic Senate Vote in Favor Serve America Act

By Stacy Caldwell, Executive Director of Dallas Social Venture Partners

Last week on Capital Hill, Social Venture Partners successfully helped gain the attention of the Senate to add the National Capacity Building Act and the Social Innovation Fund to the Serve America Act. I want to alert everyone that the hard work of our social sector has paid off! Now that the senate has passed the Serve America Act, it will go back to the House to reconcile any differences and then send over to President Obama to sign into law.

These two amendments are potentially VERY important to our SVP work (see descriptions below). The Nonprofit Capacity Building Act promotes federal dollars distributed in our communities to help build non-profit capacity. These funds would be available to non-federal grantmaking organizations to match grant dollars to help build capacity in the nonprofit sector. This could be an opportunity to find matching dollars for the work we already do!

The Service Nation Coalition says it is “a historic vote in the United States Senate authorizing the Serve America Act- the largest expansion of national and community service in this country since the 1930s. The bill was passed by an overwhelmingly bi-partisan vote of 78 to 20. In addition to earning the support of the entire Democratic caucus and two Independents, the bill was also supported by a majority of the Republican caucus. What this represents, beyond broad recognition that service is a critical strategy in addressing our most pressing challenges, is the opportunity to move our country's national and community service program forward in a powerful way that is fully embraced by both parties.”

Thank you to everyone who took an interest in this work, picked up the phone, and made your voice heard.

I feel so optimistic to see a piece of legislation that puts the best we have to offer to work for our Country!

Well Done!

National Capacity Building Act
Creates an innovative $25 million fund in the budget of the Corporation for National and Community Service to make matching grants to intermediary nonprofit training and technical assistance entities. Those intermediaries will then provide organizational development assistance (training and technical assistance for capacity building) to small and midsize nonprofits, especially those in areas where nonprofits face "significant resource hardship challenges." Nonprofit intermediaries would need to secure a non-federal 50% match to be eligible for a grant. http://www.cctv.org/news/senator-baucus-introduces-nonprofit-capacity-building-act-2009-1

Social Innovation Fund
A public-private social innovation fund can leverage taxpayer dollars with private funds to make resources available for funding social-entrepreneurial solutions. Creating a fund specifically designated to advance social entrepreneurship would enable government to follow a performance-based model for investment, not unlike venture capital funds, to both seed and scale initiatives. The two related models to follow show how such a fund could work structurally and operationally.
http://www.socialedge.org/blogs/government-engagement/topics/social%20innovation%20fund

Meet Partner, Louarn Sorkin!

By Paul Thiel

San Diego native Louarn Sorkin and her husband Alan, a transplant from Chicago, were very intrigued when they were first introduced to the concept of Social Venture Partners nearly a decade ago. She was frustrated with the level of philanthropy in San Diego and “SDSVP was a delightfully creative idea,” says Louarn. “Pooling money and giving expertise – it just sounded like a great concept.”

That was the beginning of San Diego Social Venture Partners, as the Sorkin’s helped to launch the group locally in 2001. Alan is now chairman of Social Venture Partners International, while both he and Louarn remain deeply involved in San Diego philanthropy.

“Much of the appeal of the Social Venture Partner model was the opportunity to play an ongoing role,” says Louarn, who spent most of her career as a corporate trainer in the real estate, securities and insurance businesses. “It wouldn’t be just writing a check to a nonprofit organization,” she says, “but writing a check and having a part in their growth and sustainability.”

That ongoing relationship is a key point of the value of SDSVP. Louarn says she is particularly impressed with the SDSVP Partners’ expertise and expanded services through the resource teams and their goal to help our nonprofits grow become sustainable and strategic.

Part of her role as a member of the Investment Working Group is helping determine which candidates are the best fits. “One of the most important things we need to know is if the nonprofit organization is coachable,” she says. “Do they only want our money or do they also want our expertise?”

Social Venture Partners has grown since it began, but is staying true to its mission, Louarn says. “It’s morphing a bit, however it is all about the same theme: making good choices about investing in the nonprofit organizations of San Diego County,” she says. “Because of our experience with SDSVP, Alan and I feel much better equipped to make wise choices as to whom we give our time and money.” Louarn served as the Social Chairman for five years, planning quarterly parties, and has served on the Investment Working Group, fund development, board development working groups and the nominating committee.

In addition to being one of the Founding Partners of SDSVP, Louarn also co-founded Just in Time For Foster Youth, a nonprofit organization that furnishes apartments and dorm rooms for young adults who are transitioning from foster care to independent life on their own. After serving on their board for four years and organizing their fundraising events, she transitioned off the board to serve as their advisor. Louarn served two terms as the board president of the La Jolla Guild for the San Diego Opera, and has been involved with many charitable organizations such as St. Germaine Children’s Charity, the Salvation Army Woman’s Auxiliary, Country Friends, San Diego Opera Counsel of Guilds, San Diego Grantmakers, the Single Professional Society for the Performing Arts, Friends of Children and several groups working with abused children.

In March, Louarn was honored by being named a “Woman of Distinction” at the 44th Annual Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary Luncheon. “I like to fly beneath the radar,” she says, “however this was a wonderful honor.” She also received the 10News Leadership Award for her charitable work in San Diego. “So much for flying under the radar!”

Louarn’s philanthropic activities were one of the things that led her to Alan, who was also deeply involved in San Diego’s philanthropic scene.

Alan and Louarn met on a blind date, to which both consented to only after the nagging of their friends. Neither liking the idea of a blind date, they agreed to meet once and talk business only, Louarn says. Turned out their friends were right about the match, and now the pair enjoy occasionally matchmaking for other friends – for romance and business. “We are connectors,” says Louarn”. “We love to connect people and resources.”

The pair stay connected to each other in part by extensive traveling, with a particular focus on river rafting around the world. Among their favorite venues: the Kicking Horse River in the Canadian Rockies.

They also love commuting to Boise to visit Louarn’s son, Craig, daughter-in-law, Wendy and granddaughters, Rileigh, 5-years old and Parker, 8 months old. Alan has two daughters, Jillian and Lainie, with a new granddaughter due in September.

Boise, Louarn says, reminds her of long ago San Diego. “It is just delightful up there,” she says, “it’s like San Diego in the ‘60s. Everyone knows each other, you can walk the streets safely at night and they still have a lot of street fairs and family activities.”

When back in San Diego, Louarn has two unusual hobbies: crocheting hats and scarves and rescuing rabbits.

From 2005 until 2007, Louarn crocheted more than 200 hats and scarves that were distributed through the Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary for seniors, homeless and transitioning foster youth. In 2008, she institutionalized the practice by starting the “Creative Yarn Group” organization to crochet hats and scarves for the 2008 holiday season. She set a group goal of 300 and the group exceeded that their goal by creating 342 items. This year they have added children going through chemotherapy for cancer as recipients of the “wild colored” crocheted hats.

And the rabbits. “Yes, we have a house rabbit – she weighs less than three pounds, is litter box trained and eats food out of a little rabbit shaped bowl,” Louarn says of her eighth rescued bunny. “She is basic black with a tremendous amount of attitude, so we call her Coco Chanel.”