Investing in Nonprofit Effectiveness

By San Diego Grantmakers

Investing in Nonprofit Effectiveness
Community Resource Center (CRC) empowers North County families in need with safety, stability, and a path to self-sufficiency. Yet CRC itself needed greater stability in the face of the economic downturn and dwindling funding. San Diego Social Venture Partners (SDSVP) ensured that CRC could survive and thrive by helping the group reframe its mission to focus on core strengths. Concurrent with completing its new strategic plan, CRC won $1.6 million in stimulus funds to help homeless and impoverished San Diegans.

SDSVP links the power of business with the passion of giving in order to help San Diego nonprofits be more effective. The organization was created in 2001, modeled after a Seattle group that applies venture capitalist ideas to philanthropy: investing in innovative nonprofits and supplying expertise to nurture those investments. The approach evolved into an international network of Social Venture Partners.

Matching Volunteer Skills to Organizational Needs
SDSVP is made up of over 140 people committed to being engaged givers. Partners pledge $5,000 per year for three years and leverage these funds by sharing their skills with “investee” nonprofits selected as part of SDSVP’s annual funding focus, which has included improving the environment, reducing hunger and homelessness, and supporting military families. SDSVP researches and identifies organizations that have the potential to achieve significant results.

SDSVP matches the needs of investees to the skills of volunteer Partners, deploying “Resource Teams” to work in areas like leadership development, fiscal management, strategic planning, technology, and public relations. Rachel Humphreys, founder of SDSVP investee organization La Cuna, notes that the “hands-on coaching and infrastructure support...has been more valuable than the funding we received.”

Strategic Donors and Funder Collaborations
SDSVP not only strengthens nonprofits, but also helps members become more strategic donors. Partners Ray and Gina Ellis joined to go beyond giving by participating in substantive ways, while David Lynn appreciates peer mentoring and learning. Bill Carpenter comments, “It seems more powerful to help charitable organizations launch lasting projects rather than just doling out money.” SDSVP connects Partners with their passions, catalyzing increased giving and volunteering.

SDSVP also fortifies philanthropic connections by seeking out “other funders who will pick up where we leave off,” says Alan Sorkin, longtime SDSVP leader and now president of SVP International. SDSVP has leveraged over $17 million by collaborating with grantmakers like The Legler Benbough Foundation and Union Bank. SDSVP members themselves often make additional grants: when SDSVP helped launch Junior Achievement BizTown,TM Partners assisted with the facility search and then contributed $3 million.

What Does This Mean About Philanthropy?
Some donors fund programs without considering how nonprofits will maintain them. San Diego Social Venture Partners uses a business-like approach to help organizations become successful and self-sustaining, because, as Sorkin points out, “A dollar given to an ineffective organization is a dollar wasted.” By engaging individuals to donate both money and know-how, and collaborating with other funders, SDSVP is working on multiple fronts to create positive change.