SDSVP Summer Party in the City

Joanne Pastula, JA CEO & Wendy Gillespie, SDSVP Partner/JA Board Member, in front of "City Hall"

On June 28, SDSVP held its Summer Party and Annual Meeting at BizTown, created by SDSVP's very own Investee, Junior Achievement. Partners and guests enjoyed celebrating together in a venue that teaches kids about the real world of business! Marion Paul, JA Executive Vice President & SDSVP Board member, led tours through the life sized interactive city which includes businesses such as WaMu, Jack in the Box, Cox Communications, and Sea World.

Peggy Kidd, SDSVP ED, presents Aaron Contorer with the
2008 Bingham Stone Award

Mike & Joyce Kole and Sharon Bockoff

Mark Fackler was introduced as the newly re-elected SDSVP Board Chairman. Thanks to our Partners contributions, volunteer hours and Mark’s efforts, SDSVP has made a greater impact in San Diego than ever before. Mark highlighted the following accomplishments reiterating SDSVP’s mission statement of cultivating effective philanthropists who drive community solutions with investments of time, expertise and resources.

· Cultivating philanthropists – between First Fridays, Investment Working Group, Portfolio Working Group and all other committees, SVP has provided over 800 “touches” to our Partnership with educational opportunities for learning about becoming a more effective philanthropist

· Investments of time – SVP has donated over 13,000 hours in the last year

· Expertise – Partners have revamped mission statements, assisted with board development, assured minimum accounting standards for all Investees, created strategic plans, assisted with hiring process, built IT systems, created marketing campaigns

o One Investee's improved infrastructure has reduced annual expenses by two-thirds

o Capacity building efforts helped move Coastkeeper from operating in the ‘red’ to being in the ‘black’ the last 3 years.

o Our Resource Teams are receiving requests weekly to work with various nonprofits

· Resources - Over $200,000 was donated in grants and double that number in co-funding with an additional $1.3 M in in-kind services to community

In addition, Mark honored three graduating board members: David Field, Amy Larson, and Diane Rosenberg for their years of service and dedication. The FY ‘09 SDSVP Board of Directors was announced as follows: Ann Field, serving as Board Treasurer/ Secretary; Joyce Ross serving as Board Development Officer; Richard Bockoff; Aaron Contorer; Marjorie Fox; Marion Paul; Alan Sorkin; Bill Hahn; Duane Trombly; David Johnson; Stan Pappelbaum; Ray Ellis; Mike Kole.

The annual Bingham Stone Award was given to Aaron Contorer to honor his outstanding leadership skills, commitment and "no BS" attitude. Thanks, Aaron, for all your hard work! Executive Director, Peggy Kidd, introduced SDSVP’s two new Investees, ElderHelp and Elder Law & Advocacy, who are serving the elderly of San Diego. As usual, we had great food, great wine, and great company!

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SDSVP Announces Sponsorship of our First SVP Fellows Program

Dr. Bob Shillman has graciously donated $5,000 to sponsor our very first Fellow. The fellowship shall be known as the “Doctor Bob Shillman Fellowship.” The SVP Fellows Program will help us to recruit new “fresh perspective” members who may not have the economic means to be an individual partner. Sponsored partners are not identified to the chapter at large, but will be chosen by the Board who will manage the selection process.

One-year Fellowships are for community-minded individuals working and/or living in San Diego County and allows SVP to open its doors to people that couldn't otherwise make the required financial commitment; who will add significant value; and who will get personal value from the work and connections within SVP.

We will award new Fellowships to those who meet the following criteria:

• A historical or emerging desire to make a significant contribution to our community.
• Seeing yourself continuing and growing that commitment in the years ahead.
• A personal vision about your role in the community.
• Someone that brings a different and diverse set of perspective and experiences.
• You do not otherwise have the financial means to join SVP.

We hope other partners will follow Bob’s leadership and consider this worthwhile program and create their own fellowship. If you would like to sponsor a fellow, please contact us.

Meet Joyce and Craigar Grosvenor!

Raised in Orange County, Joyce Grosvenor received a degree in Business Communications from CSU Fullerton. She quickly became a principal in Americom International, a JV with Radisson Hotel Group, and Intourist, the Soviet Tourism Partner. With HR Haldeman as their chief guide, Joyce and partners successfully installed the first ever American operated, high-tech communications/office suites for Western travelers abroad, within the Slavyanskaya five-star Hotel, Moscow. Joyce’s involvements also include major fundraising for then Governor Pete Wilson and The Young Republicans of Orange County and well as various art, music and theatre groups. Currently, she serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for the San Diego Symphony.

Craigar, a Michigan native who’s lived in San Diego County since 1957, has a professional background as a stockbroker and financial counselor. As a public speaker, Craigar has presented financial seminars to Fortune 500 companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Bank of America, and Kaiser Permanente as well as the U.S. Marine Corps and Navy. In addition, he volunteers his public speaking and fund raising talents to various community groups and nonprofits. Craigar is a member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and has acted in several films and television shows.

At present, Joyce and Craigar are working on their new TV talk show, Infinite Possibilities. Both are deeply involved in giving back to the community by way of The Grosvenor Family Foundation and enjoy holding numerous fundraising events at their home in Rancho Pacifica. The Grosvenors joined SDSVP in April 2008 and look forward to supporting the community and meeting new friends.

Craigar spends his spare time gardening, biking and enjoys sailing and other water sports. Joyce enjoys snow skiing, as well as quiet time on the water whenever possible. She has enjoyed designing two family residences in the past year and looks forward to her next designing adventure! Joyce and Craigar’s children, Tristan, 11, and Dakota, 13, have traveled the world experiencing theatre and music. Tristan wants to become a scientist and Dakota aspires to be a model. Their sons Alexander and Nicholas Grosvenor are comedic actors living in Hollywood. The Grosvenor Family has two cats and two golden retrievers, Bentley and Remy.

The Art of La Cuna

From San Diego Magazine’s The Art of Giving
May 2008

A cradle is defined as a small bed for infants, but look further in the dictionary and you’ll find another definition: "the place where anything is nurtured during its early existence." Since 2003, San Diego nonprofit organization La Cuna, Spanish for cradle, has aimed to be this place of nurturing for the area’s most vulnerable population: foster children ages 5 and under.

"I founded La Cuna because my history has been working with older children; by the time older foster children are able to speak about their needs, they have almost no hope," explains Rachel Humphreys, founder and executive director of La Cuna. "The statistics are so grim: Eighty percent of those incarcerated are former foster children. We’re creating a whole cycle of broken people, and the heartfelt answer is to take care of children when they need your help—between 0 and 5 when it’s the most critical."

Adding that the majority of babies in foster care never find a stable home, Humphreys has made it her mission to change the statistics and reverse the downward spiral caused by infant and child neglect, abuse and abandonment. La Cuna serves as a foster-family agency training foster parents and focusing on a specific segment of the population: Latino babies.

"When we did a community-needs assessment, we focused on Latino children because just under one half of foster children in San Diego are Latino, come from monolingual Spanish-speaking homes and are placed with people who don’t speak their language," Humphreys continues. "These infants and toddlers have already been traumatized and then they’re ripped away from their mother tongue. It seemed like a real no-brainer to try to find more Spanish-speaking homes or culturally respectful homes for Latino children."

Since placing its first foster child in 2005, La Cuna has placed 65 children in foster homes and seen that 94 percent of them are staying in that home until they’re reunited with rehabilitated family members or adopted—a success that Humphreys is thrilled to share.

"We’re breaking the odds for these kids and increasing their likelihood of growing up healthy and happy," she says.

La Cuna relies on the community for support in many ways.

"I like to tell people that they can take home a baby, but if that’s too difficult, they can sponsor us instead," Humphreys adds.

Privately funded, La Cuna needs financial support to maintain its services. The organization also needs volunteers for office work as well as to arrange donation drives for diapers and other practical new items for babies. A career opportunity is also currently available for a social worker. No matter what capacity in which one chooses to work with La Cuna, Humphreys assures it will be a move worth making.

"It’s incredibly rewarding to work with this population," Humphreys concludes. "You can work magic on a child when they’re so young and malleable and open to the world. The window of time is so finite and we can do so much damage, but we can also do so much good. At this age they still have a fighting chance to grow up and go to Harvard and have a family, but they’re not going to be okay unless we pay attention to the fact that they’re in crisis. This is very critical work."

For more information, call 619-521-9900 or visit www.lacuna.org.

NOTE: La Cuna is currently a third year Investee of SDSVP

Most Approve of the Job San Diego Charities Are Doing

From The San Diego Union-Tribune

By Jeff McDonald
June 12, 2008

An overwhelming majority of San Diego County residents thinks local charities deliver quality services, but nonprofits should do a better job explaining how they work, according to a new study to be released today.

To read the full article click here.

Sharing Information in Philanthropy

Tom David, a foundation consultant, is making available reports he has been commissioned by large foundations to create on his website and they are free to the public. The reports cover subjects like The Craft of Grantmaking, Philanthropic Strategy and Evaluation. They were commissioned by foundations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Marguerite Casey Foundation and The California Wellness Foundation. Just another example that institutional foundations can leverage their accumulated knowledge about “doing good” by sharing it with the public.

You can find Tom’s website here.

Philanthropic Learning Opportunities

A Unique Professional Development Opportunity

Western Heart of Philanthropy Retreat 2008
August 7-9, 2008
Commonweal Retreat Center, Bolinas, CA

Philanthropy is hard work. Effective philanthropy involves skill, knowledge, competency, organizational effectiveness, and solid planning, as well as solid relationships based on trust, respect, and integrity. It is a balancing act of heart and head. Our work is so much about helping others that we forget to personally invest in ourselves. As we go about doing our work, how do we find the time to reflect on the reasons for doing this work? Where is the heart in philanthropy? The California Regional Associations of Grantmakers invite you to this unique professional development opportunity grounded in the principles and practices of reflection. The Heart of Philanthropy retreat is based on the work of Parker J. Palmer, noted author of The Courage to Teach, activist, and co-founder of the Center for Courage & Renewal. For more information click here.

Thank you to Luce Forward

The Law Offices of Luce Forward in Carmel Valley have graciously donated office space to SDSVP for the past few years. We greatly appreciate their support.

Thank you, Luce Forward!

Interesting Quote

"The system of philanthropy should switch from a system of where nonprofits ask for money to one where funders proactively seek out grantees."

- Sean Stannard-Stockton, Tactical Philanthropy