Guiding Collaboration for a Common Goal
This unique investment is testing how SVP’s human capital can be utilized to facilitate improved coordination and collaboration among key early childhood players, ultimately increasing their ability to leverage each organization’s strengths for greater community impact. SVP Partners Bill and Kieren Porter are leading this investment. These are Kieren's remarks on the journey thus far.
How does the old saying go… The journey can often be as important as the destination? This has never been truer than for our recent SVP investment in the Early Learning Success Alliance (ELSA). The independent nonprofits and public library partners who are part of this coalition are well-known leaders in their sectors and don’t necessarily need the heartache that can come from collaborating with others – especially if the “others” are competing for same funding, policymakers’ attention and public spotlight. They are unified, however, in their goal to provide children facing barriers to success with whatever resources they can to establish a strong foundation of literacy. SVP has been asked to help guide the conversations so these nonprofits can harness the power of their unique strengths to make their partnership a success.It was made clear from the start that this was a slightly unusual investment.
First, it was different because it wasn’t a formal investment—it was more of a “pre-investment,” meaning there weren't grant dollars, and we would work with the group to see if it could gain traction around what sounded like a good idea, and one that SVP might want to support once it was more fleshed out.
Second, although the participants were an impressive group to be sure (Black Parent Initiative, The Children’s Book Bank, Oregon Public Libraries, Reach Out and Read Oregon, Reading Results, The Shadow Project and SMART-Start Making A Reader Today), there wasn’t much precedence for this type of strategic collaboration coming from nonprofits themselves; it usually came from funders or the community. In other words, we were in somewhat unchartered territory – exciting, but murky.
My SVP (and real-life) Partner, Bill, and I have met twice with ELSA members to facilitate their conversations, teasing out the sensitive but important questions they need to focus on, and spotlighting those actions that deserve celebration and acknowledgement. Although they represent a wide array of viewpoints across every part of the early literacy nonprofit spectrum (including programmatic focus, geographic reach, funding levels, staffing, political engagement, diversity of population served, etc.), they are respectful, honest about fears and concerns, thoughtful about how their joint work can/should impact their individual charters, open-minded about opportunities and excited about their collective future and how much they can learn from each other. We may continue to meet with them and/or offer strategic counsel as they firm up their plans throughout the fall and winter.
ELSA members see the fundamental value of collaboration–the journey–and aren’t daunted by the idea that they need to invest time upfront to clarify what they might be able to achieve as an Alliance, and how. They are confident that together, they can make greater strides toward improving early childhood literacy for Oregon’s kids by sometimes working together than by always working alone. If they can also demonstrate a successful model for nonprofit collaboration, their lessons will expand far beyond their focus on literacy outcomes. We have strong a strong belief they can do both.
It should be an exciting journey.