Global Collaboration

Who participated in the meeting? Which SVP affiliates were represented?

Participants from Asia:

• JJ Wang, SVP China and SVP Beijing ED
• Gan Wang, SVP Beijing Board Member
• Rick Wang, SVP Beijing Program Officer
• Esther Guo, SVP Beijing Partner
• Aparna Sanjay, SVP India Bangalore ED
• Takashi Fujimura, SVP Tokyo
• Miki Aori, SVP Tokyo.

Participants from SVP Portland:

All members of staff team, some board members, investees, partners and external friends of SVP Portland.

What was the purpose of the gathering?

The purpose of the meeting from my perspective was to exchange ideas around venture philanthropy and philanthropic sector development in different countries, our best practices, various operation models and initiatives so that we could form new ideas and localize the idea in our own affiliates. Through better communication, understanding and closer relationships, we may explore establishing potential collective action and cross-border collaboration in the future.

What was the most helpful part of the meeting?

From my perspective, the most helpful part of the meeting is two-fold. Firstly, SVP Portland comprehensively shared their operation model, experiences and initiatives which truly inspire every one of us, especially their system innovation initiative. Besides, we got the chance to understand in-depth the operation, methodology, challenges and corresponding solutions of each department after going through a overview of the whole organization, its structure and its development path. The interactive and vivid sessions were truly helpful.

Second, it's amazing to learn from different affiliates especially the affiliates participating in this gathering because they share quite similar visions, challenges and an open mindset of sharing and collaboration. The initiatives that each affiliate take to solve the social problems in their countries and to develop their SVP are part of the most helpful inspirations.

Is there anything that you plan to do differently at SVP China as a result of this gathering? Or were there practices from SVP China that you shared that others were excited to try?

First, although SVP China was just founded in late 2013 ("a two-year-old baby") and we are still localizing SVP models and trying to replicate SVP affiliates around China, we will pursue the short-term development goal of capacity building for social purpose organizations but also strive for collective impact and system innovation in the long term. We will make our investments very strategic to solve social problems and educate our partners as real strategic philanthropists. This is inspired by SVP Portland.

Second, when we learnt about the cross-border collaboration between India and Japan, we are truly inspired by the power of the network and what collaborations really means in SVP network. We will strengthen the bond among SVP affiliates which share the same vision and goal, especially with SVP Asian affiliates to achieve potentially larger impact in the long term future.