How is Investing in SVP Portland Strategic Giving?

Giving has felt more and more urgent these days, with the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on low-income families and communities of color, the building movement for racial justice, and the SCOTUS decisions around reproductive rights and environmental protections. With so much need, you have to make choices about how to prioritize your time and money. Having a strategic giving plan allows you to be intentional, values-driven and impactful. Investing in SVP Portland is one way for philanthropists who pursue equity and social justice to leverage their resources.

Peter Frumpkin, author of Strategic Giving, contends that philanthropy should be seen as both a powerful way to meet public needs and a meaningful way to express personal beliefs and commitments. Part of your strategy for strategic giving, then, should be to first determine your values and passions, and commit to effective nonprofits that share them. Additionally, a focus on a limited number of causes enables donors to have a greater impact, derive more meaning and satisfaction, and become more personally involved in the desired outcomes.

At SVP Portland, we are focused on ensuring that all children — regardless of ethnicity, wealth, religion, gender, or zip code — have access to high-quality, culturally-relevant early learning experiences. Based on research showing that 67% of Multnomah County children experiencing poverty are children of color, disproportionately high given children of color make up only 41% of Multnomah County’s population. Therefore, we commit at least 67% of our resources to organizations and initiatives that are culturally-specific or responsive, though it is typically much more. Our focused goal and commitment to communities most impacted by injustice, along with our unique combination of resources (skills, network, and money), is how SVP achieves such remarkable impact. For every dollar SVP Portland invested as an organization in direct financial grants to nonprofits in 2021, we helped realize $46 in total impact! Effective philanthropy requires persistence, adaptability and long-term dedication to specific causes, and SVP’s strength is the devoted Partners who strategically give their resources, time, and talents to our organization as we work alongside our nonprofit partners to achieve more equitable outcomes for our communities.

Are you inspired to strategically give to SVP Portland? Do you know someone who seeks strategic giving? Please contact Ursula Garcia to talk more about what SVP has to offer!