Partner Spotlight: Funding That Goes Further
By Kelly Starkey, Investor and Business Partner
Over the years, I’ve been lucky to have the opportunity to contribute my energy to so many great organizations and causes. From volunteering with the Girl Scouts to being a Ronald McDonald House board trustee, I have used my voice, my network, my skills—and yes, even my pocketbook—to make a difference.
In today’s world, operational funding is often the most needed among community nonprofits, and the most complicated. That’s because even with these organizations’ broad reach and valuable missions, it can be difficult to maintain or grow critically needed operational funding, with funders often focusing on a single initiative or project rather than helping the organization thrive.
What brought me to SVP Portland—and what keeps me here after eight years—is that our model has proven time and time again that my philanthropic dollars are best invested here.
Why? Because SVP’s very mission is to invest in other nonprofit organizations and enable them with both dollars and professional expertise. From hiring staff to improving business processes, launching technology to driving change in communities, nonprofits look to SVP for support, and to a lesser degree financing. SVP continues to answer the call. The volunteer hours provided by Investor and Business Partners drive SVP’s community impact, but the financial investment each of us makes truly powers SVP’s work and enables program development. I would love to see a groundswell of monetary support from our broader community of friends, colleagues, and neighbors to celebrate the foundational work SVP does.
How does it work? In SVP’s model, we’re able to bring the funding and pro bono services of Investor and Business Partners forward to our Community Partners (i.e., nonprofits) that need them most. The work these Investor and Business Partners do hand-in-hand with Community Partners is so important because these nonprofits would not otherwise have the operational funds to access them (due to cost, not being program-specific enough for donors, etc.). In short, when operating funds are stretched thin, SVP bridges that gap so that funding/expertise aren’t out of reach for these growing Community Partners.
Knowing that my annual financial commitment to SVP is being multiplied several times over across more than a dozen nonprofits and initiatives means my funds are having a greater impact than they would if I was directly supporting a single organization. Even during periods of my life when I couldn’t contribute my time or skills as often, I knew the funding I invested with SVP persisted and supported a myriad of causes that resonated with me, making our community a better place.
Additionally, the multiplier effect that SVP’s work has on the organizations we partner with amazes me. Since 2014, Investor and Business Partners like me have contributed nearly 35,000 hours of value to the Community Partners that SVP works with. This generous group was also involved in raising an astounding $25 million in leveraged funding—the indirect dollars that flowed to our Community Partners due to SVP Partner connections—to advance their growth and reach. As I’ve also learned from SVP’s most recent Annual Report, every dollar I contribute leads to a return-on-investment of 14 to 1!
In 2022 alone, through the financial support of Investor and Business Partners, nearly $400K in outgoing grants were awarded to 12 Community Partners. In addition, these same SVP Partners contributed more than 5,400 volunteer hours of pro-bono professional services, which helped develop and scale the needed infrastructure for these organizations.
Which brings me to my appeal: Consider contributing to this incredible cause, which maximizes your contribution and multiplies it through our community by investing in those organizations that are delivering programs to expand early childhood education.
I’m always open to telling you more about my involvement with SVP Portland—and if you are not local, connecting you with one of the 40+ SVP chapters that exist worldwide. Feel free to message me on LinkedIn—or gather a little more information about this great work.
