"My experiences with SVP have further opened my eyes regarding my privilege as a white male born into comfortable circumstances. Through discussions, interactions with staff, Board members and Partners, presentations, and workshops I’m becoming increasingly aware of the lenses through which I see the world and how others see and experience the same world. This is changing the way I listen, perceive, and behave… and is just the starting point for continued learning and shifts I am committed toward."

The year 2010 was a significant turning point for SVP Portland. While the organization had been ‘doing good’ since its founding, then Executive Director Mark Holloway shared “I had a feeling in my gut we could be doing so much more.” Partner Larry Fox then described SVP’s community impact as “failing broadly, one success at a time.” It was time for a change.

Last month, in the wake of the mass shooting in the Asian Community of Atlanta, SVP Portland joined Oregon Asian Pacific Islander (API) Leaders in solidarity against Asian hate. The SVP team encourages you to read the full letter as part of our journey to continuously learn about racism and to support our collective work toward becoming an anti-racist organization.

"I was very attracted to the combination of contributing both financially and with personal service. I was raised to believe that financial giving is not enough -- you should contribute both time and money, if you can. So, the SVP venture philanthropy model really fits with my core values."

On February 3rd, we held our Annual Partnership Meeting to kick off the year. Twenty-two Partners joined the informational session and Q&A via Zoom to celebrate the accomplishments of 2020 and hear about how we plan to build upon that momentum in 2021. As we celebrate 20 years of SVP Portland, we are excited and proud of our cumulative impact and evolution since our founding.

“High-quality pre-K has been linked, long-term, to less crime and fewer prisoners. The CPC [Child-Parent Centers] program has served over 100,000 three- and four-year-olds since 1967. Researchers followed a sample of participants up until age 28, and found that children who did not participate were 70 percent more likely to be arrested for a violent crime by age 18. By age 24, the people served by the CPC were 20 percent less likely to have served time in a jail or prison.”

"[W]e had been volunteering once a week with Habitat for Humanity. As I was crawling through an attic using a caulking gun to seal up drywall joints or painting an old house, I couldn't help but to think that there may be a way that I could make a bigger philanthropic impact by tapping into the skills I had built over the years of founding and growing a business. The idea of venture philanthropy and helping build capacity in organizations that are doing the hard work of serving the children and families in underserved communities really resonated with me."

To celebrate our 20th Anniversary, we bring you a series on the history of SVP Portland. This is part one, which starts at the very beginning.The SVP model found especially fertile ground with tech entrepreneurs. It’s no surprise then that Eli Lamb, who had recently retired from Intel Oregon, found his way to an SVP Seattle meeting and learned about their unique model for giving not just financially, but also with time and expertise.

"The Brighton Jones Portland team has been looking for ways to increase our involvement in the community ... and we were immediately impressed by SVP’s data-driven approach to address the root causes of inequity and the commitment to driving systemic, scalable change. Our team feels that the Partnership’s approach truly magnifies the impact that an individual can have in our community, and we are thrilled to contribute to SVP’s mission."

One of the reasons we invested in a partnership with the Portland Children’s Museum is because of our strong alignment with their goal to develop culturally-responsive learning as part of the organization’s equity journey. Helping with this is a focus of our capacity-building work, so we want to feature PCM’s Opal Charter School as it explores Black History Month through the lens of empathy and compassion.

"While I’ve been a Partner for less than a year, I’m fortunate to have found connection points that both draw upon my experience and expertise, and challenge me to keep learning. Going forward, I’m certain there will be numerous areas where I can add significant value to both the implementation of P4A as well as nudge SVP forward in its culture of continuous improvement."

The Immigrant & Refugee Community Organization (IRCO) has been an SVP Portland Community Partner since 2016. They recently shared a success story that is a powerful reminder of why we support early-learning programs -- to provide opportunities for our kids that set the trajectory for learning and life success.“The Early Learning Program empowers Thi and her husband to take initiative of teaching and raising their children by providing the resources that will help them succeed. Prior to COVID-19, caseworkers visited the family two times per week to play with the children and talk to the parents about their progress. Thi acknowledged that the home visits were her children’s favorite part about the program.”

At SVP Portland we prioritize investing in communities of color as part of our work to dismantle structural barriers and systemic racism, including partnering with culturally-specific organizations serving Black and African American children & families. February is Black History Month and we want to spotlight and amplify the voice of a Community Partner that not only does transformative work in our Black community, but is also recognizing this important month through a series on social media. Each day you can read a highlight about a historic figure in Black history.

Joe’s Court is a celebration to honor SVP Partners who have served for 10 years or more. The concept for Joe’s Court came about in October of 2014 to recognize both the founding and growing number of Partners that remained committed to our mission and to “induct” Partners each year as they reached the 10-year milestone.This year’s group set a record for the number of participants -- 23 -- which represents more than 25% of our Partnership.

Reflecting back on 2020 and the enormous support provided by Partners during a very difficult time, the staff of SVP Portland would like to kick off 2021 with our inaugural Superstar awards! The goal is to recognize Partners who best helped us demonstrate remarkable resilience during a challenging 2020, and have a little fun along the way.

In spite of the numerous hurdles presented to us in 2020, our Partnership met the challenges and delivered some record-breaking numbers. More volunteer hours than ever before. More leveraged dollars than ever before. It was an extraordinary year of impact and growth. We look back on 2020 with many mixed emotions: gratitude, anger, inspiration, grief, compassion. In the spirit of resilience and hope we look forward to continuing our journey together, as a partnership of changemakers, in 2021.

"As a partnership of philanthropists, we should recognize that we have immense privilege. Not only in our collective resources, but also in our voice and influence. With frequency, we face decisions of how we use this power. Although we still have much to learn, I believe we should work to leverage our privilege, with integrity and humility, to advance our mission and goal. Philanthropy can better meet the challenges of today when we trust and amplify the voices of our Community Partners -- who are experts on the barriers children and families face -- while not exacerbating the myriad demands and burdens on communities of color."

After more than a decade as Executive Director, Carmen Rubio departed Latino Network to become Portland’s first Latinx city commissioner. After an extensive national and statewide search process, the Latino Network Board of Directors announced as successor Tony DeFalco.

2020 was a year like no other. Despite all the chaos, challenges, and changes, the SVP Portland Partnership has thrived. We both collaborated for tremendous community impact, while simultaneously building internal strength.As is our custom, we asked Partners for their feedback through our Annual Partner Survey. Thirty-eight Partners shared their “why SVP?”, thoughts about their engagement, offered opinions about our communications, and highlighted their most meaningful and proud SVP moments.

January 26 would mark Sarah’s 39th birthday, so we would like to take a moment to honor Sarah, the bright light that she shared with SVP Portland, and tell you how you can help us sustain her legacy.As we all know, Sarah was a shining smile of determination and hope; one always had her undivided attention and support. And she was both connector and maven.