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.

On November 19th, our Portfolio Management Team approved a partnership proposal that was collaboratively developed by an SVP Investment Team and Hacienda Community Development Corporation (Hacienda CDC), making the organization our 12th Community Partner this year.

On the path of equity and anti-racism, I am happy to report that SVP Portland is deeply engaged in advancing self-work.  Building on commitment at the Board and staff levels, our Partnership formed an Equity Team (E-Team) and under facilitation by the Center for Equity and Inclusion (CEI) embarked on four afternoons of intact training.  The extended team gained an understanding of racism’s cultural and institutional frameworks, critically reflected on assumptions of white privilege, and enthusiastically dove into media coverage of the socio-political landscape.  We have committed our feet to move on the journey.

"Based on my Encore Fellow experience, I learned that my corporate skillset can be beneficial to working with nonprofits. I was drawn to the SVP model that enables working with a variety of Community Partners. I also like the concept of venture philanthropy, connecting monetary investments with the even more valuable investment of professional experience."

As we close out the year, I’m incredibly proud of how SVP Partners, Board, and staff alike have demonstrated their dedication to our mission and Preschool for All (P4A) goal. The tenacity, resourcefulness, nimbleness, and collaboration in face of adversity has been remarkable. So far in 2020, we have grown our resources -- human and financial -- by successfully recruiting 19 new Partners. (The vast majority are already engaged on SVP teams and with Community Partners!)

We are excited to report that the impact of SVP Portland’s Encore Fellows Program has continued at a steady beat despite the pandemic. We recently hit our 2020 goal of placing 16 new Encore Fellows! Throughout the year, we have consistently had more than 25 active Fellows working with nonprofits, including four SVP Community Partners, on their capacity building projects. 

"In the past, I have volunteered and I have donated money, but I haven’t found a place where I really did both together. Nor have I found a lot of places where your volunteer work is using what I think of as higher level business or life experiences, as opposed to what my father might call “grunt work”. Honestly, there is nothing wrong with grunt work and I strangely like some of that too, but I also like the idea of using my Master’s degree and the experiences I have as a consultant and small business owner."

It would be more than an understatement to say that 2020 has been a difficult year. Globally we’ve experienced the COVID-19 pandemic and the recession that quickly followed. Nationally, and acutely locally, we have seen demonstrations in response to racial injustice and political turmoil. And here at SVP Portland we were blindsided by unimaginable loss when Sarah left us too soon.While it would be easy to dwell on the negative, the holiday season now upon us presents a simple challenge: appreciate and give thanks.

"SVP Portland has invested $2.3 million in direct grants to 34 nonprofits in the Portland metro area since the organization was formed in 2001. That may sound like small change, but SVP has leveraged those funds exponentially through free strategic advice to help those organizations scale and build capacity."

The Preschool for All victory is really a victory for partnership. SVP Portland has developed deeper and broader trust and relationships than we ever imagined in those first conversations nine years ago. Parents, grassroots advocates, and grasstop leaders partnered to develop comprehensive policy that encouraged going beyond what we thought was possible. In this newsletter, Lauren Johnson and Mark Holloway reflect on the long journey to this extraordinary victory.

Child Care Shared Services Alliance Vision: A relationship-driven alliance of providers working together to support sustainable business practices, increase program profits, and protect/support provider well-being. Our ultimate goal is to save providers time so they can focus on meaningful relationships with teachers, children and families and earn a financially secure living doing the work they love.

We are pleased to report that as a result of persistent efforts, resourcefulness, nimbleness, and an all-hands-on-deck attitude, we can look back on these last six months with enormous pride in what we accomplished. Our resilience and tenacity in the face of multiple challenges has left us optimistic about the future as well. Twenty-one new Partners have joined this year, and more than 80% are already engaged!

"Part of the joy of being in a new city is the chance to build one's community. During this time of isolation, where so many things feel upside down, I found myself really craving ways to make a meaningful local impact and build my network. SVP Portland turns out to be the perfect solution."

The Portfolio Management Team just announced two new approved investments, and interestingly, these new MOUs are with one of our newest Community Partners and with our longest ongoing relationship. These two partnerships are great examples of how SVP works with community organizations throughout their life cycles.

In May 2020, a group of SVP Partners came together with a diverse group of child care advocates to create the Oregon Child Care Provider Relief Guide for Oregon’s child care providers struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic. After the relief guide launched, the coalition continued meeting and asked: What more can we do? How can we help small providers survive and thrive, not just through the pandemic, but for the long-term? The answer was shared services.

As many of you know, the SVP Portland board of directors gathers each summer, typically in August, for an all-day retreat, where we evaluate goal progress, consider shifts in landscape, and determine strategic priorities moving forward. In the gazillionth example of how 2020 is very different, this year’s retreat was a three-part series of Zoom calls. Each call was two and a half hours, and each focused on a single significant topic that will inform the board’s strategic thinking and planning going forward.