Our partnership with the Alliance for Equity in Montessori Education (AEME) will include a $15k general operating grant and Partner time. AEME appreciates SVP's general operating grant (rather than restricted) so that it can use the financial resources to invest in key aspects of running the organization well, such as DEI training, fundraising & grant writing, and staffing for community/parent engagement. Partners will work with AEME to achieve its vision by assisting with developing a strategy timeline, board governance, business model & financing, operational policies, and marketing.

Earlier this year, SVP International solicited “Stories of Change” from affiliates as an opportunity to celebrate the collective accomplishments of our global network and amplify SVP’s commitment to achieve greater equity and systemic change. SVPI chose to feature SVP Portland’s story about the changing role of philanthropy from transactional to transformational partnerships. Executive Director Lauren Johnson explained, “This is a time for philanthropy to really step up and be courageous about doing things differently - we need to think long term, shift power, address root issues, and co-create solutions with community.”

When Lee Rosenbaum retired from Intel, he decided to expand his volunteer work as a trail host for the Mount St. Helens Institute (MSHI) through the Encore Fellows Program. When he made the institute aware of the fellows program, he found that they were in need of an online image database so staff could find images for their work more readily.

"SVP has definitely changed me for the better. With SVP Portland's focus on early childhood education and closing the opportunity gap for priority populations*, I'm constantly getting educated on and learning how to advocate for our most vulnerable children and their basic right to access quality education."

At the May SVP Portland Board of Directors’ meeting, staff presented an opportunity to support the newly-formed Washington County Preschool for All effort. Given our early, deep, and long-time work to make Preschool for All a reality in Multnomah County, we were asked to join the Washington County effort. Just as in Multnomah County, all young children in Washington County deserve positive early learning experiences that help them develop cognitive and social-emotional skills and prepare them for kindergarten.

Recently, the Portfolio Management Team (PMT) considered how we can work to maximize opportunities to leverage our social capital in a way that is equitable in opportunity and can benefit all of our Community Partners. While we often focus our attention on contributions of Partner money and time, the Partnership has valuable yet underutilized social capital and influence that can have an equally profound impact when leveraged in support of our Community Partners.

Kaye joined the SVP Portland team as an Encore Fellow. Her fellowship is focused on helping us ensure we have a sustainable approach to providing Partners and Fellows the support they need as they collaborate across our broad range of Community Partners. Kaye will begin by taking a look at our current onboarding and training model, as well as historic approaches. Her goal is to help us make improvements to our approach for onboarding Partners to community impact work and supporting them throughout their volunteer projects.

We’re excited to report that the Child Care Shared Services Alliance (CCSSA) is preparing to recruit its first cohort of child care providers this summer, with Neighborhood House as its newly-selected backbone organization. Following completion of the incubation phase,  SVP will remain involved, serving as an advisor to the project in the pilot phase, alongside the Co-Design team and contracted facilitators.

”The most eye-popping effects the researchers find are on high school graduation and college enrollment rates. The kids who got accepted into preschool ended up having a high-school graduation rate of 70% — six percentage points higher than the kids who were denied preschool, who saw a graduation rate of only 64%. And 54% of the preschoolers ended up going to college after they graduated — eight percentage points higher than their counterparts who didn't go to preschool.“

SVP Partner Gerald (Jerry) Cohen was just honored as one of 16 Over 61, a collaboration between the Forward Jewish news and the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan’s Wechsler Center for Modern Aging, who states that "With these honors, we've aimed to spotlight the creativity, leadership and initiative of adults who exemplify our collective values." Jerry doesn't let age define or stop him, he shared, "The point is to embrace and celebrate age wherever one is on the chronological scale. We have been granted a gift of longevity, and we must use that gift."

"At SVP, Investor Partners work hand-in-hand with nonprofit leaders to build the organizational capacity of our Community Partners. SVP staff members asked us to take this to the next level. This next level is about becoming a "thought partner" rather than being the expert. To achieve this goal we took a “Partners training Partners” approach, building the capacity in our Lead Partners so they could be more powerful at helping nonprofit leaders -- a virtuous loop."

"SVP provides a unique platform and opportunity to plug into a greater network of people to help leverage greater impact in the community. I am a big believer in the power of aligning like-minded people to solve big problems. SVP is the best organization to do that in Portland."

With the funds secured, now what? As the county began to staff up and put the structures in place called for by the project design, it became clear that the P4A initiative was seen by many outside the county and the state as something worthy of emulation. Laudatory newspaper articles notwithstanding, even from the New York Times, what to tell other jurisdictions when they called?

The April 20th guilty verdict in the Derrick Chauvin trial was momentous. And while we are relieved by that outcome, we recognize the verdict in and of itself does not signal systemic change. If we are to dismantle systems of oppression and white supremacy in our society, much deeper transformation is needed.

Over the two-year time project, both Jumpstart participants built critical fundraising capacity which translated to significant revenue growth for their organizations. By the end of the program, their final year-two gains each represented more than a 50% increase from their revenue totals in the year prior to beginning Jumpstart.

"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.