Social Venture Partners (SVP) is an innovative organization that combines contributions of many sizes from individual philanthropist partners into larger, venture-capital type gifts. Accompanying these gifts is strong capacity building expertise and volunteer efforts from the philanthropist partners themselves. This model of giving is ideal for philanthropists who want to be involved in community efforts, share their expertise with local nonprofits, and meet and socialize with other local philanthropists.
As part of our series on Longtail Philanthropy, I’m interviewing Stacy Caldwell of Dallas Social Venture Partners, and Ruth Jones of Social Venture Partners International. They’ve been kind enough to share with us some of the more nuanced details behind Social Venture Partners, as well as why they think the SVP model is one that will be sustainable and effective as Philanthropy continues to change.
How is the Social Venture Partners (SVP) movement changing the face of philanthropy?
Ruth Jones: SVP is the largest donor network in North America, with some 2000 partners. Its dual mission is unique: partners seek to bring about significant, long-term positive social change in Continue reading →
Lucy Bernholz (who writes the rockin’ Philanthropy 2173 blog) and her company, Blueprint Research and Design, have recently released their Blueprint 2010 for Philanthropy and Social Investing.
Think of this as a 44-page road map anticipating those events, issues, and trends that are most likely to impact what happens to your social investment this year. A few of the topics included:
- Which innovations should I understand and which are just buzzwords?
- What are the key policy issues that might influence philanthropy?
- What wildcard events will matter and what should I look out for?
You can buy other books about philanthropy trends, but by the time you get them, they’re dusty inside and out. Lucy’s pretty smart. I’m running to get my copy.