(From the March 2006 Newsletter)
After serving for five years on the SVPP board, half of them as president, I'll be stepping down when my term expires in May. I can't help but reflect on how much SVPP has accomplished in these five brief years. Here is a brief summary of how it all started:
In the fall of 2000, a group of us with little to no experience in the nonprofit sector heard an inspirational lecture by Paul Brainerd, the founder and creative spirit behind the Social Venture Partners movement. We were energized, and after working with SVP Seattle and spending many months meeting in a partner's living room, we incorporated SVP Portland in December 2000 and were off and rolling. We borrowed heavily from Seattle, from our organizational structure to our investment processes to our marketing materials, adapting along the way to fit our local market. We had no office and no executive director for the first year and a half --- just a lot of very dedicated and committed partners who worked out of their homes and gave generously to this new organization. The biggest thrill that first year was distributing grants to our first two investees, Morrison Child & Family Services and Children's Relief Nursery.
Fast forward to today. We have grown to close to 100 partners and are on our fifth investment cycle. We have granted more than $700,000 and with each cycle our investments have become more strategic with broader impact. Our first four investees have "graduated" after successful completion of their programs. We have been designated a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and can now take contributions directly from partners. A redesigned website is in the works and will be rolled out later this month. We have an executive director who works tirelessly and arranges thought-provoking events with well-known speakers. We continue to attract committed and engaged new partners and have new members to introduce you to in this newsletter. And our most recent investees, CASH and PEP, are already making a measurable impact and receiving recognition from community leaders. You'll read more about them below.
Come October, I'll start my term representing Portland as a member of the SVP International board, so I will continue to stay active and involved. We are now the fifth largest affiliate out of the 21 across the US and Canada and I look forward to sharing our successes and challenges with the rest of the network. I hope you share my excitement about SVPP's progress and strong forward momentum. Thank you for continuing to be a part of the SVP Portland community.
SVPP News - SVPP Recognized by Superintendent
(From the March 2006 Newsletter)
SVPP Recognized by Superintendent of Public Instruction
Susan Castillo, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, recognized SVPP in December for SVPP's efforts to help feed children in Northeast Portland with the opening of the Blazers' Kids Café in partnership with the Boys and Girls Club as well as other foundations and local businesses. She was also pleased in to see the courses offered to teach children how to prepare and shop for food.
SVPP Recognized by Superintendent of Public Instruction
Susan Castillo, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, recognized SVPP in December for SVPP's efforts to help feed children in Northeast Portland with the opening of the Blazers' Kids Café in partnership with the Boys and Girls Club as well as other foundations and local businesses. She was also pleased in to see the courses offered to teach children how to prepare and shop for food.
SVPP News
(From the March 2006 Newsletter)
SVPP Partners Celebrate Holiday Party
Once again, Jeff and Sandy Grubb opened their home in December for SVPP's annual holiday party where existing partners, new partners and friends had an opportunity to spend several hours together. Special thanks to partner and board member, Laurie Weiss, for contributing the wine for the annual holiday party. Vintner Bill Kelley, from ElvenGlade Vineyards, generously offered the wine to SVPP at a significant discount.
CASH Opens First Tax-Aide Supersite
CASH (Creating Assets, Savings and Hope) opened its first "Supersite" at Lloyd Center on Friday February 10. During the Supersite's first three days of operation (Friday, February 10 through Sunday, February 12), 25 tax-aide volunteers prepared a total of 95 returns for low-income families. CASH estimates that these returns generated about $150,000 of refunds, including over $54,000 of earned income tax credits.
A number of prominent individuals attended the grand opening including Sam Adams (City of Portland Commissioner), Lou Savage (representing the Governor's Office from the Department of Consumer & Business Services), and Jerry Cohen (Director of Oregon AARP). A number of SVPP Partners also attended, including Bob McKean, President of Albina Community Bank, an early supporter of the CASH program, and Jeff Grubb (Chairman of SVPP).
A number of businesses have made substantial in-kind contributions that will permit CASH to operate the Supersite for a very small cost. Of special note, Lloyd Center donated the use of a large office suite (third floor above the food court) for the entire tax season at no cost. Other contributors include: IRS (computers and tax software), Culligan (bottled water), Starbucks (coffee), Paradise Bakery (cookies), Doubletree Hotel (podium) and AARP (volunteer training, posters and more coffee).
Enlightening Session on Global Warming
On February 15, Lisa Adatto from Climate Solutions, a non-profit organization working on solutions to global warming, led a discussion on this important environmental topic with a number of SVPP partners and guests. The session included some basic education on global warming and was followed by a very lively discussion by all the participants who attended this SVPP Partner Conversation event. To learn more about this topic, you can refer to the Climate Solutions website, www.climatesolutions.org (click).
Education Survey Results
Many of you recently completed a survey aimed at helping SVPP focus its programs and efforts in educating SVPP partners. We had a very strong response with 37 partners providing feedback.
The key messages received were:
• Confirmation that providing quality programs and educating our partnership on philanthropy and community needs are important elements of your satisfaction with SVPP.
• You particularly want SVPP to continue to offer interesting and topical speakers at quarterly partner meetings. You not only want SVPP to offer speakers and topics that focus on children-at-risk and early childhood education, but many of you have asked us to branch out and occasionally offer events that deal with other pressing community issues such as the environment and affordable housing. SVPP is listening and there are plans to expand the scope and variety of programs offered to our partners.
• In addition, you want to limit the number of educational events and keep the quality high. There are plans to offer or to partner with other organizations such as Grantmakers and Oregon Community Foundation, to bring you one to two programs per quarter.
• When SVPP can offer an interesting program that may incur a nominal cost to deliver, most of you have indicated that you would be willing to pay up to $25 to attend. SVPP also plans to expand on the idea of having several more intimate/limited participation events either in partner homes or at a local eating establishment. The idea is to create opportunities to gather a smaller number of partners where SVPP can foster high social interaction.
New Monthly Installment Option
In light of SVPP's new status as a 501(c)(3) corporation, and as an added benefit to partners, SVPP will now be able to accept your partnership contributions in monthly installments rather than a single annual payment. This can be accomplished through automatic debits to the partners' checking accounts. If you are interested in pursuing this arrangement, please contact our Executive Director, Jean Hart, who can provide detailed instructions to accommodate this.
SVPP Partners Celebrate Holiday Party
Once again, Jeff and Sandy Grubb opened their home in December for SVPP's annual holiday party where existing partners, new partners and friends had an opportunity to spend several hours together. Special thanks to partner and board member, Laurie Weiss, for contributing the wine for the annual holiday party. Vintner Bill Kelley, from ElvenGlade Vineyards, generously offered the wine to SVPP at a significant discount.
CASH Opens First Tax-Aide Supersite
CASH (Creating Assets, Savings and Hope) opened its first "Supersite" at Lloyd Center on Friday February 10. During the Supersite's first three days of operation (Friday, February 10 through Sunday, February 12), 25 tax-aide volunteers prepared a total of 95 returns for low-income families. CASH estimates that these returns generated about $150,000 of refunds, including over $54,000 of earned income tax credits.
A number of prominent individuals attended the grand opening including Sam Adams (City of Portland Commissioner), Lou Savage (representing the Governor's Office from the Department of Consumer & Business Services), and Jerry Cohen (Director of Oregon AARP). A number of SVPP Partners also attended, including Bob McKean, President of Albina Community Bank, an early supporter of the CASH program, and Jeff Grubb (Chairman of SVPP).
A number of businesses have made substantial in-kind contributions that will permit CASH to operate the Supersite for a very small cost. Of special note, Lloyd Center donated the use of a large office suite (third floor above the food court) for the entire tax season at no cost. Other contributors include: IRS (computers and tax software), Culligan (bottled water), Starbucks (coffee), Paradise Bakery (cookies), Doubletree Hotel (podium) and AARP (volunteer training, posters and more coffee).
Enlightening Session on Global Warming
On February 15, Lisa Adatto from Climate Solutions, a non-profit organization working on solutions to global warming, led a discussion on this important environmental topic with a number of SVPP partners and guests. The session included some basic education on global warming and was followed by a very lively discussion by all the participants who attended this SVPP Partner Conversation event. To learn more about this topic, you can refer to the Climate Solutions website, www.climatesolutions.org (click).
Education Survey Results
Many of you recently completed a survey aimed at helping SVPP focus its programs and efforts in educating SVPP partners. We had a very strong response with 37 partners providing feedback.
The key messages received were:
• Confirmation that providing quality programs and educating our partnership on philanthropy and community needs are important elements of your satisfaction with SVPP.
• You particularly want SVPP to continue to offer interesting and topical speakers at quarterly partner meetings. You not only want SVPP to offer speakers and topics that focus on children-at-risk and early childhood education, but many of you have asked us to branch out and occasionally offer events that deal with other pressing community issues such as the environment and affordable housing. SVPP is listening and there are plans to expand the scope and variety of programs offered to our partners.
• In addition, you want to limit the number of educational events and keep the quality high. There are plans to offer or to partner with other organizations such as Grantmakers and Oregon Community Foundation, to bring you one to two programs per quarter.
• When SVPP can offer an interesting program that may incur a nominal cost to deliver, most of you have indicated that you would be willing to pay up to $25 to attend. SVPP also plans to expand on the idea of having several more intimate/limited participation events either in partner homes or at a local eating establishment. The idea is to create opportunities to gather a smaller number of partners where SVPP can foster high social interaction.
New Monthly Installment Option
In light of SVPP's new status as a 501(c)(3) corporation, and as an added benefit to partners, SVPP will now be able to accept your partnership contributions in monthly installments rather than a single annual payment. This can be accomplished through automatic debits to the partners' checking accounts. If you are interested in pursuing this arrangement, please contact our Executive Director, Jean Hart, who can provide detailed instructions to accommodate this.
From Our Investees
(From the March 2006 Newsletter)
CASH (Creating Assets, Savings, and Hope) -
Fundraising / Operational Update:
• CASH received a $121,000 three-year grant from the Ann and Bill Swindells Charitable Trust.
• CASH has secured SVPP as fiscal agent for CASH. Grant proposals had been on a hiatus pending resolution of the fiscal agency. CASH expects one or more grant applications to be submitted in Q1 '06.
• Multnomah County is in the early stages of developing its 06-07 budget. There is considerable effort and support to budget $75,000 to fund collaboration between CASH and the county-financed SUN (Schools Uniting Neighborhoods) school program. The collaborative effort would use SUN schools as the focus for volunteer recruiting, tax preparation and financial literacy training.
• The City of Portland Water Department included a CASH insert in a mailing to 6,800 low-income customers. The estimated cost of this in-kind contribution was $1,500.
• The CASH website is up and running. It now includes information on the EITC, downloadable brochures and handouts and links to appropriate partners, including SVPP. See www.CASHoregon.org (click).
• CASH will need a full-time volunteer coordinator next year. CASH's ability to recruit enthusiastic volunteers is exceeded by the capability to organize, train and deploy them.
Tax Preparation / Financial Literacy Services Update:
• Recruited approximately 70 new volunteer tax preparers and had to turn away six more because of training capacity limitations. Increased training capacity will be a priority next year.
• CASH is now listed on "211" phone service; callers can get questions answered and referrals to tax sites.
• Lloyd Center donated a large office suite that will accommodate up to ten volunteer tax preparers at a given time. The space is located on the third floor office above the food court area. The retail value of the space is $4,000 per month. CASH will have access to the space plus utilities for three months without charge.
• CASH hosted the grand opening of the Lloyd Center supersite on February 10 (story above).
• A CASH capabilities piece was translated into approximately 12 languages (including English, Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese, etc.) free of charge by the State. The brochures are being printed at CASH's expense and distributed through coalition members. The brochures are into their second printing.
• The State has offered a Russian translator to assist in tax preparation on an as-needed basis.
PEP (Parental Engagement Program) - There has been significant progress in the engagement process of SVPP and the two elementary schools that are part of the PEP program. School Advisory Boards have been formed and are active at both schools, and performance metrics have been defined to allow SVPP and each school to measure progress with parental engagement efforts. Specific accomplishments are:
Kelly Elementary:
• The School Advisory Board has been launched with participants from Kelly, SVPP, SUN (Schools Uniting Neighborhoods), the community, businesses and school volunteers. The focus for this group is: 1) to improve the front entry area for the school, and 2) develop a marketing project to improve the effectiveness of the communications between Kelly Elementary and parents.
• Kelly's new coordinator continues to make progress in reestablishing the PTA and identifying parent volunteers for the school, having recruited 10 new parents for the PTA and 70 parents to volunteer for various school activities.
Clark Elementary:
• The School Advisory Board has been launched and is working on corporate sponsorship and fundraising through the local business community and recruiting additional Board members. In addition, SVPP will be providing assistance in Clark Elementary's efforts to embed technology in the school.
• Two additional "Parents as Partners for Reading Excellence" evening workshops were held on December 6 and January 10 with very high turnout. SVPP volunteers provided literacy events for the children of the parents attending the January workshop. Three more evening workshops will be held throughout the school year.
CASH (Creating Assets, Savings, and Hope) -
Fundraising / Operational Update:
• CASH received a $121,000 three-year grant from the Ann and Bill Swindells Charitable Trust.
• CASH has secured SVPP as fiscal agent for CASH. Grant proposals had been on a hiatus pending resolution of the fiscal agency. CASH expects one or more grant applications to be submitted in Q1 '06.
• Multnomah County is in the early stages of developing its 06-07 budget. There is considerable effort and support to budget $75,000 to fund collaboration between CASH and the county-financed SUN (Schools Uniting Neighborhoods) school program. The collaborative effort would use SUN schools as the focus for volunteer recruiting, tax preparation and financial literacy training.
• The City of Portland Water Department included a CASH insert in a mailing to 6,800 low-income customers. The estimated cost of this in-kind contribution was $1,500.
• The CASH website is up and running. It now includes information on the EITC, downloadable brochures and handouts and links to appropriate partners, including SVPP. See www.CASHoregon.org (click).
• CASH will need a full-time volunteer coordinator next year. CASH's ability to recruit enthusiastic volunteers is exceeded by the capability to organize, train and deploy them.
Tax Preparation / Financial Literacy Services Update:
• Recruited approximately 70 new volunteer tax preparers and had to turn away six more because of training capacity limitations. Increased training capacity will be a priority next year.
• CASH is now listed on "211" phone service; callers can get questions answered and referrals to tax sites.
• Lloyd Center donated a large office suite that will accommodate up to ten volunteer tax preparers at a given time. The space is located on the third floor office above the food court area. The retail value of the space is $4,000 per month. CASH will have access to the space plus utilities for three months without charge.
• CASH hosted the grand opening of the Lloyd Center supersite on February 10 (story above).
• A CASH capabilities piece was translated into approximately 12 languages (including English, Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese, etc.) free of charge by the State. The brochures are being printed at CASH's expense and distributed through coalition members. The brochures are into their second printing.
• The State has offered a Russian translator to assist in tax preparation on an as-needed basis.
PEP (Parental Engagement Program) - There has been significant progress in the engagement process of SVPP and the two elementary schools that are part of the PEP program. School Advisory Boards have been formed and are active at both schools, and performance metrics have been defined to allow SVPP and each school to measure progress with parental engagement efforts. Specific accomplishments are:
Kelly Elementary:
• The School Advisory Board has been launched with participants from Kelly, SVPP, SUN (Schools Uniting Neighborhoods), the community, businesses and school volunteers. The focus for this group is: 1) to improve the front entry area for the school, and 2) develop a marketing project to improve the effectiveness of the communications between Kelly Elementary and parents.
• Kelly's new coordinator continues to make progress in reestablishing the PTA and identifying parent volunteers for the school, having recruited 10 new parents for the PTA and 70 parents to volunteer for various school activities.
Clark Elementary:
• The School Advisory Board has been launched and is working on corporate sponsorship and fundraising through the local business community and recruiting additional Board members. In addition, SVPP will be providing assistance in Clark Elementary's efforts to embed technology in the school.
• Two additional "Parents as Partners for Reading Excellence" evening workshops were held on December 6 and January 10 with very high turnout. SVPP volunteers provided literacy events for the children of the parents attending the January workshop. Three more evening workshops will be held throughout the school year.
Welcome New Partners
(From the March 2006 Newsletter)
Scott Collins - Scott has lived in the Portland area since 1984. He moved here from Arkansas to take a job with Andersen Consulting. After five years at Andersen and a brief time at a client, Scott joined a startup healthcare consulting firm, Stockamp & Associates in 1990 where he stayed until 2003. Since leaving Stockamp, Scott has enjoyed spending more time with his family and generally catching up on life after many years of travel. Scott and his wife Gaila have three children, ages 11, 9 and 6. He is currently working with the CASH project.
Judith A. McGee - Judith A. McGee has a distinguished career in financial planning, business and community service. In January 2006, Research Magazine recognized Judith as one of "America's Top-Ranked Advisors". Her financial planning career began in 1975 and she received her Certified Financial Planner designation from the College for Financial Planning in 1979, making Judith the first woman Certified Financial Planner in the ten western states. In 1989, Judith joined Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., a NASD/SIPC broker/dealer in St. Petersburg, Florida as branch manager.
Judith authors a bi-weekly financial column published in The Daily Journal of Commerce and contributes regularly to national business publications which have included the American Bankers Association Trust and Investment magazine. She has written consumer financial books published through Simon & Schuster (The J.K. Lassers' Personal Investment Annuals (1988-1992) and the J.K. Lasser Personal Real Estate Investment Guide). Her book, The Random House Personal Investment Management Guide (1993) with Andrew Tobias' Managing Your Money software, was listed by Money Magazine as one of the nine best money books of the year.
Judith has been a dedicated volunteer to social service organizations and currently serves as President of the Board of Directors of William Temple House in Portland. William Temple House is a 40-year-old social service and counseling agency assisting over 12,000 working poor each year. She is co-founder and member of the Board of Directors of Town Center Bank, Portland, Oregon, a community bank organized in 1997.
Family is the core of Judith's life. She and her husband, Charles E. Defoe, Jr., have three grown children and love being grandparents. Chuck and Judith share their love of the outdoors and Judith covets catching the biggest fish and delights in snowmobiling in the mountains.
Mark Waller - Mark Waller is the founder of BridgeWorks Capital, a Lake Oswego merchant bank that focuses on raising early stage capital for a variety of companies including companies active in medical technology, green energy, software, and mining and natural resources. Several of these companies have been spin-offs from universities and national labs.
Mark spends about a third of his time working with non-profits. He served on the Board of the National College of Naturopathic Medicine for ten years and raised the largest gifts in the school's history to establish their research department. He served as Board Chair of the local Tibetan community and was instrumental in bringing the Dalai Lama to Portland for three days in May 2001. He is an active member of the Board of Self Enhancement, Inc. which helps at-risk kids reach their fullest potential and become productive citizens. He is a director of the Lake Oswego chapter of Rotary and is the regional Membership Chair for 2005-2006. He was also co-founder of Kiddazzle Dental Network, which has provided pro bono dental care to over 200 underserved kids in Portland.
Mark was born in New York City and came west to attend Reed College in 1968. For fun, he plays copious amounts of tennis, patrols for the Mt. Hood Ski Patrol, cycles and tries to exhaust his Australian Shepherd Jake.
Scott Collins - Scott has lived in the Portland area since 1984. He moved here from Arkansas to take a job with Andersen Consulting. After five years at Andersen and a brief time at a client, Scott joined a startup healthcare consulting firm, Stockamp & Associates in 1990 where he stayed until 2003. Since leaving Stockamp, Scott has enjoyed spending more time with his family and generally catching up on life after many years of travel. Scott and his wife Gaila have three children, ages 11, 9 and 6. He is currently working with the CASH project.
Judith A. McGee - Judith A. McGee has a distinguished career in financial planning, business and community service. In January 2006, Research Magazine recognized Judith as one of "America's Top-Ranked Advisors". Her financial planning career began in 1975 and she received her Certified Financial Planner designation from the College for Financial Planning in 1979, making Judith the first woman Certified Financial Planner in the ten western states. In 1989, Judith joined Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., a NASD/SIPC broker/dealer in St. Petersburg, Florida as branch manager.
Judith authors a bi-weekly financial column published in The Daily Journal of Commerce and contributes regularly to national business publications which have included the American Bankers Association Trust and Investment magazine. She has written consumer financial books published through Simon & Schuster (The J.K. Lassers' Personal Investment Annuals (1988-1992) and the J.K. Lasser Personal Real Estate Investment Guide). Her book, The Random House Personal Investment Management Guide (1993) with Andrew Tobias' Managing Your Money software, was listed by Money Magazine as one of the nine best money books of the year.
Judith has been a dedicated volunteer to social service organizations and currently serves as President of the Board of Directors of William Temple House in Portland. William Temple House is a 40-year-old social service and counseling agency assisting over 12,000 working poor each year. She is co-founder and member of the Board of Directors of Town Center Bank, Portland, Oregon, a community bank organized in 1997.
Family is the core of Judith's life. She and her husband, Charles E. Defoe, Jr., have three grown children and love being grandparents. Chuck and Judith share their love of the outdoors and Judith covets catching the biggest fish and delights in snowmobiling in the mountains.
Mark Waller - Mark Waller is the founder of BridgeWorks Capital, a Lake Oswego merchant bank that focuses on raising early stage capital for a variety of companies including companies active in medical technology, green energy, software, and mining and natural resources. Several of these companies have been spin-offs from universities and national labs.
Mark spends about a third of his time working with non-profits. He served on the Board of the National College of Naturopathic Medicine for ten years and raised the largest gifts in the school's history to establish their research department. He served as Board Chair of the local Tibetan community and was instrumental in bringing the Dalai Lama to Portland for three days in May 2001. He is an active member of the Board of Self Enhancement, Inc. which helps at-risk kids reach their fullest potential and become productive citizens. He is a director of the Lake Oswego chapter of Rotary and is the regional Membership Chair for 2005-2006. He was also co-founder of Kiddazzle Dental Network, which has provided pro bono dental care to over 200 underserved kids in Portland.
Mark was born in New York City and came west to attend Reed College in 1968. For fun, he plays copious amounts of tennis, patrols for the Mt. Hood Ski Patrol, cycles and tries to exhaust his Australian Shepherd Jake.
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