Partner Profile: Lauren Johnson

(from the October 2008 Newsletter)

Over the last year and a half Lauren Johnson has taken SVPP into her life the way she does all her passions – with a full embrace to give and get the most out of it. Lauren credits her parents, her mother now a retired teacher and her father an architect in sustainable design, for modeling the importance of community service, of being involved in education and sustainability issues.

Lauren has worked in the nonprofit world as a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) case manager, as an English teacher in Chile and as a SUN Site Manager at Hall Elementary. She is currently the Director of Partnerships with the Thrive Foundation for Youth, headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Thrive assists nonprofit in closely examining how it defines 'thriving' in the youth they serve. Their 5-year collaborative partnership with Friends of the Children is designed to take their theory of how youths thrive into on-the-ground practice.

Lauren learned about the SVP model in a journal article, happy to discover an affiliate here in Portland. In July 2007, she and her husband, Noel Johnson, became SVPP Partners. True to her nature, she jumped right in to a role in the 2008 Investment Team, which she says gave her a deeper understanding of the community needs in Portland. Her favorite SVPP engagement was interviewing Executive Directors of other SVP affiliates on their experiences implementing the SVP Organizational Capacity Assessment Tool used with Investees. She sees immense value to this tool and its use with Portland's nonprofits to identify strengths, challenges and priorities for greater success. "It is so impactful with Investees and within SVP in helping to build trusting and mutually respectful partnerships," she says. Lauren is also on the Community Investment Committee and was a part of the strategic planning group. She and Noel serve as Partner Advocates for newer Partners Adam and Melissa Light. Lauren says she is really enjoying the way SVPP is using the strategic planning process to best implement the venture philanthropy model into our community and to look at our own practices to see how we can improve.

Lauren attended Lincoln High School and then Williams College, where she earned her B.A. in Psychology in 2001. As a Portland native, Lauren grew up in a family that loved the many opportunities to get out hiking, biking, skiing, canoeing, swimming and camping. These days Lauren and Noel are equally engaged with the Northwest as active runners, racers, tennis players and campers. They also greatly enjoy the cultural activities that Portland offers. However, Lauren has also lived abroad in Italy and in Chile. Lauren and Noel are trying to decide where in the world they will go next. They love international travel for the continual lessons they absorb about community, the U.S. role and impact in the world, and how they can best use their own advantages to make a difference.