For those of you unable to attend the Open Forum for Partners to discuss our 2021 Community Goal—helping Portland’s kids be ready to thrive and learn by Kindergarten—contact the SVP office for the presentation slides. I also encourage you to continue a conversation here that started at the forum with the following questions:
— What excites you about this goal?
— What concerns you about it?
— What may happen if we did NOT do this?
— What should we STOP doing to pursue this goal?
(View a video message on the Community Goal by Mark Holloway here: Personal Message for Partners)
Elizabeth. Robert. Maya. One of these kids is failing kindergarten in Portland. Among their peers, 68% won’t read proficiently by fourth grade and over 40% won’t make it to graduation. It’s no wonder with what they’re facing: one in five young children lives in poverty, 40% of young kids have a mental, learning or physical challenge, and more than half of Oregon kids attend no formal preschool.
As Portland’s Social Venture Partners, we can’t take this anymore. We believe it is our responsibility as a community to ensure that every child has the opportunity to thrive. For ten years, we have been harnessing and leveraging the best of our Partners—resources, brain power, passion and connections—to alleviate the struggles of our kids and youth. Over the next ten years, we’re going to catch them early before the challenges become barriers. Our 2021 goal is to ensure every child in Portland is ready to thrive by kindergarten with positive parenting, books in hands and early intervention of obstacles.
SVPP has the opportunity to right the course of children most at risk of failing and recover our investment in education. The energy for change in Oregon is building. Our knack for leveraging collective action and transforming potential into results will help us catalyze the best of Portland into a successful start for kids. We must have your continued Partner support of money—mighty or meaningful—time and brainpower to ensure we have the right resources at the right time to bring Portland together and finance a change now before the next crisis puts Robert, Maya and Elizabeth even farther behind.
This is only the beginning: asking for your commitment. We’ll announce this goal and commitment publicly at our Annual Partners Meeting, SPARK FARM, on May 11th. I hope you will join us for that great annual event. Over the coming weeks and months, we’ll be planning, building our Partnership and asking the community for the opportunity to lead this collective effort. I invite you to be involved in the ways outlined below, by writing or calling anytime with moral support or feedback, and/or offering your support in a way that might be unique to your resources, connections or skills. We need you and the support of many others in the community to launch this effort and see it through to success.
Information and background on how we arrived at this 2021 Community Goal:
Three Ways to be involved in next steps:
Since I’ve last blogged, we have gotten well on our way to a new Big, Hairy Audacious Goal.
The process kicked off with a review of SVPP’s mission and history and then the creator of the B-HAG concept, Jerry Porras, led a session with our B-HAG Team to better understand its framework. This encouraged us to back up a step and consider our purpose and values as context for our ten-year goal. In Jerry Porras’ framework, your purpose is the reason you exist in the world and your “North Star” while your core values provide the banks or container of your efforts (the "how," if you will). Within that, organizations he has studied have achieved incredible goals, sometime even betting the entire organization on their success.
So our B-HAG team focused first on zeroing in on our CORE VALUES. Jerry Porras says these are values that never change and are tested by time and sacrifice in the organization. They differ from strategic values in that they are not situational; they are immutable. Core values are such that the organization might even “bleed” following them, meaning we might have passed up opportunities or taken hits because of them. It’s still a work in progress, but we feel like we are getting to the heart of SVPP’s core values with the following:
We also looked more closely at our PURPOSE for existing. In Jerry Porras’ framework, this is a goal you never reach but one that you work toward every day in every way nonetheless. For Disney, it’s “making people happy.” For Merck, it’s “preserving human life.” After considerable conversation, the debate focused most on whether our forever goal focused on “children” or “people.” Children and youth at risk have certainly been the focus of our attention for the last nine years, but will it be forever or are we about making sure the community at large is healthy and thriving by focusing on the issues most pressing for our people? Or is it always about our children most at risk? We tabled the issues for further discussion with our Board and other refinement but settled on a purpose framework as follows: Community where all kids/people thrive
We were able to move on because we knew that the next ten years was still going to be about the crisis most important to us right now: children suffering at the margins of our community. There are countless kids out there who start life a wide margin behind others. They are abused, neglected, abandoned, impoverished, traumatized, learning disabled, and mentally ill. And that’s before they even start school where the educational disparities just make it worse. Our investments over the past ten years stand as witness to these needs.
The Partners gave us some great direction in the interest survey we conducted in October, so our B-HAG Team had a good place to start. Early childhood education and development came up as strong interests of our Partnership, as did literacy. When asked what each person’s “dream” is for the community, many of them focused on issues of poverty, inequality and disparity. (See the survey summary here.)
After reviewing at a high level some needs and efforts going on in the community, the team did some brainstorming and dreaming about a goal that would focus our attention, energy and resources over the next ten years. What could we deliver for the Portland community by 2020 by digging deep, building partnerships and gathering resources? What has a 40-60% chance of success—as Jerry Porras reports every good B-HAG does—but will motivate us to accomplish it?
I have to be honest and tell you this whole thing scares the hell out of me. I will be one of the first to tell you it’s something we need to do and something I’m committed to 100%. We need the B-HAG to focus our effort and our hearts. We are lacking clear vision. Moreover, kids are suffering in our community through no fault of their own. But it’s not clear we can accomplish a focused, public goal. We have enjoyed some success in our investments since 2001, but for the B-HAG to be accomplished, it’s going to require all of us to dig deeper, think bigger and give more. I know we can do it because of all that we’ve accomplished so far. I hope you’ll be along for the ride too.
The initial list of B-HAGs covers some familiar territory for SVPP but sets some clearer goals and areas of focus for kids most on the margins:
The team and I are hoping that every Partner will weigh in on these possibilities with feedback over the next several weeks so we have more guidance on the Partnership’s strongest interests. (There's a survey circulating in the last week of November.) We’ll also be out in the community talking to leaders of government, nonprofit, business and foundations about where they most need our efforts focused.
After all of that is collected, our team meets again and off we go…the hard part of planning for and launching a ten-year goal that will mean incredible opportunity for Portland’s kids without hope or a clear helping hand…and that will potentially make or break SVP Portland!
It seems to me that we’re on the precipice of something. Something big. Venture philanthropy in Portland (that’s us!) will soon turn ten years old. That’s not ancient, but in social enterprise years, it’s quite a milestone. Lots of Partners get lots of credit for nurturing the organization (and themselves through SVPP) for all those years. Fourteen founding Partners are still with us. They’re still some of the most active, dedicated Partners we have and I’m grateful to them. But 37 of you became Partners since last year; 51 since 2008, representing a net growth of 37.5% even since the economy tanked.
We’re on the precipice of something big because all of you who have joined the effort has also fueled our energy and made us stronger. It shows that we have something special here and the word is getting out. (Halleluiah!) There’s way farther to go and we’re working on that too.
Time for a Gut Check
But awareness and growth is not all I’m talking about. There’s a rumbling in my belly and I’ve heard the same from many of you. In the Partnership Satisfaction Survey, over 92% of you said that your overall experience with SVPP has been well above or above average (yahoo!), but almost 20% of you were not sure you’d renew your Partnership contribution this year. There may be many different reasons for that, but I know that at least one factor is that we are not compelling you….to give, to act, to think audaciously about solutions to community needs. It shows up for me when someone who was dedicated drifts away or loses heart in our effort. It shows up when I can’t tell potential Partners what we’re united to achieve in a measurable way.
Don’t get me wrong, we are providing tremendous value to nonprofits and the larger community now and over the past nine years. We can point to evidence of our effectiveness with current Investees, but I am gathering a team of Partners to help us tell those stories of how our past Investees have fared since our investment. I invite you to participate in that effort. But what does all that value and impact mean for the community? Has it been focused enough to make a significant difference on a community problem? Does it need to be that focused? Our Board of Directors and I believe it does.
We have a strong, unique mission in the Portland community. The venture philanthropy model asks us to select the most promising nonprofits and surround them with money, time, brain power, connections and everything that we can bring to bear on their vision for greater impact. The model invites you to step into this relationship with your heart and mind, transforming the organization as well as yourself. Strengthening organizations and donors at the same time is not common and there is tremendous room for growth in our efforts.
But what happens when we apply that mission of strengthening organizations and catalyzing donors toward a focused effort?
What would our organization and impact look like in ten years if we decided we were truly going to make difference on something that matters deeply to us and that we can change with just the right amount of bold thinking and gathered resources?
What would that feel like to you as a Partner?
Borrowing from What Works
Management authors Jim Collins and Jerry Porras, in Built to Last, their great study of long-lived business organizations, called what I’m talking about a BHAG: a Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal. They defined this as “an audacious 10-to-30 year goal to progress towards an envisioned future,” and their research showed that setting these big, motivating goals was a practice that distinguished lasting companies from less successful ones.
In a book that helped crystallize our crisis at SVP for me, Dan and Chip Heath’s Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, describes this as establishing the “destination postcard:” a vivid picture from the near-term future that shows what could be possible. It’s tough to explain what we do. But it’s even tougher when we can’t speak from the heart about what we’re united to achieve. In my opinion, our efforts are too watered down. Successes are evident, but random and too often one-off and limited in scope.
Now I don’t pretend that it will be easy to determine our Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal. But if we don’t engage in the conversation, I don’t believe we’ll see the impact and growth we all hope to achieve. I don’t believe you’ll be compelled to stick around any more than I will when we’re only working from our heads with this “smart” philanthropy model and not directing our hearts and our guts toward a problem we care about.
And the crisis is not just internal. The Portland community NEEDS us to act in a focused, bold way. There are far too many intractable problems that take a toll on our community. There are kids falling through the cracks and if we do nothing new, we’re just letting it happen.
What We're Going to Do About It.
So all that said, I’m inviting the Partnership into a discernment process, of sorts. We’re gathering a group of Partners to help us think through this BHAG. It’s our top priority through the end of the year in order to go into our Tenth Anniversary year with gusto and vision. We’ve also gotten the expertise of Monique Breault, an experienced visioning consultant, to facilitate the group thanks to her employer, PointB and its local market leader and our Partner, Steve Brook.
I’d like to maintain communications with you here throughout the process and let you know what’s going on and what the task force and I are thinking. More importantly, I want to hear what YOU are thinking and how you are reacting. We’ll have a formal survey to better understand the passions and interests of the Partners in this regard, but I hope you’ll stay actively engaged in the conversation here or call me and the Partners to talk it out.
To start with, let me know your reaction to this posting. Share your thoughts, feelings and needs about this BHAG/destination postcard/vision for the community. Let’s be in relationship in this discernment process more than ever.
It’s critical to the strength of the Partnership and personally important to me that we do this together and that every voice is heard.
In future postings, I will talk about what short and longer term implications I think setting this BHAG might mean for us. For now, I want to share with you the formal process we are undertaking so you know what to expect.
If you would like to dive deeper into this area, here is a selected reading list:
I told someone else that the stories of these kids were something the sane mind cannot grasp, but the redemption of their spirits through this school overfilled my heart. It left me with two lessons: 1) there is always hope 2) prevention is free. Thanks for arranging this.
That was a truly profound experience. I had the sense that I was floating through, not totally grasping the reality of those boys' former lives in contrast to what is offered to them now. Later today I remarked to Larry how they all seem so well-adjusted and "together." This is especially noticeable when we know what incredible obstacles they are overcoming. It speaks to the value of structure and set, defined boundaries in making us all feel safe. When we know the rules, we can comply and be comfortable in our own skins and in wider social settings.
I'm so impressed. The statistics were amazing, too: 83% success rate. Wow!
Thanks for offering us this wonderful opportunity to visit a program that's working well.
I don't really know how to express my reaction to our visit. It was truly a moving experience that I have shared with friends and that I find myself thinking about. The life experiences of those boys go beyond comprehension and understanding. The program and the teachers/ counselors/administrators that are involved at St. Mary's Home deserve our utmost admiration and support. They were a very dedicated and impressive group of people.
It was an experience that I wish more people could have participated in.To further support St. Mary’s and thank everyone there for hosting us so warmly we’d like to help out by sending some needed items. They would like ping pong paddles and balls, as well as frizbees. And if anyone has any foosball tables to donate, the boys would cheer!
December 21, 2009
Hi everyone. Instead of sending you my traditional year-end letter this year, I’m sending this video to try and connect more personally and tell you a story about our impact. This story is actually about us.
I came to SVPP almost three years ago with a background in business, not unlike most of you. I chose SVPP because I have a passion to help disadvantaged kids and adults achieve their potential. I think we do that in a very unique and special way at SVPP.
When I started three years ago, we had a very dedicated Board, but one that had worked itself to death. Our Partnership donor base was uncertain so the foundation needed to be firmed up. Low attendance at events had taken its toll on the energy and enthusiasm of the Partnership. Then last year, the Spring of 2008, our Investment Team—which is normally the high point of engagement and enrichment in our Partnership—lost three of the nine Partners participating. They were frustrated, and I knew it was time for a change. It was time to rethink the mission, the programs, the structure and whole purpose of our organization. I felt like a general calling back the soldiers from the front line to plan a new offensive against the forces mounting against us. And the forces have been intense in the last 12-14 months. But we are back on the march. Better than ever, in fact.
We have transformed SVPP in the past several years. We have done for ourselves what we do for our Investees! And it wasn’t just through my commitment or Diane’s or through strategic planning or a strong Board. It was through each of you showing new interest, making renewed commitments and others in the community taking notice. This year, 15 new Partnerships have joined us in one of the worst economies in 80 years. WELCOME to you new Partners! We have also developed a partnership with Meyer Memorial Trust to co-fund and learn through our work with Investees. This is great validation of our model and the quality of our efforts with Investees. And it’s exciting! In fact, we have more people and organizations call with interest in what we do. I could show the data and tell you all the stories to punctuate this…but I hope you know the change because you sense it, you feel the energy and change.
So I want to thank you for your commitment to SVPP. It has made all the difference.
I also want to ask two things of you.
One is simple. Just an email…with a little thought behind it. I just want you to tell me what difference you want to make in the world and how you see SVPP helping you with that vision. I’ll know you saw this video when you just send this email message. It will be a great gift to me and to Diane to renew our energy. It will also help us understand and channel all the passions of our Partnership for the community in 2010.
I also want to ask for your continued commitment and contributions for SVPP. Like our Investees, we can’t get to the next level without investing in our infrastructure. I want to hire marketing and communications talent to help us tell our stories of impact to you and to others in the community and bring more people to our mission. We can have an exponentially greater impact with more people committed to our work.
So as you consider year-end gifts and your 2010 giving, I hope you will consider investing in our plan and our progress, our potential and impact right now. As you consider SVPP now and in 2010, I’m asking you to invest in US and in me and my enthusiasm to take us to the next level as we do for so many others. I’ll know you that you believe in our potential and what amazing impact we have in Portland when you think beyond the $5000 gift to SVPP and consider us for your $7500 or $10,000 or $20,000 or even $100,000 gifts. Because it can make a HUGE difference for us and especially for the community as we put it to work in our model.
Again, thank you for all you do. The Board, Diane and I—and maybe you too—are a good exhausted that comes from satisfying hard work and results that mean something to all of us.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to you.
My very best to you and your family.
When I first started working with Jennifer Talbot and Listen To Kids, I asked her why she chose to dedicate herself to this effort. Her answer was simple: Kids can’t take care of themselves. They have a right to be safe from child abuse, sexual abuse, and domestic violence. This is what motivates Jennifer and her team from their hearts. It is the simple idea that has drawn me into their effort.
I was raised in a safe household and grew up confident that the world is safe. My wife and I provided the same for our children. One in four children in Oregon don’t have that luxury. They experience domestic violence and often live in fear and trauma as a result. Nearly as many will experience sexual abuse by the time they are 18 years old. This should not be. It need not be. Listen To Kids has opened my eyes to this. Their passion to secure for children a safe environment has motivated me to want to help them extend their reach and grow the impact of this humane, unique and very successful organization.
Listen To Kids has two approaches to issues of domestic violence and abuse: a school-based program and support for parents and children leaving a domestic violence situation. Their school-based program takes them 
to participating schools where they help children to understand that they have a right to be “safe, strong and free.” After each classroom workshop, children have the opportunity to talk one-to-one with a caring, respectful adult. Listen To Kids also works to reduce the risk of child abuse in single-parent households who are rebuilding their lives after leaving an abusive relationship. It is critical that during this time parents are supported in responding effectively to the needs of their children.
Jennifer and her team have a deep desire to do more. They have a unique approach with unique materials, but there are a number of hurdles to growing their impact. Social Venture Partners can help. LTK has a strong vision, a heartfelt motivation, and a strategic perspective on what it will take to help more kids.
I am very excited to get moving on this effort and I hope a number of partners will see in this opportunity a chance to give back in a big way by bringing their expertise, care, and concern to a problem that should not exist. Kids deserve to be “safe, strong and free.” It will be great if in two years we can look back and say we helped make that happen for many more children.
Learn more about Listen To Kids on their website. To volunteer with this effort, contact Larry Fox at larry.s.fox@comcast.net.
