A Rainy but Warm August at SVP

One of the purposes of this blog is to record the activities and share with you the things we do and experience at SVP in a timely fashion. So this entry is just that with a few inspirations here and there that make my days here full of enjoyment and energy.

For the whole August, we are fortunate to be sponsored with a summer intern to help us with our 10 year Case Study Project. With a background in Communications, Scott spends his precious summer time with SVP before he goes and pursues a dream of creative design in Vancouver Film School in September.

Continuing from Diana’s volunteer work last summer, Scott gathers all the compiled raw data on each of SVP’s Investees and turns them into heartfelt short stories. Along with researching hard copy materials in binders, Scott and I have been conducting several interviews with Executive Directors of our current and graduated Investees and current and past Partners. The goal of these interviews was not only to capture personal stories and experience related to SVP’s impact and philanthropy at large, but also gave us a chance to re-connect with individuals that are part of the success that defines the SVP we know today. It was an eye opening experience and tons of fun! We learned so much about the history of the work and impact on the community and witnessed the outcome of long-term capacity and relationship building and dedication throughout the years.

One interesting thing I realized from chatting with so many people is that there isn’t really a formula to embracing philanthropy in one’s life. There were so many different kinds of involvement, emotions, motivations and styles of philanthropy – it’s a personal thing! And I think that’s the beauty of philanthropy because you can define it however you’d like and embrace it in your own lifestyle.

Just before Scott departs to Vancouver he came to me and thanked me for the opportunity for him to be involved with SVP and that he enjoyed the experience and learned so much about the industry. Then he said,

“I want to give back to SVP…and do something good for the community. I never really understood the real meaning of philanthropy but I see nonprofits and giving in a different way now and I really appreciate SVP for the amazing opportunity.”

I was speechless. There I was, with a short speech in mind, wanting to thank him for all his time and effort helping us with the Case Studies and bam – he totally stumbled me with his generosity and humbling thoughts. It took me about 30 seconds to come up with a proper sentence other than “wow, my goodness, thank you!”

His gratitude and action was huge and heavy in terms of the meaning and sincerity behind it. It is this kind of experience that makes me appreciate my daily work even more. How lucky I am to be able to offer my time and expertise to help the world become a better place and help others to understand what it means to give back to the community.

It is with great honour and pleasure that I’ve been entrusted with managing this project. I can’t wait to share with you what we have learned and captured with our 10 Year Case Study Project, so stay tuned

Calgary Homeless Soccer Program – Update

Shared by Carol B., Lead Partner for Calgary Youth Justice

When I first started on the Investment Committee, we invited a group who was starting up a Homeless Soccer program in conjunction with the Drop In Centre to do a presentation.  Unfortunately, the group was not a recognized charity – so we were unable to provide them funding.

Still,  the Committee was moved by the cause and to help them out SVP sponsored the showing of a film they made about their trip to the World Cup of Homeless Soccer at the Plaza theatre downtown.   I was very impressed and also helped them to host the National Championships in Calgary.   Teams from Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver participated and a National Team was selected from the participants to attend the World Cup in South Africa in 2008.

This year the National Championships are being held in Vancouver and from there the team to represent Canada in the World Cup of Homeless Soccer 2010 will be selected.

Since SVP was involved with this group at the beginning, I thought it might be nice to give our members an update on what is happening.   I thought we may have Partners who avid soccer enthusiasts and see the benefit of this type of program.

I have attached a write up created by Kevin Scullion, the coach and organizer for the Calgary Homeless Soccer Society and a picture of the current Calgary players.  Also, if anyone is interested in helping out (attending practices, donating used soccer balls, uniforms, equipment, or money) they can contact Kevin or me.

For Partners interested in more information, please contact Michele for Carol & Kevin’s contacts.  Additionally, further information on the Homeless World Cup event is provided here.

Welcome to the Family, Autism Aspergers Friendship Society!

Having been with SVP Calgary for just over 18 months, it was a thrilling moment for me yesterday to hear Scott announce Autism Aspergers Friendship Society (AAFS) as our new Investee.  Making the moment even better was that fact that so many former Investees attended the event in support of SVP and our family.

Ming has written recent posts on the work that the Investment Committee did throughout the course of 2009 and 2010.  When she and I first began this process in September, I remember we looked at one another and thought, how do we go about doing this?  And now, with the support of Scott, the Committee, and the Lead Partners – here we are, 10 months later, and voila – a new SVP Investee.

For those unable to join us yesterday, we’ll be bringing you more information & opportunities to acquaint yourselves with AAFS and with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).   AAFS began in 2004, with seven families, and with the intention of providing social and recreational programs for the ASD community.  Six years later, they are serving over 200 families in the Calgary and working with children and families affected by ASD.

There are so many activities that we take for granted on a daily basis.  Who taught you to camp?  How did you learn to date?  When did you learn how to cook?  AAFS works with the families and their children to devise activities that fit their clients’ needs – right now.  From leadership groups and drama programs to sexual education and mentorship, AAFS is providing programming that builds social, life, and communication skills for all of their clients.

AAFS is a perfect fit with the SVP Calgary Investment portfolio.  Beyond their scope of working with youth & education, AAFS reflects similar core values of our other Investees – developing practical, timely, and adaptive solutions to the issues.  Like our other Investees, AAFS programming is poised for growth and great success – and that is why the SVP Investment Committee choose AAFS from among the many applicants.

Dean Svoboda, Executive Director, began AAFS back in 2004, and has grown with the organization.  The resources that SVP Calgary will initially provide will help build out the staffing needs of the organization – moving Dean’s load from Office Manager to Executive Director.  Additionally, much of the assistance that AAFS has requested comes in the form of increasing training for volunteers, staff, and Board.  SVP’s Investment Committee saw an amazing opportunity to work with a strong and committed group of people – and at the same time, help to strengthen the organization for their future.

We’re thrilled by the strength of AAFS’s team – staff, Board, and families – and look forward to building our relationship.   SVP Calgary will be looking for a Lead Partner for AAFS.  This role is not about being an expert on Autism, but really about falling in love with the work of the organization & the team behind it.  I encourage you to consider this opportunity.

Please join Ming & myself in welcoming AAFS to the SVP Calgary family.

How do you use your time?

Time is money. Time has become a hot commodity in society today. Everyone is busy. We are fighting for time between work and family. In addition to financial support, we are “fundraising” for time, evident in the recent 5th Annual Calgary Timeraiser just happened couple of weeks ago.

Just last week, we asked the staff at the SVP international network of 26 affiliates to take an informal survey on volunteer management. One of the questions we asked was what are the top three reasons preventing people from volunteering and the outcome was consistent (not surprising) that many SVP Partners (who are high skill volunteers) across the continent simply don’t have enough time, even if they are interested and intend to help!

Although this is not a new concept, it got me thinking – how can we make giving, volunteering, contributing back to your community top of the priority list amongest family, work, and exercise? Is it a matter of marketing and making certain issues closer to people’s emotions and personal lives so that more would take action? Or is it a major cultural shift that requires a mass movement changing people’s way of thinking? How can we help people decide how to use their precious and valuable time?

Our SVP Give event at Eau Claire tomorrow also inspired another thought – giving can be in many forms, not just money, but also measured in time. Is it to give your time to read an article and understand what is going on in your community? Or perhaps it is to take a couple of hours to bring out your family on a run for breast cancer? Or is it to take a summer to build a website for a nonprofit?

Would you spare an hour of your lunch time to come out and show your support for the hardworking impactful local nonprofits, to hear their stories, and decide for yourself how you can get more involved?

Countdown to SVP Give…

29 LOI applications, 6 final grant proposals, 3 site visits, and 1 new Investee! We’ve done it! We’re taking on a new relationship this year! We found a new Investee!

Remembering when we first started gearing up for the Investment Committee last summer (after a whole year of not taking on new granting), I’d be lying if I say I wasn’t nervous about how to make it work. We kicked off the fall with orientations and learning about the concerns and trends in the community. From the logistics of getting a group of interested Partners together, to inviting experts/speakers to our Get Smart sessions, to narrowing down to a more focused funding area and statement, we learned about various social issues in our community.

It wasn’t until after 29 LOI applications came in January did we realize that our work actually begins here. In the midst of trying to understand the work and structure of each applicant, battling between the passion, good work, and the needs of the organizations versus choosing the best fit with SVP’s resources, it was heartbreaking and extremely difficult when we had to pick some over others. While we examined the big pictures of how the applicants fit into the whole social and economical ecosystem, we also needed to take into consideration of various factors such as personalities, connections, and potential impact of our partnership with the agencies.

However, it’s not to say that we didn’t have fun during this whole selection process! We got to go on site visits witnessing the great work that these organizations do. We got to meet some wonderful people who bring hope to our community. We’ve had some heated discussions, and of course, coming to an conclusion in the end that every Committee member feels confident and excited about!

This post is not to show off how much work we’ve done nor is it to pat ourselves on the back for our accomplishments in the light of all the awesome work of nonprofit organizations out there. This post is to say that it was definitely not easy to choose a new Investee. It was definitely not simple to determine where our funding and resources could make the most impact and help build the capacity of an organization and our community at large.

Curious? Well, you’ll have to join us at Social Venture Partners Give - noon time on Tues, June 29 at Eau Claire Market – to find out who’s our newest Investee!

360 degrees.

Last June, I applied to take part in the six-month program offered by the Max Bell Foundation to educate nonprofit staff and volunteers on how to engage in public policy and advocacy.  As part of the application, I needed to identify an “ask”.  Coming from philanthropy, my ask was going to be around how we could encourage the government to provide more incentives for charitable giving and philanthropy.

As I started down the path, I realized that my “ask” didn’t push the needle far enough.  In fact, I’d argue that we’re pretty lucky to have as many incentives to give as we do. 

Instead of philanthropy, I set my sights on social enterprise.  And over the six month course, I found myself immersed in the legal and regulatory frameworks of for-profits, non-profits and charitable organizations.  Oddly, I loved this depth of information.   My ask evolved into encouraging the Alberta government to create a regulatory structure for social enterprise.

Now, I can go WAY into details of the legal and regulatory merits and challenges of this idea.   And I can tell you who is on side and who isn’t.  I can even tell you about how Canadian federal/provincial dynamics might hinder my Utopian vision.   I won’t right now.  But you can see, I became entranced by the topic. 

And now, happily, I can’t get out.

The crux of writing this blog was to say – social enterprise will take 360 degree thinking.  There are folks, from all perspectives, who will tell you one thing or another.  They will disagree with your definition of social enterprise.  They will approach it from another vantage point.  They will squint their eyes at your crazy notions of nonprofits making money.

For simplicity (and I like simplicity): 

social enterprise is for-profit (or commercial) activity for community (society) benefit. 

(I’m happy to have folks disagree with me.)

Regardless of what you know about social enterprise, the most exciting part is the journey of the thought process.  No longer does our thinking live in for-profit / non-profit silos.  No longer do we just “donate”.  No longer can we point the finger and blame someone else – for the fact that social issues continue to persist.

Instead, social enterprise thinking takes 360 degrees.  You need your financial mind, your MBA, your legal eagle, your engineer, your designer and (most important) your human service folks to say, “hey, great profit idea, crappy social intervention.”  The 360 degrees is why it is so much fun.  I would argue that the process might be more fun than the actual result.

In a nutshell, that’s how I came into the world of s.e. & why I persist in this space.  You’ll hear lots of opinions – and increasingly so – on the merits and challenges of the idea.  In the end, you’ll make your mind up for yourself. 

And in the process, I challenge you to ask, “How will I contribute to this 360 degree thinking?”

13 Years.

Folks who know me are not surprised when my mind jumps from thought to thought.   It’s not easy to carry on a conversation, but they are use to it.   In fact, the reason I write is because it helps to sort out my monkey brain, as it swings from idea to idea.

I chalk part of this up to being an Aries and have been dealing with it all my life.  In high school, I tried out for each sport.  In most cases, I never went to see if I made it.  I just wanted to “try”  In my twenties, I moved from country to country.  Again, because I wanted to try.

So finding myself at Calgary Youth Justice’s AGM last night, I was challenged by a sheet of paper listing over 300 volunteers, some of whom have given 13 years of volunteer service to the organization.

13 YEARS!

In this industry, we talk about patience.  Change and impact take a long time.  One small act at a time.  As I sat with members of the Youth Justice Committees, I was in awe of their immediate knowledge of the services in Calgary.  When asked, “How would you support a teen with addiction?” – a list of organizations and supports was rattled off, from memory, by three ladies at my table.

I sat bewildered.  My mind swirled, “How do you know all of that?!  And so quickly?”

The most apparent answer – longevity.

When you spend the time, over time – you learn.  And when you have 300 committed people doing that same thing, you’ve created a community.  What I love most about Calgary Youth Justice is that they’ve created a community (over 10+) years dedicated to giving Calgary’s at-risk youth another chance.

It is a community solution – to what many would consider the role of the Police, the legal system, the government.

Certainly, longevity is why we find community within Social Venture Partners.  Because people who have spent the past ten years with together, or portions there of, know that the strength of change in their city – is through community.  We are a community of Investors supporting a community of Youth Justice Committees.

In each situation, the strength of community is because people are in it for the long haul.  They are patiently optimistic.   And with one small act at a time, they will make change.  They are making change.

And while this monkey brain is challenged to focus for 13 minutes, it is happy that it can at least call attention to those who serve, have served, are serving for 13 years.

Twenty years and counting…Connections Counselling

A warm and breezy Sunday evening in May was the perfect backdrop for Connections Counselling’s 20th year celebration at the Yardhouse in Kensington.  Greeted by champagne on entry, you felt like family the moment you walked through the door.  And that’s undoubtedly because building families is at the core of what Connections does.

Champagne in hand & silent auction in my sights, I paused as my eyes were drawn to the TV screens around the room.  A puzzle piece, simple type, and the word “Connections”.  The beauty of great design is that it can say everything – even when the message is complex.

While I personally had absolutely zero to do with the process, procurement, or design – I couldn’t help but being overwhelmed with pride and excitement.  And to Houman, an amazing lead partner, who was involved  – an immense thank you.  It’s the seemingly small bits that when all added up make incredible impact and change for the organizations SVP supports.

Here’s the “new” Connections.

In chatting with Lauren, who began the organization twenty years ago, I asked, “How does it feel to be standing here twenty years later?  Did you know how this would all unfold ?”   She laughed.  And smiled at her daughter standing next to her, who also now works with Connection and said, “I was pregnant with her.  I had no idea what I was getting myself into.  And here we are.”

And isn’t it so, that the small actions we do everyday, somehow collect themselves into great moments?
(I love the quote “the days are long, but the years are short”).

These moments celebrate why we are in this business.
They allow us time for joy in work that is hard.
They gather the family who made it possible.
And they let us delight in what we’ve built.

On a personal note, these are also the very rare moments where I am able to show my shear THRILL at the magic of Jason “The Funny Magic Guy” and let my competitive edge show (in my hard-fought yet mostly unsuccessful) dashes to the silent auction.

It’s an honor for SVP Calgary to be part of the Connections family.  We’ll be cheering for you in your  next twenty years!

Do what you can.

This quote arrived in my email inbox this week:

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.  (Theodore Roosevelt)

Earlier in the week, I heard it said another way, “Do your share.  Know your share.”

And this morning, I found a note I wrote last August (which I love), “If you help, this will get better.”

Why the universe lines up little hints like this is beyond me.  But when they stack up like this, I stand back and take notice.

In our blog, I usually try to write something related to specifically to  philanthropy. .. how to give better, more effectively, with more intention…etc.  But the element that I find so powerful in these thoughts is not about the technical or professional side of the field, it is really about asking ourselves, “what brings us joy?” and then doing that.  What we “should” be doing doesn’t matter.   In fact, the “how we give, how we donate our time, and how we engage in our community” are all greatly improved if we can find the joy.

And this is the important part, “joy” doesn’t have to be complex.  It actually may be incredibly simple & seemingly quite “uninteresting”.   Personally, and for some reason I can’t quite figure out, I adore manual labor.  LOVE IT!  I love the opportunities to pick up trash, build stuff, garden, lift boxes, etc.  You can imagine that it took me sometime to figure this out, and longer, to actually admit it.  After all, aren’t I “suppose” to want to do “interesting” things like draw up a strategic plan, think about social enterprise, and sign up to volunteer in Africa?

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are” because “if you help, it’ll get better.”

It’s simple.  Possibly uninteresting.  But there is no guilt in that statement.  The only requirement is to know what brings you joy, and do just that.

What does it feel like to live in poverty?

Can you imagine being a single dad, with a nine year old son with learning disability and asthma, and a twenty year old daughter who has her own one year old baby?  What would you do to make sure you have food on the table for them, a roof over their heads, clean clothes to wear, and a proper education?  What would you sacrifice over another to barely make ends meet? Tough questions! And those were the questions I had to ponder on a Sunday afternoon during a 90-minute Poverty Simulation exercise.

As a part of the Urban Exposure Project workshop, a group of 32 Calgarians experienced what it feels like to be living under poverty. The activity was a game-like simulation in a gymnasium – tables were set up  to act as service stations and chairs were placed in a circle representing homes. Our sense of reality was gone – and this struck my fellow participants and I very hard. With each person given a role and a scenario, we had to try our best to survive a “1 month” period divided into 15-minute “weeks” with short breaks in between. We were asked to live according to our scenario, as close to reality as possible. In my role as a dad, I was unable to consult my peer who played the 9-year-old boy - since in real life he wouldn’t be able to tell me how to budget!

Despite the fact that my group was organized (at least I thought we were) – we planned and calculated all the income and the expenses before we started – within the first two “weeks”, my 9-year-old and my granddaughter were taken away twice by social services due to child neglect (as I had to leave them alone at home while I went to work and couldn’t afford childcare!) I was sent home from work due to tardiness because I was running errands trying to pay for my utilities/food bill.   I had to put up with unethical interest charges at the quick cash station twice or else I couldn’t cash my cheque. My daughter had to pawn most of our furniture. And my family was evicted once because I failed to pay the mortgage on time!!! By the end of 3rd week, I was so stressed by the running around and trying to stay organized while scrambling around for available resources and keeping my family fed!  My daughter did not show up at her college class once because she had to help me run errands and take care of her baby. 

My story is not unique, other groups had their own surprises as they went through different scenarios and came up with desperate solutions (such as selling drugs) in order to support their families. Long story short, it came down to sacrificing many things we take for grants for our mere survival. Given the short time and limited knowledge on the services available out there, I had to make tough choices taking care of immediate and short term needs instead of having a long term plan or even a “dream”.  

The session definitely opened my eyes and got me thinking about what it feels like for those who are living under the LICO (Low Income Cut Off) line. It also shed some lights on the kind of things we (the fortunate) could help such as promoting helpful resources and agencies and making them available for easier access.

(For more information, the povery-simulation day was featured in the news. Click here to read more.)