November 19th, 2009
By Mark
Once upon a time, there was a man name Alan. Alan was a kind hearted man and also a man on a mission. Like Jonny Appleseed, Alan was always planting seeds, but his were not seeds for trees. Rather, his were seeds of philanthropy. Alan wanted to spread philanthropy throughout the kingdom of San Diego.
One day, Alan came upon a very busy man in the kingdom on San Diego named Mark. (more…)
October 13th, 2008
By Mark
The model of San Diego Social Venture Partners is truly amazing. I hear the statistics of the incredible leverage that our dollars produce. I hear the feedback from the investees about the amazing value of our time, expertise and recourses. I hear the stories from our investees and how lives are being changed. Now multiply that by 25 cities and you get more than 2,000 dedicated individuals, giving more than $26.5 million in grant investments to more than 300 non-profit organizations. I just spent a few days at the Social Venture Partners International Conference in Cleveland, Ohio and I am more passionate than ever! (more…)
August 02nd, 2008
By Mark
San Diego Social Venture Partners is a unique organization dedicated to serving two separate and distinct constituencies, our Partners and our Investees. Our Mission “San Diego Social Venture Partners cultivates effective philanthropists who drive community solutions with investments of their time, expertise and resources” provides us direction. Serving these two constituents provides a beautiful synergy. (more…)
May 12th, 2008
By Mark
SDSVP conducted a fascinating offsite meeting last Saturday. In attendance were most of the SDSVP Board and a handful of other interested Partners. The meeting was facilitated by Stan Pappelbaum who sits on the SDSVP Board. He did an excellent job of remaining as the facilitator even though he has strong opinions on many SDSVP issues. He started the meeting out with a great exercise. Each participant has a few minutes to speak about whatever they want. There are no questions or interactions between participants. Everyone is supposed to listen carefully to each statement. For me, this was a wonderful way to hear everyone’s point of view, especially the quieter people. The following was what I wanted to say at the offsite. The condensed version is 1) Great Mission 2) Powerful Values 3) Need to create a long term Vision Statement to help guide SDSVP. (more…)
March 01st, 2008
By Mark
Two weeks ago I wrote about many of the experiential educational opportunities that we have at SDSVP. The Investment Working Group (IWG) is a great example of a fabulous hands on learning opportunity. For me, most of what I learn comes from the school of hard knocks so experiential education is vital to my education. SDSVP has been, and continues to be, a perfect place for me to continue to learn. There are really smart and outspoken Partners in SDSVP and I get tons of lessons from hard knocks. (more…)
February 15th, 2008
By Mark
Education of Partners is part of the SDSVP foundation. For me, SDSVP has been doing a fabulous job in educating me in philanthropy. With 20+ years of active philanthropic activities, I am amazed at my rate of learning at SDSVP. Topics for learning for me have been in outcomes, management, strategic planning, endowments, collaboration, and co-funding. Some of the learning comes via articles passed on to me, some comes from Partner feedback, and some comes from sitting in SDSVP Meetings. I will guarantee you this, our Partners are smart folks. (more…)
February 01st, 2008
By Mark
In January, I was a bit behind on the rest of my non-SDSVP life and was not able to write for the January 15th newsletter. So in place of my usual piece I asked that the Mission, Core Values and Goals of SDSVP be printed. Not surprisingly, many Partners were pleased to see that SDSVP has some of the fundamentals in place that provide part of the foundation for growth and excellence. (more…)
December 31st, 2007
By Mark
To start the New Year properly, I would like to share with you my blessings in relation to SDSVP.
I am blessed that Peggy is ED of SDSVP. She does a tremendous job in holding this organization together. We are very lucky to have her at the helm. Thanks Peggy.
I am blessed to have such an active, intelligent, caring and hard working Board. I am constantly reminded how powerful a group of like minded individuals can be. (more…)
December 15th, 2007
By Mark
SDSVP has a new set of Goals. We have both external and internal facing goals. Our Mission “San Diego Social Venture Partners drives community solutions with investments of time, expertise and resources” demands that our goals have an external facing component. (more…)
November 29th, 2007
By Mark
I had an interesting ‘ah hah” a few weeks ago while listening to the radio. The talk show hosts were speaking about all the fraudulent charities that spring up after terrible events like the San Diego wildfires. Besides making me sad, I felt lucky that I generally was closely connected to the charities that I donate money to. Not only did I know they were legitimate organizations, but I also know where they specifically need money directed. Of course, SDSVP is a perfect example of the type of charity that I associate with. (more…)