This is a brief article I submitted for the SDSVP newsletter. I am a huge believer in endowments. I think that if a non-profit can build an endowment to cover the overhead necessary to run the organization, it allows for 2 very important things. First is that all money received from new donors can be allocated directly to the programs that the non-profit supports. Second, it takes a huge fundraising burden off of the non-profit staff. This is not to say that the non-profit should ignore fundraising, it just makes the staff a bit less stressed. Anyways, here is what I submitted to the SDSVP newsletter. Please feel free to send in your endowment donations!
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Who wants to make SDSVP a permanent fixture in the San Diego Community?
Who wants to join me in being a founding member of the SDSVP Endowment?
Who wants to be part of history in contributing to the first $50,000?
I am very excited to begin building the SDSVP Endowment. This is an important milestone for SDSVP. Two of our Core Values, Sustainability and Leadership, demand that we create an endowment. We are leading by example, teaching our investees how to build a non-profit organization that serves the future as well as the present.
I have three initial goals for the Endowment. First, I want to get it seeded to $50,000 by the end of the summer. Second, I want to see it reach $500,000 before we use any of the earnings to financially support the operations of SDSVP. Finally I want the endowment to reach a size where it generates enough money to fund all the operations of SDSVP. When this happens, all of our partner dues will go directly to our investees. The strongly leveraged SVP model will be an even more powerful force in our San Diego Community when this happens.
If you are interested in formulating policy around the endowment, please contact me. We need to answer questions like:
How should the money be invested?
When should SDSVP begin using the earnings to support operations?
How should SDSVP fund raise for the endowment?
Join me in this important evolutionary step in the SDSVP. Please donate!