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. Mark was an important and well know executive. Mark had many people working for him and was very busy building his kingdom. Mark was also very involved in philanthropy. He supported many wonderful charities in the kingdom of San Diego. Mark would be a classic SDSVP Partner who already believed in the power of giving, the power of good. Mark was an excellent dragon slayer.
Alan being on a mission asked Mark, “Would you join SDSVP? We grow philanthropists. We make a difference in the community. We can help you and you can help us. Slaying dragons is so much easier as part of a team.” Mark being a very important executive, who already had a giving nature, did not feel that SDSVP would be for him. SDSVP must be for executives who don’t understand the nature of philanthropy. SDSVP was not for Mark.
Well for Alan a true evangelist, Mark’s no was just the beginning of the road of sowing seeds. Eventually Mark retired from business and got more involved in charity. Alan continued to see Mark at functions around the kingdom and continued to ask Mark to join SDSVP. “But Alan, I already am involved, why should I join SDSVP?”
Alan smiled a crooked smile just on one side of his cheek and pulled out a special seed, a special bean, you know, one of those beanstalk seeds. Alan said it would grow faster than anything in the kingdom including Jack’s very own beanstalk. Alan said it would grow better, faster, stronger, smarter philanthropists. Alan said that if I watered the seed with a $5000 donation to SDSVP that it would grow with the help of other SDSVPers to $45,000 of gifts in the kingdom of San Diego. Alan said that all the fully committed philanthropists could climb that beanstalk and work with other committed philanthropists to find the goose that lays the golden egg.
Well Mark finally decided to join and Alan was right. With other SDSVPers, Mark learned. He rolled up his sleeves. He joined other SDSVPers in their causes. Mark learned about scalable impact, about slaying ten dragons at a time, not just one. This scalability is the goose that lays the golden egg for non-profits. Within a year, Mark realized that to be part of SDSVP was to be part of the most powerful force for good in the kingdom.
And now Mark’s pocket is full of appleseeds and one very special bean.