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June 2007
June is a month of graduations, of endings with new beginnings. And so it is for Venture Philanthropy Partners. Like the students who walk across our region’s high school and college stages, we too have reached an important milestone—the completion of our first fund. Since our founding seven years ago, we have tested our investment partners, our investors, and ourselves. We have learned valuable and sometimes difficult lessons. Our experiences have helped to sharpen our thinking. And now, we look forward to the future, to charting a new course with a clear destination and a solid plan for how to get there.
A few weeks ago, I had the great privilege to participate in a major announcement of the expansion of the successful partnership between College Summit (our newest investment partner and the last one of our first fund) and Prince George’s County Public Schools (see story below). This partnership will make it possible for more than 3,000 students who otherwise might not think about attending college to do so.
It was a tremendously moving experience to see the faces of the students who have participated in this program and hear the positive difference it has made in their lives. They are now going to realize their dream of going to college, a dream they didn’t think was possible. And it was also gratifying to see how College Summit-National Capital Region has blossomed in the past few years and to know that VPP played an important role in helping that organization put down strong roots in the region so that more children can go to college.
The majority of what we do at VPP is not the “sexy” stuff but the very real and challenging work of helping organizations transform themselves into something bigger and better than they are today. We’re kind of like the company that said in its ads, “We don’t make the food; we make the food better.” We don’t work directly with children and families. Instead, we work with nonprofit leaders and their teams on strategic and business planning, developing organizational systems, sourcing talent, helping them develop solid strategies to raise funds for long-term sustainability, and a host of other management issues. We help build organizations that in turn change and save lives.
Nonetheless, it is very powerful when we do have the chance to see and feel our investment partners' results and know that our work with them helps them be more effective. VPP has much to celebrate in its first seven years. But it is now time to move ahead to the future.
What does the future hold? We have ambitious plans to carry on the work we’ve started and to execute even more effectively.
• First we plan to complete our own capitalization and fund structure and have begun our campaign to raise $50 million from individuals, institutions, and corporations to support our next stage. We are already more than halfway there. Earlier this week, we brought together our investors—those who have been with us from the beginning and those who have joined us more recently—to celebrate our accomplishments and to unveil the Campaign for VPP. The energy and excitement was palpable. Like seeing the joy and pride on the faces of the College Summit students, it was gratifying to see how VPP has influenced and guided many of our investors as they move forward in their own philanthropy. VPP has created a dynamic community of investors who are deeply committed to making the region a better place and to pushing the envelope of philanthropy. We will expand and engage this growing community in VPP’s next phase, sharing our learning and helping them connect in order to learn from and leverage each other’s work.
• We will seek new investment opportunities to provide the greatest impact for children in need. With those new investments, we will apply our original investment approach, refined and improved from the lessons we’ve learned. We will focus earlier and more intently on financial stability and outcomes assessment. And we will work harder to clarify our expectations and our nonprofit partners’ expectations of us. We will make sure the boards of our investment partners fully understand our investment approach at the beginning of the relationship.
• We will strive to serve as a trusted advisor to the leaders of our nonprofit partners, providing the guidance and help they need for their critical work. We feel we know even more now about how to establish that relationship, including the time it takes and its importance to a successful investment.
• We will continue to bridge the many worlds—geographic, class, race, gender, communities, and the sectors: business, nonprofit, and government—in this region. As our visibility and reputation grows, we find ourselves with increased opportunities to connect different groups in the pursuit of improving the region for all.
• We will carry on our tradition of learning, adapting, and constantly improving our approach, communicating in many mediums and forms to many audiences.
• And, through the demonstrated performance of VPP and our nonprofit partners, we will continue to inspire and influence change in this region and the nation.
As we stand at this crossroads in the life of VPP, we celebrate our successes and continue to learn from our experiences. The future looks bright and we look forward to continuing our work with our investment partners, investors, and other partners here in the region and beyond who are all united in the goal of improving lives and creating models and approaches that continue to foster social change.
- Carol Thompson Cole
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