SVP Charlotte’s Work Beyond SEED20
On Wednesday, March 1st, 2023, Social Venture Partners Charlotte (SVP Charlotte) held our first quarterly Partner meeting of 2023 with a packed agenda at the new Program Center of Families Forward Charlotte (FFC), an organization that partners with local families experiencing poverty by providing educational opportunities, essential support, and individualized mentoring. FFC is a 2018 SEED20 alum and a current SVP Charlotte Investee, which means SVP Charlotte is investing $60,000 along with capacity building and human capital support in FFC over 3 years. It was wonderful to tour their new facilities and watch an inspiring video that featured FFC families sharing how the organization and their volunteers changed the trajectory of their lives.
During the meeting, FFC’s Executive Director Carrie Christian (upper left photo) shared how the continued partnership with SVP Charlotte has strengthened their organization:
“Social Venture Partners Charlotte has been an incredible partner and catalyst to our growth and achievements over the past two years. When we first applied to be an Investee, our budget was just over $500,000 (with just one staff person) and has now doubled to over $1 million. SVP Charlotte has provided guidance and assistance to help us hire staff, streamline our brand and marketing, complete a strategic plan, secure physical offices, and grow our connections in the community. All have been pivotal in our ability to recruit more Family Liaison mentors, increase our impact for the families we serve, and grow our funding to support our mission.”
Denise Burkard (upper right photo), SVP Charlotte Board Chair, provided a sneak peek into several emerging ideas from our strategic planning process and the most recent SVP Charlotte Board retreat. One idea would be to enhance nonprofit support and partner volunteer opportunities with our Spark Team portfolio. The Spark Team program currently provides 8-10 week pro bono consulting engagements to Investees and SEED20 alumni. SVP Charlotte may introduce an abbreviated engagement model called a “Spark Plug” where a Partner with deep business or professional expertise provides problem solving support over the course of 1-2 hours. Since its launch in the summer 2020, Spark Team projects have supported over 30 nonprofits with 1,464 volunteer hours equaling an estimated $146,400 of valuable human capital.
Guest speakers at the quarterly meeting included Angela Gala and Ranjit Deora, co-founders of Youth Meditation (YM), our newest SVP Charlotte Investee and a 2015 SEED20 alum. YM empowers students, teachers, and parents with effective tools for managing stress through their proprietary, age-appropriate, 8-week mindfulness program. The impact of their program is impressive with teachers gaining 45 minutes of instruction per day due to students’ ability to focus and manage their emotions better. The YM founders shared an inspiring video of high school students explaining how meditation has changed the way they approach school and family life. Over the next three years, in addition to providing the nonprofit with $20,000 in unrestricted funds annually, SVP Charlotte partners will collaborate with YM in the following areas:
- Program Expansion: Foster Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools’ (CMS) adoption of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum
- Increased Connectivity: Build relationships with other nonprofits or organizations who partners with CMS
- Financial Forecasting/Budgeting: Enhance processes as YM grows
- Development Strategy: Assist with revenue diversification and fundraising. The current model is largely earning revenue through corporate sessions.
Both Families Forward Charlotte and Youth Meditation are examples of the 180 nonprofits who have participated in our SEED20 program. Today, approximately 150 of those organizations are still in operation, well above the nonprofit failure rate of 50%. This is due in part to the ongoing programmatic support SVP Charlotte provides. If you would like to learn more about our Investee and Spark Team programs or how to volunteer, please contact our Executive Director Kristin Beck.
