Circling Back
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Someone on staff had the “audacity” to suggest that maybe we should circle back on some of the blog posts over the last few years that have addressed topics like …
- The need for more cross-silo / connected philanthropy.
- Whether SVP should encourage more competition or collaboration.
- Some of the daunting challenges involved in taking a “hyper-collaborative” approach.
… and talk about where SVP is today. These were separate posts, with some good comments and dialogue if you didn’t see it originally, but there is an underlying theme – a move towards more, deeper collaboration in the social sector. The simple answer from SVP is that we are pretty much all-in… or, I should say we’re getting there.
We haven’t changed working with and strengthening individual non-profits, that’s still core; strong, effective non-profits are still the foundation. But what is clear to us, and the community, is that the individual parts aren’t adding up to a greater whole. Not a new concept, but it takes on increased urgency every day as we see many social problems – poverty, educational attainment, health, etc. – get harder and harder. It’s also urgent because there has been some progress on other social problems – teen pregnancy and violent crime, to name two. There is a long long way to go on both of those, but the fact that there has been progress should make us all that, well, we CAN DO THIS!
For SVP, we have two Collective Action Teams – Education and the Environment – looking at holistic, systemic solutions. We are getting ready to make deeper investments in both. If you’d like to be on one of those committees, now is a great time! We have been a part of a Statewide Capacity Collaborative for the last two years with Gates, Allen, Seattle, Medina, Empire Health, Campion, and Murdock Foundations to help strengthen the capacity building resources for the whole sector. Just as important as any of those are more Partners stepping into significant social sector roles like Lisa Chin at Year Up, Todd Dunnington at Skills Inc, Tim Schottman at SightLife, and MANY more.
I could go on and the “answers” to those blogs from the last year or so are still very much in progress, but they are undeniably headed in one direction – all-in for this community!
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Paul Shoemaker
For more information about SVP's Collective Impact Teams, please contact Sally Gillis.
