Forging the Way Forward: SVP Portland’s Three-Year Strategy (2023-2025)

Executive Summary:

Social Venture Partners Portland is as committed as ever to our goal of ensuring all children—regardless of race, ethnicity, wealth, religion, gender, or zip code—have high-quality, culturally-relevant early learning experiences.

Throughout 2022, we:

• extended our commitment to building community capacity

• engaged diverse stakeholders in shaping a refreshed mission, vision, purpose and goal

• updated our strategic framework with high-level priorities and metrics

This piece articulates that plan and how we believe we can have the most impact. From the allocation of resources to the prioritization of goals, we outline how we can offer unique, complementary, and unduplicated progress on our community-focused goals over the next three years (2023-2025).

Participants & Methodology:

This plan was developed over a course of five months by five highly-engaged SVP Partners and two senior staff members, all of whom have worked with Community Partners. This team sought guidance and recommendations from several sources and stakeholders, including:

• The aforementioned goals listed in the Executive Summary

• Feedback from our 2021 Community Partner Perspectives Report

• Recommendations from our 2022 Advocacy & Influence Dynamic Team

• Solicited input from Lead Partners, the Portfolio Management Team, the Equity Team, the Finance Team, and all staff

In what follows, you’ll see several strategies, objectives, actions and metrics outlined. Strategies 1, 2 and 3* are specific to our preschool goal and will continue to be refined based on community input and need. Strategy 4 is foundational to all of our work moving forward as an organization. 

For all of these, our staff and their respective teams are developing tactics and operational decisions for each action. We will continue to evaluate if we’re making progress, how we need to adapt, and where our impact has the most opportunities and obstacles.

OUR EXTERNAL WORK: Community Impact Strategies

Strategy 1: 

Capacity Building for Early Childhood Business Model Innovation for Maximum Scale

Objective: 

Ensure Multnomah and Washington Counties have sufficient promising and scalable “pre-k” models for communities of color

• Invest human, social, and financial resources in pre-k providers from proof of concept to business planning for scale

• Conduct landscape assessment/root cause analysis and business planning in three (3) key systemic areas

• Evaluate Access to Preschool goal and mission progress

Success Metrics: # capacity-building volunteer hours with Community Partners, % Community Partners with business plan for growing early childhood program, # children enrolled, # of children who have successfully graduated from a preschool, passage of the Washington Co. Preschool for All Ballot measure

Strategy 2: 

Unlock philanthropic and government resources to benefit preschool programs & initiatives led by and serving communities of color

Objective: 

Remove obstacles to accessing resources in order to increase total unrestricted, multi-year grants for our Community Partners

• Increase Community Partner access to financial expertise/capital and lower the cost/burden to obtain it

• Convene local philanthropic institutions to understand funding allocation and advocate for changes

• Remove obstacles that impede or complicate funding from government agencies

Success Metrics: total $ of all new capital to Community Partners (LOCs/loans) obtained with our help, # dollars leveraged (due to SVP influence)

OUR INTERNAL WORK: Ensuring High Performance and Impact

Strategy 3: 

Deepen anti-racism through diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) across SVP

Objective: 

Create inclusive spaces that encourage participation and shared power with the diverse racial, cultural, and economic groups both within and impacted by SVP (including decisions around SVP's mission, structure, constituency, policies and practices)

• Determine and communicate what accountability to our anti-racist commitment looks like

• Make our communities' voices and priorities palpable in how we operate every day

• Fill gaps in our staff and partner skill sets and perspectives

Success Metrics: % of SVP community who rate SVP as inclusive, % of staff and engaged Partners who have successfully completed anti-racism training, % Partners renewing annually

Strategy 4: 

Strengthen & Grow SVP Portland Resources and Operations

Objective: 

Ensure SVP is well-resourced and managed in order to operate efficiently and effectively—and is sustainable over time

• Reassess our business model, and strategically revise as appropriate

• Grow existing and/or identify new human and financial resources

Success Metrics: Minimum of 12 months of cash sustained over four (4) quarters, Operating in the black on an annual basis, increase % of income coming from grants and contracts, Encore Fellow program income to expense ratio = >30% target

In Closing:

SVP Portland believes in delivering the most efficient and effective path to impact. With our Investor and Business Partners, we are able to partner hand-in-hand with Community Partners across our region to positively transform the lives of children and their families. If you’d like more information about this plan or want to join our mission, please contact us. 

You can also view the October 2023 presentation of our 2023-2025 strategic plan.