Executive Director Reflections on 2025: A Year of Resolve, Partnership, and Possibility

Dear SVP Community,

As we enter 2026, I’m reflecting not only on what we accomplished together this past year - but on how we showed up in a moment that demanded courage, clarity, and partnership.

We are operating in a landscape marked by rising need and shrinking public resources. Many of our Community Partners faced funding losses of 25–50% in 2025, particularly in early learning, where cuts collided with growing demand. And yet, what I witnessed again and again was not retreat - but resolve.

“SVP responded to our call, helped us put the resources together, and built a strategy with us. I don’t know where we’d be without SVP.”

— Abdi, Deputy Director, CAIRO

That trust - that kind of partnership - is what you make possible. Because of your generosity and engagement, SVP was able to meet this moment with tangible impact:

• Deep, high-touch partnerships: We supported 13 Community Partners while expanding our total community investments from 12 in 2023 to 40 in 2025, including leaders, organizations, and systems-level initiatives.

• Ready to Grow Accelerator - scaling what works: Building on our original pilot, our Ready to Grow cohorts served 26 preschool leaders across two cohorts, representing 23 organizations currently serving more than 560 children. Informed by participant feedback, we launched Ready to Grow 2.0, going deeper on financial modeling, facilities planning, and leadership resilience.

• Proven long-term impact:

  • CAIRO, an SVP Community Partner since 2018, has grown from serving 20 children in one location to 160 children across five schools, employing more than 100 staff - including the opening of a new early learning center in East Portland.

  • Community Action leveraged $1.5M in new funding after strengthening their business and strategy with SVP’s support, expanding access to preschool and family stability services across Washington County.

• Building Together: We convened our Community Partners and ecosystem leaders to tackle one of early learning’s toughest barriers - access to affordable preschool space - identifying concrete opportunities for SVP to play a catalytic role.

In 2025, our Investor Partners leaned in with more than 4,500 skilled volunteer hours - whether working directly alongside Community Partners or strengthening SVP's organizational capacity to support them. That depth of engagement - strategic, relational, sustained - is what transforms investments into lasting change.

Strengthening SVP for the Future

Internally, we have been equally intentional. In 2025, we:

• Maintained strong financial stewardship with over a year of cash on hand

• Diversified revenue sources and secured new foundation support, including a multi-year grant from Meyer Memorial Trust and a Sponsorship Fund established by So Hum Foundation

• Sustained 88.5% Investor Partner retention and welcomed 8 new Investor Partners who are already deeply engaged

At the same time, we are paying close attention to shifts in individual giving - locally and nationally - and are taking this moment seriously. In response, we are evolving our partnership model in 2026 to improve clarity, predictability, and long-term sustainability, while preserving what makes SVP special: meaningful engagement, trust-based relationships, and shared accountability for impact.

Looking Ahead

In 2026, we will:

• Sustain a portfolio of 12-14 deeply supported Community Partners

• Double the reach of Ready to Grow through two cohorts, including our first in Spanish

• Advance facilities and systems solutions through our Building Together Initiative

• Refresh our Strategic Plan and clarify what success looks like for our preschool-focused work

This is not a moment to pull back. It’s a moment to lead - together. Your investment of time, expertise, and resources fuels resilient organizations, trusted leaders, and brighter futures for our community’s children. Thank you for staying engaged, for leaning in, and for believing in what’s possible when we work side by side.

With gratitude,

Lauren Johnson

Executive Director, SVP Portland