By Keith Kegley, co-chair for the 2016 Expanding Impact membership campaign
My wife Ali and I moved to Boulder last December, but I have been a SVP Partner since the beginning of the first affiliate in Seattle (1998). I was a Partner in Seattle for eight years, then in Los Angles for nine years. I’ve seen the growth and evolution of SVP firsthand across multiple cities, and am very excited about the future of SVP here in Boulder County.
I’ve learned that at the heart of SVP are two questions:
- How do I give my money, skills and experience in the most impactful way? And,
- What does it really take to make nonprofits more effective and able to fulfill their mission?
The answer to the first part of both is that you don’t do this alone; you team up with like-minded peers and you do this together. We pool our money, our talent, our experience and our time to do that work together and with the most strategic impact we can achieve.
We’re going to grow SVP Boulder County over the next few years. More programs, more members, more events and more impact. After 15 years of hard work – an alumni network of over 200 Partners, 70 current Partners, $1.5 million in grants and solid impact with 380 nonprofits – we’ve earned a strong but mostly stealth reputation in Boulder. This fall we’re going to raise our profile in the community and tell our story to a lot more people.
We want every prospective new Partner to be able to explore SVP in an intimate, engaging setting; to meet our Partners and have deep, meaningful discussions about the partnership and what we do. SVP is not a light-touch organization. We dig in, we roll up our sleeves, and we do deep, difficult work on those two core questions. It often takes time for people to get to know us. So, we’ve created a calendar of dinners, events and programs this fall with 100 spots for prospective partners to connect with us.
I’ve seen our global network grow from a handful of friends and colleagues in Seattle, to nearly 4,000 partners in 40 cities around the world. Over 10,000 people have participated in SVP over the years which makes us an exceptionally unique organization. And, there are thousands of people here in Boulder who would be great Partners along with us. Our goal is to get our story out and let people know what we’re up to, where we’re headed, how they can participate and what it entails to be a member.
In September, we will host a Do What We Do event where we will help two nonprofits develop solutions to a challenge they are facing, while enjoying the company of others seeking to strengthen our community. Next, in October, Partners will host four Jeffersonian dinners featuring an Investee or program. The dinners will be intimate, deep and engaging. To close in early November, we will hold a story telling event featuring alumni and current Investees.
I signed on to co-chair the Expanding Impact campaign because I love what we do and I love telling the SVP story. We’re geared up and ready to share what makes SVP great with colleagues, friends and neighbors. Each could be an ambassador for our work, and some will see themselves in what we do – in either case, we’ll be respectful of their time and attention.
Know someone you’d love to learning from and learning with? Send Shannon Sackmann the names, emails addresses, and phone numbers of those you would like to invite to an event – or, email them your own invitation and copy Shannon so staff will look out for them when they attend. We’ve got exciting things planned – join us!
