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Tuesday, November 26th, 2019

Social Venture Partners calls for “Catapult” Applications

Multi-year Catapult investments help nonprofits deepen community impact

Social Venture Partners (SVP) Boulder County announces a call for Letters of Inquiry (LOI) for its multi-year Catapult program. SVP’s longest-running initiative, Catapult is a pro bono business consulting investment that aims to strengthen local nonprofits from the inside out – from board governance and leadership development to strategy, fundraising, communications, technology infrastructure and more.

LOIs are due Jan. 11, 2020 by 4 p.m., and free information sessions are scheduled for Dec. 11 and 12 as well as Jan. 7, 2019 at locations in Boulder, Longmont, and Lafayette. Finalists will be notified in February and receive free organizational assessments. SVP will announce one new Catapult investee in Spring 2020.

Organizations interested in submitting a LOI should read the 2020 Letter of Inquiry guidelines and attend an Information Session by registering here. Once chosen for investment, a nonprofit investee will typically receive pro bono consulting support valued between $200-400K over a three-year period.

“We believe strong nonprofits deliver better results,” says Jennie Arbogash, CEO. “That’s why we serve other Boulder County nonprofits to help them be more efficient, effective, and sustainable over time.”

Previous finalists for Catapult investments have meaningfully benefitted from the application process, alone. Says Hayden Dansky, Executive Director of Boulder Food Rescue, “By evaluating our organization on every level and getting direct feedback, we were able to take a step back and really look at how we’re prioritizing our energy and resources.

“Most of us who work in the nonprofit sector do so from a place of passion and responsibility for the people we serve. In our case, we serve people in crisis … and it’s easy to get caught up in that, at the day-to-day ground level. As an SVP applicant, however, we had the opportunity to assess our efforts from a broader, more strategic perspective.”

Agrees Jennifer Marie Shriver, Development Director of Community Cycles, “We found the process of completing the organizational assessment to be very helpful to our organization. I think many nonprofits have a similar situation – we find ourselves focused on implementation and day-to-day work, and it’s rare that we’re able to prioritize assessments and take on an evaluative, planning mindset. The Catapult application process gave our board and staff the opportunity to deeply consider how we’re doing, what our strengths and gaps are as an organization … and where we’d like to go.

Concludes Arbogash, “Our capacity-building programming utilizes proven practices for greater community impact.” For more information about SVP Boulder County and the Catapult program, contact Spencer Downing at Spencer@svpbouldercounty.org or 303.840.0165.

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