We look for the innovators, the ideas incubators, the risk takers – the ones with the potential to have the biggest impact.
Because we believe people change the world.
It can start with one person, with enough passion and motivation to make the change they want to see in the community.
Their passion and care spreads, and soon they have created an organisation that has a clear mission and have started to bring about real social change. But they can face the challenges of lack of resources and capacity needed to take their organisation to the next level. They need help to grow, expand and scale to achieve greater social impact.
And this is where we come in…
We believe to truly tackle the challenges faced in communities today, we have to think differently. And we know there are hundreds of people out there who have skills and expertise to help achieve something that really matters.
So, in 2013 we created Social Venture Partners (SVP) Melbourne. SVP is a global network of local people (we call them ‘partners’) connecting passion and purpose to improve our community. In SVP Melbourne we are 25 partners (and growing) who are business professionals, entrepreneurs, community leaders, educators and volunteers whose skills include strategy development and planning, governance, finance, business development, marketing, fundraising, talent management, executive coaching and more.
We believe that organisations in the non-for-profit sector (NFPs) face many of the same challenges we have faced in our careers. That’s why, in addition to financial support, we contribute our skills and expertise on a voluntary basis to the NFP because we genuinely care about helping them make a difference and have greater impact.
We are changing the face of the traditional philanthropy model by providing active engagement with the NFPs we support. We get to know the NFPs – their people, their goals and their challenges. In addition to financial support, the most impactful contribution for both partner and NFP is, undoubtedly, the professional skills, experience, connections and ‘supportive shoulders’ we offer to help build strong organisations and effective strategies for long-term success in delivering even greater social impact.
