Partner Profile: Marti Royer

Marti Royer’s career is anchored in the philanthropic world, as the Executive Director of the Redman Foundation in Dallas, a $7 million organization which funded some 35 non-profits in 2010. After a career in the technology industry as well as the non-profit world, and earning her MSW, she joined Redman in 2007. Like many foundations, Redman does not accept unsolicited grant requests – so a large part of Marti’s work there has her actively searching for non-profits which fit the Foundation’s mission of supporting a variety of charitable activities including early childhood education, job training, food and shelter, and community programs. Serving on DSVP’s Investment Committee has enabled her to leverage her search efforts on behalf of the Foundation, by identifying a number of candidates worthy of funding through the Committee’s extensive vetting process.

Marti joined DSVP in 2010, not long after attending the inaugural bigBANG! event. While she had been aware of DSVP’s work before that time, she was so impressed by what she saw at bigBANG! that it became the catalyst for her becoming a Partner herself. She immediately joined DSVP’s Investment Committee, then added the Community Relations Team, and has been consistently impressed by the level of intellect brought to the table by all of the Partners; the different points of view add up to a wealth of insights that Marti finds fascinating as well as exciting.

Her view is that philanthropy is so much more interesting when people get together to offer knowledge and guidance rather than just financial support alone; the collective brainpower of the Partners is a big help in sorting through all of the potential Investees, but that same expertise -- in terms of business advice and technical advice -- is leveraged further by the DSVP approach of making a multi-year commitment to its Investees. Of her Partnership experience to date, she says "There are many opportunities to serve as a volunteer in the community. What makes DSVP different is the collaboration of volunteers to build effectiveness and efficiencies of nonprofit organizations serving children."