Thursday, January 21, 2010

Investment Committee Phase II

The Investment Committee Phase II is in full swing with DSVP Partner teams working on organizational assessments with the 3 Finalists:

Dallas Community Lighthouse provides on-site programs in low-income or tax-credit apartment communities. Programs include tutoring services for students in grades K-8th, as well as Family and Community services addressing the needs of the entire community.
www.communitylighthouse.org
Lead Partner: Gary Capshaw

PediPlace provides high quality health care for children of Denton County who have no access to such services due to economic, geographic and/or cultural barriers. PediPlace provides a broad scope of health services with a highly competent and bilingual staff of medical professionals, trained office staff, and many dedicated volunteers.
www.PediPlace.org
Lead Partner: Susie Morrissey

KIPP Truth Academy Dallas is part of a national network of free, open-enrollment, college-preparatory public schools with a track record of preparing students in under served communities for success in college and in life. There are currently 82 KIPP schools in 19 states and the District of Columbia serving around 20,000 students.
www.KIPP.org
Lead Partner: Barbara Errickson

Once the organizational assessments are completed, DSVP Partners will work with the finalist organizations to develop Engagement Plans and to prepare final presentations that will be presented at the Final Investment Committee meeting, open to entire Partnership, on Tuesday, March 23 from 4-7pm (Location: Dallas Children's Theatre).

Monday, January 18, 2010

Muhammad Yunus is coming to North Texas!

A generous offer has been made to Dallas Social Venture Parnters and friends to attend the upcoming Austin College, Posey Leadership Award honoring the 2010 Recipient: Muhammad Yunus. Spend an evening with this remarkable humanitarian and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner who will speak on his vision of a poverty-free world. Dr. Yunus pioneered microcredit, which has helped over 100 million families across every continent.

We hope to see you there!
Thursday, February 25th, 7:30 p.m.

All individual tickets are purchased through the Eisemann Center , so please enter "friends" - all lower case to receive a special 10% discount across all pricing levels

Networking with the SVP Partnership

Guest Post by DSVP Partner, Barbara Errickson

Staying in touch with your world has never been easier with Tweets on Twitter, professional connections on LinkedIn, and family and friends on Facebook. I even reconnected after over 20 years of silence with my high school graduating class from the 1960’s in time to help plan A 50th reunion ! To think I would have missed out without Facebook !

When I joined DSVP about 9 months ago I diligently entered my profile details on our DSVP intranet portal expecting to continue adding to my collaborative network. So far, it’s ratherlonely there.

We have an excellent engagement manager who orchestrates our Investee project teams and yet it’s a challenge to know each other better. Wouldn’t it be great to look up team mate biosbefore, during and after projects, and, on occasion, even to find a Partner to join you for a social event ? Can you imagine LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook with only names and no profiles or messages ? We could Do Good Even Better with more complete cross partner collaboration !

And, as an incentive, for the next two weeks, if you complete or update your profile on the SVPI Partner Portal, you will be entered to win a Sony Digital Ebook Reader that holds 150 ebooks. Deadline is February 4th and we will draw at the February First Friday. So get connected to our partner network!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

bigBANG & Texas Social Innovation Initiative

Over the last year, DSVP has had the pleasure of developing a partnership with One Star Foundation and Root Cause to help cultivate socially innovative nonprofits here in North Texas. After a competitive application process, seven socially innovative nonprofits were announced at the recent Governor's Nonprofit Leadership Conference.

Each of seven innovative nonprofit organizations, who competed among 60 nonprofits in Greater Dallas/Forth Worth, will receive more than $25,000 in assistance to support their growth and impact. In addition, they will also be given the opportunity to "pitch" their organization to the community on the Fast Pitch stage at the upcoming June 10th bigBANG event.

We are excited to announce the seven following nonprofits who have been identified as social innovators in North Texas. You wont want to miss hearing more about the innovative work they are doing and their future direction.

If you are interested in learning more specifically about the Texas Social Innovation Initiative, check out this video!

Sunday, January 10, 2010

bigBANG! June 10, 2010 - Mark it!

If social innovation and North Texas are a passion of yours, then you won't want to miss this experience! Dallas Social Venture Partners and The Dallas Foundation present the bigBANG! An event that will "spark social innovation" and create a lasting effect in our community.

Participants will experience high energy activities alongside thoughtful programs that will expose some of the most exciting innovations in North Texas. We seek to convene the community of impact investors: donors, foundation leaders, corporate philanthropists, and social entrepreneurs. Join us for the bigBANG!

A sampling of activities include:

-Social Innovation Fast Pitch - a venture capital "pitch" format featuring nonprofits and for profits creating a social and environmental value (learn more by listening to a podcast, or reviewing a past post)

-Spark Lounge - experience the latest in web-based tools for "good"

-Socially Conscious Marketplace - a gathering of products and services that measure more than just profits

-Speed Networking - a way to learn "who's who of who-ville"

Our event will be held in the Grand Hall of Union Station. We plan to grow the food for the event (more on that in a future blog post!) We hope to attract funders and practitioners alike to explore what is working, what is not, and what are the really BIG ideas for improving our world and community.

Sponsorships are Available.
Contact scaldwell@dsvp.org