Social Venture Partners San Antonio is excited to announce our 2022 – 2023 Fellows. These inspiring individuals have impact across our community and region. They represent many areas of focus, and are addressing a diversity of community needs.
Refreshed Thinking Transforms Fellows’ Work
After each gathering of the SVPSA Fellowship, Texas Kidney Foundation CEO Tiffany Jones-Smith comes home with a checklist of action items. Paging through her notebook to the most recent entry, she reflects, “If I implemented five of the nine that are here, that’s transformative.”
Nonprofits we love: CAVALRY
Growing up in the projects of Washington D.C., Tracie Edmond, SVPSA Fellow, never knew when her family’s water or lights would be cut off. When a high school counselor connected her to an apprenticeship program at the Pentagon, she found a path to a better life.
Providence Place Addressing Generational Trauma
Founded in 1895, Providence Place began as a rescue mission for young unmarried mothers, evolving today to create innovative programs for women in crisis to address and end generational trauma. One fact has remained true: it is not the size of the program that matters, but the impact it makes in the lives of women and families.
Inspiration Came from Learning About the 990
Jasmin Dean, founder and executive director of Celebrate Dyslexia, always dreaded filling out Form 990, the annual filing that the IRS requires of nonprofits and charities. Dean saw the 990 as a distraction from the mission-critical work that she was doing to create community, offer resources and provide support for dyslexic students, their families, and the educators who serve them.
Volunteers’ value surpasses $1 million milestone
This month, local nonprofits reported they surpassed $1 million in value from skilled virtual volunteers provided by a local funding cohort started during the pandemic by Social Venture Partners San Antonio (SVPSA). Nonprofits started using the virtual volunteer website, Catchafire, in the fall of 2020, early in the pandemic to help fill critical skills gaps when most offices were shut down and organizations were forced to change how they raised money, delivered services, used technology and communicated with board and donors.
Fellowship provided a sense of community
In the early days of the pandemic, Pride Center San Antonio scrambled to deliver on its mission to provide services and support to the LGBT+ and ally community in San Antonio.
Nonprofits we love: Masters Leadership Program
San Antonio’s Masters Leadership Program (MLP) and Social Venture Partners (SVP) share a common goal: to improve our community by supporting local nonprofits. MLP, which celebrates its 20th anniversary next year, does this by preparing and connecting proven leaders to serve on the boards and committees of nonprofit agencies and civic commissions. To date, it has prepared more than 860 individuals … Read More
Nonprofits we love: Texas Kidney Foundation
When Texas Kidney Foundation President & CEO Tiffany Jones-Smith enrolled in the 2021-22 SVPSA Fellowship program, she had few expectations. “I thought, I’ll just take some classes and they will tell me some things about nonprofits. But every single month they presented information that was applicable to our organization,” Jones-Smith said. “Even the class on Strengths Finders was helpful. And we already … Read More
Nonprofits we love: Culturingua
“Culturingua helps increase intercultural understanding, promote economic empowerment, and helps people better understand others from different cultural backgrounds—both their neighbors and people from the other side of the world,” Culturingua co-founder Nadia Mavrakis says about