Why It Matters
"Youth Code Jam could never have grown and become nationwide so quickly if it weren't for the emotional support and help provided by SVPSA."
- Debi Pfitzenmaier, Retired Executive Director, Youth Code Jam
We believe everyone has potential to do more
In 2017, when SVPSA began our investment with Youth Code Jam (YCJ), we provided its leadership with a strategic planning process targeting several areas where we could plug in experts to help them grow their capacity and reach more students.
SVPSA Grants provided:
- Creation of data-gathering processes/reporting for impact measurements (2018)
- Salary for part-time executive assistant (2018-2019)
- Donor management software (2019 - 2020)
- Paid sponsorships of Catchafire skilled volunteer tool (2020-2023)
Expert volunteers provided:
- Executive Director coaching
- Website user experience updates
- Board training
- Government grant writing strategy
Youth Code Jam has great leadership and with extra help, they grew exponentially.
Impressive Growth in 2 years:
- Grew its operating budget from $127,000 in 2017 to over $500,000 in 2019
- Expanded beyond weekend events to statewide training and coding programs throughout Texas in 2020
- Went beyond Texas to a new nationwide online coding program
In 2 Years of active involvement, Youth Code Jam's Operations Budget Grew from $127,000 to more than $500,000
SVPSA's Catchafire portal for nonprofits
Volunteer Your Expertise
Are you interested in volunteering your expertise online as a consultant for nonprofits? SVPSA works with 8 local funders to provide subscriptions to Catchafire.org for 125 or more nonprofits in our area each year so they can find pro-bono consulting and project management at no cost. This saves the nonprofit countless hours and thousands of dollars. If you love to help with marketing plans, graphic design, analyze or design websites, help develop strategies for growth, and even help analyze financial statements or set up Quickbooks, there is a nonprofit that needs your expertise on Catchafire.
The value to the nonprofit is mind-blowing. The average value for a project is $3,900. The value of a one hour consultation call is $425.
SVPSA's Catchafire sponsorship is an annual investment of $100,000, and the average value back to our community is more than $800,000 annually in value from pro-bono expert support. This is money they could put into programs to help more families, care for more abandoned animals and create more play spaces.