Philanthropy Class SV2 Case Study (11/16/2004)

It was interesting to have a case study about SV2 given by SV2 founder Laura Arrillaga. She gave an intro about venture philanthropy, very similar to the one that she gave at the venture philanthropy summit. We talked a bit about the benefits that accrue to both the donor/partners and the non-profits who receive funds. For the partners the key benefits are:

• Expertise of CFSV staff
  
• Leveraging contribution (by aggregating with donations of other partners)
  
• Ability to contribute intellectual/human capital at a high level (strategic consulting, not painting houses)
  
• Network of like-minded givers
  
• Due diligence of SV2
  

The non-profits get:

• Money! (And typically a 3-year grant, longer than most donors)
  
• Access to SV2 partners as potential individual donors
  
• Expert advice from successful SV professionals
  
• Assistance in changing to an outcome-oriented mindset
  

We learned more about the SV2 grant-making process, as well as events for partners. Finally, we discussed the case study, which described how things had gone awry in SV2's initial grant (mostly due to an inadequate/uncommunicative executive director) and debated what SV2 should have done. I agreed with their decision to suspend the grant, though might have even gone farther and not given them the (unspent) initial $75K for year 1. I think that the non-profit did not truthfully disclose their intentions, and that was more than sufficient grounds for terminating the relationship.