Galavanting in the Garden at SVP’s AGM

On June 5th, eighty-one eager guests gathered together for  SVP’s 23rd Annual General Meeting at beautiful VanDusen Gardens. We met in the annual general way, which included re-election of our board of directors, a review of our financial position, and our director’s report. Some other highlights included: 

• The launch of our Game-Changing Giving Initiative 
• Honoring the end of Nicole Geyer’s term as Board Chair 
• Awarding an SVP Distinguished Partner Award to Dan Bowditch 

We were also joined by an amazing panel: Marnie Goldenberg from Take a Hike, Dana Osiowy from New Westminster Family Place, Meghan Neufeld from  BabyGoRound, and Sara Jane R. Walker from LDS Learn. Develop. Succeed. The panel shared how SVP’s unique model of support has helped them grow and evolve, and better support the children and youth they serve. 

Some highlights from the panel included: 

• SVP has always been in pursuit of trust-based philanthropy and has been achieving that. SVP listens to the Investee’s goals and supports them to achieve them. 
• From Take A Hike: SVP was an encouraging partner along the way, helping with their TIME, TALENT and TIES. SVP has been instrumental in supporting their ability to learn, develop, grow, and then confidently go to prospective donors and government and say they are a good investment. In 2016 they were less than a $1 million organization. Next year, they’re going to be a $7.5 million organization! 
• From New West Family Place: The access to SVP’s Strategy and Social Impact Coach (Karen) has been transformational for the ED and the organization. With Karen’s support, they’ve built a theory of change and will create an evidence profile of the value of their strength-based approach initiative: ‘Bringing Family Place to the Streets’. 
• From BabyGoRound: SVP offered to help BGR figure out the best way to expand by providing TIME, TALENT, AND TIES. Not a lot of funders give organizations space and opportunity for innovation, creativity, and collaboration. When funders are willing to invest in the process and not just the outcome, remarkable change can follow. 
• From LDS: SVP is a funder that allowed LDS to take risks and innovate. Early RISErs connected young children and their families with wraparound support. This early years program helps families transition to kindergarten confident and knowledgeable about their child’s learning and development. Based on the program’s success, LDS continued to think big about RISE One-to-One instruction and how to scale up to reach exponentially more children. RISE Next Generation AI will help them proactively and responsibly integrate AI to enhance their expert learning support.

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL! We announced Greg and Elese Sullivan’s very generous gift to our Game-Changing Giving Initiative of $320,000. Inspired by the Sullivan’s generosity, the Geyers also made an extraordinary and unexpected $100,000 gift to support the initiative. This means we are almost halfway to our goal of raising $1M!