2023 & 2024 Annual Membership Dues

Affiliate leaders and chairs,

On behalf of the entire board and team of SVPI, I want to express our appreciation for your dedication and care for the mission and purpose of SVP and our global network. Your commitment came through loud and clear in our conversations and we are grateful for your engagement as we co-create this exciting new phase of our global network.

Today, I am very pleased to confirm that annual dues for 2023 and 2024 are frozen at 2022 levels and to provide additional information about affiliate dues.

We postponed invoicing for 2023 dues until after the SVPI Board had decided on a business model for SVPI and to provide enough time for affiliate leaders to connect with SVPI Board members about what the change in business model could mean for their own affiliate.

This update is intended to meet requests from network leaders for SVPI to invoice earlier for budgeting and planning purposes moving forward, and also to provide additional information about the role of dues in the SVPI budget, alongside other sources of income to increase understanding of how they are invested in the network.

This update provides:

1) Recap of the information we’ve shared this year about dues.
2) New financial information about SVPI’s budget and the benefits of affiliation.
3) New information on how to submit your payment.

Recap

As SVPI shared in a network-wide update on Dues in June 2023: Historically, affiliate dues to SVPI largely resourced SVP’s work to launch new affiliates. Yet, over the last six years, it became clear that the launching and growing of affiliates required more resources since many affiliates struggled to get started and grow. And established affiliates that successfully grew had different needs than those in their early stages. Additionally, there are landscape changes in the way donor network organizations are getting resources, what donors need from these kinds of organizations, and how local SVP affiliates are evolving their work.

Over the years, SVPI has heard a lot of different types of feedback from affiliate leaders, Partners, and Chairs about the value of SVPI and dues. These issues were formally addressed in the SVPI business model assessment presented to the board this summer.

In June 2023, the board of directors decided a strong federated model would create more brand consistency across the network, increasing opportunities for affiliates and SVPI to collaborate on fundraising and Partner recruitment, among other benefits. 

In 2022, SVPI announced a new two-year dues structure process that let affiliates know their dues calculation would be simplified, discounted, and frozen for 2022 and 2023. 

SVPI will continue to freeze dues through 2024 at the 2022 level as we work to build the strong model together.

SVPI Revenue & the Benefits of Affiliation:

SVPI Revenue

SVPI has been shifting its revenue model for some time, increasing its revenue through institutional grants and decreasing revenue from dues. SVPI has steadily reduced both our organizational reliance on and the total amount of affiliate dues since 2019. Before 2020, affiliate dues were close to 40% of SVP International’s budget ($400k). 

Current multi-year grants from the Raikes Foundation and Fidelity Charitable Trustees Initiative are investments in SVPI to strengthen its internal capacity, including an update of its business model, while continuing to build out a virtual experience and platform to drive more resources to communities and enhance the ability of new donors and current SVP members to be effective, strategic, and community-driven in their giving.

The board’s recent decision to move to a strong model is an effort to align the SVP global network so that there are more opportunities for SVPI and the network to work collaboratively to raise new, additional resources for a shared purpose.

SVPI Budget for the SVP Global Network 

SVPI’s annual budget is approximately $1.2M. SVPI directs 70% of our organizational budget to the SVP Global Network each year. That is $845,000 on average the last two years. The remaining 30% of our annual budget goes to internal capacity building for SVPI, general operating support, fundraising activities and external, strategic work in the philanthropy field. 

SVP annual affiliate dues to SVPI cover 32% of the total costs of SVPI’s support of the Global Network. SVPI raises additional resources to support the SVP Global Network through foundation grants, individual donations and pro-bono services.

Benefits of Affiliation

In a competitive field where donors have a lot of choices about where to engage their time and resources, the brand inconsistency of SVP has been a major disadvantage for recruiting what the network needs to thrive: passionate Partners and new investments. 

SVPI’s shift to a strong model is an opportunity for the SVP network to provide a clear, consistent, and compelling brand that uniquely distinguishes SVP in a crowded philanthropic environment with opportunities to collaborate for partnerships and funding.  

SVPI invests in the following key areas:

SVP Trademark
SVPI maintains and manages the global SVP trademark. This includes the costs of legal representation, regular trademark filings, and fees plus administrative staff time, along with a small percentage of administrative costs. 

SVP Expansion
While expansion of the SVP network has slowed, there is always communication, conversation, and resource sharing taking place with those interested in starting an SVP, plus those who are launching, transitioning, or sunsetting. This investment is primarily staff time plus a small percentage of administrative and operation costs.

SVP Mission & Brand
SVPI invests in the SVP network through a variety of communications and engagement strategies that are intended to increase the social impact of SVP and the SVP Global Brand and grow a movement of mission-aligned donors. Costs include staff time, consultants, vendors and technology tools plus a small percentage of administrative and operations costs.  

Short and long-term outcomes here include: 1) increasing revenue for SVPI and SVP affiliates; 2) increasing the number of Partners; 3) enhancing donor education and organizing; 4) demonstrated impact on the philanthropic field; and 5) total increase in funds donated to frontline leaders and organizations, among others.

Strategies include:

  • Marketing and Brand Awareness:
    • Online Community Platform/ Updated Website
    • Social Media Posting
    • Thought-leadership
  • Global Philanthropy Strategy:
    • Leading a Global Movement to Reimagine Giving and Donor Education
    • Learning Labs to Support Network Wide Partner Education and Alignment
    • Movement Research to Guide Philanthropic Field
  • Data Collection and Sharing
    • Donor Trends Report
    • Impact Report
    • Network Data Surveys
  • SVP Global Network Support
    • We Give Summit
    • Communities of Practice
    • Listserve Management 

Membership & Resources
Affiliates have access to a number of free accessible tools, resources, and benefits to support affiliate leaders in their nonprofit management. SVPI costs include membership dues to organizations (like BoardSource) and vendor contracts (like JustFund), as well as staff time, consultants, and technology to deliver tools, services, and access to affiliates, including a small percentage of administrative and operations costs.

  • Boardsource and AVPN membership, among others
  • Access to Discounted Resources, like JustFund
  • Online Community Resources
  • SVP Donor Education Tools

New Payment Process

SVPI is a fully remote, global team with staff and consultants who live and work in different time zones governed by a volunteer board of directors around the globe. This change from a fully staffed in-person office housed alongside SVP Seattle staff to a fully remote global workplace has been a significant adjustment. Our work environment, style, and process set us apart from SVP affiliates who are local, working in person in their own communities. 

We appreciate your understanding as we have updated our systems and practices in a completely virtual, global context through the pandemic, transitions, and business model change. 

In 2023, we are moving the payment process from requesting checks to conducting all transactions through electronic invoicing and payments. 

We are invoicing for 2023 and for 2024. 

The invoicing for 2024 will be the new standard timing moving forward. Each fall, you can expect to receive details about the benefits of affiliation for the upcoming year and an invoice for the year ahead. Moving forward, each SVP affiliate must pay their annual dues before the beginning of the year.

Here are the steps:

  • Our financial team will be sending each affiliate two invoices. 
  • Each invoice will be for the same amount.  
  • The first invoice will be for 2023 and due 12/31/23. 
  • The second invoice will be for 2024 and due 3/31/24. (You are not expected to pay twice in your own fiscal year, so if your fiscal year starts July 1, please pay the second invoice by 7/30/24).  
  • To make a payment: Click on the link in the invoice, which will take you to a secure payment page on Quickbooks Online. There, you can pay by entering your bank account details.

Should you have any questions, you can respond directly to the invoice email and one of our team members will follow up.

We look forward to working with you in the year ahead as we co-create the strong model together.