Different Roads to the Same Destination: Scaling Shared Values instead of Methods. (PART 2)

At SVP, a set of shared values helps Affiliates connect and align around our global network. The second part of this series explores how Affiliates across the globe have used the value of accountability to reimagine giving and show by example how to catalyze more resources and leverage our collective network of philanthropists

This part 2 of our Scaling Shared Values series. Read parts one and three.

How can accountability guide your approach to strategic philanthropy?

Over the last three years, SVP Chicago has been guided by a sense of accountability to community leaders to develop a new approach to strategic philanthropy. By building relationships with local leaders, SVP Chicago gave them the space to question long held philanthropic practices – and home in on what makes SVP Partners unique catalysts for non-profits. Community members helped SVP Chicago eliminate reductive rubrics for selecting grantees, and move towards valuing a non-profit leaders’ proximity to the issues they were working on over typical metrics like age or racial identity.

SVP Chicago also created a mechanism for past grantees to serve as advisors to their board to make sure that wisdom from their past work was baked into their future planning. All these efforts allowed SVP Chicago to reshape their efforts to support the type of organizations that SVP Partners could have the greatest impact on: smaller, neighborhood-based non-profits instead of more established and “financially stable” organizations.

Question to ask yourself as you continue on your philanthropy journey: 

How can you inspire your philanthropy to be a catalyst for inspiration, action, interest and compassion for your community?  What does the word engagement mean to you?  And how can you share space, learn and lead within your local context?