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The Social Venture Capital Foundation, Inc. (SVCF) |
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Helping new nonprofits build a better world for all
Finding Promising New Leaders and Groups
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"My most urgent recommendation is for the restoration of active searches for exceptional talent -- making them the centerpiece of foundation programs -- and giving priority to the support of activities that have such talent at their helm." -- Gerald Freund [former officer of Rockefeller and MacArthur foundations], Narcissism and Philanthropy (1996), xiv. |
The SVCF seeks to find those social entrepreneurs and new not-for-profit groups with the vision, drive, understanding and practical know-how to help bring about the changes that our country and our world need.
Like traditional venture capitalist firms, The SVCF uses a variety of means to actively search for nonprofit organizations and leaders with previously unrecognized talents, new promise and new insights. These techniques include networking, talent scouting, establishment of this interactive web site, and an aggressive outreach and communication strategy.
If you have a group or social entrepreneur that you would like to nominate for SVCF support, Send Us a Message. Identify the group or leader you would like to recommend for a seed money grant or entrepreneurial support grant, explain why you think your nominee warrants favorable consideration by the Foundation, and tell us how to contact your nominee. See our Evaluation Criteria and our Grant Application.
For examples of some of the promising nonprofits and leaders to which SVCF is now considering providing support or has provided support, see Grantees & Prospects. For examples of some of the kinds of social entrepreneurs who have successfully started and built effective and self-sustaining new nonprofits to address previously unmet social needs, see Planting Seeds of Social Change.
Click here for information about the Characteristics of Leadership and the Elements of Organizational Excellence that SVCF is seeking (and seeking to build) in the organizations that we fund.
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". . . prophetic voices of great clarity, and with a quality of insight equal to that of any age, are speaking cogently all the time. Men and women of a stature equal to the greatest of the past are with us now addressing the problems of the day and pointing to a better way . . . . The variable that marks some periods as barren and some as rich in prophetic vision is in the interest, the level of seeking, the responsiveness of the hearers . . . It is the seekers then, who make the prophets, and the initiative of any one of us in searching for and responding to the voice of contemporary prophets may mark the turning point in their growth and service." -- Robert K. Greenleaf, Servant Leadership: A Journey Into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness (1977). |
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