VeNews January 26, 2001

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Venture Philanthropy: Does It Really Help Human Service Agencies?

Earlier this week, Vesper Society introduced the second phase of its project, Assessing Venture Philanthropy. A group of 17 persons from human service organizations participated in a workshop with Vesper staff for a factual discussion of what venture philanthropy means in day-to-day operations. They also debated whether this emerging form of philanthropy fits the missions and activities of their organizations. Based on the very positive feedback from participants, the workshop will be offered again so that other agencies can attend.

The purpose of the Venture Philanthropy workshop was (a) to provide information on the principles of venture philanthropy so organizations understand what it is; and (b) to provide an opportunity for participants to assess the fit of venture philanthropy with their organization's mission and ways of functioning. Although venture philanthropy is a popular topic of magazine and newspaper articles, it is not easy to pin down exactly what this concept means and how it works. As a result, Vesper staff began the workshop by summarizing venture philanthropy's characteristics.

Six basic principles of venture philanthropy were identified; however, the workshop focused on the three that are most relevant to human service agencies (organizational capacity building, engagement, and outcome measurement). Workshop participants then determined what their organization needed to know about each of the three principles. They then discussed the implications for their agencies, including the opportunities, challenges, changes and risks.

Since the purpose of the workshop was to provide information and help organizations consider what they wanted to do with the information, different outcomes were possible. Staff explained that some organizations may consider venture philanthropy and decide that the strategy is not for them, while others may decide the opposite. Somewhat contrary to our expectation, participants in this initial workshop were generally positive about venture philanthropy as an approach and interested in learning more.

Vesper's next offering in this project will be a case study of venture philanthropy in action. Representatives of a foundation that uses venture philanthropy principles will meet with human service organizations to explain their experience with an innovative project.

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Vesper Society is a private operating foundation with programs in leadership, health, and Central America. Our mission is to create opportunities for individuals, groups, and organizations to apply moral and ethical values in decision making on social and economic issues.