Happy New Year to all of our SV2 Partners and friends! As we begin a new year, full of optimism and hope but ever-aware of the challenges ahead, we hope you will continue to join us to create positive change in the communities around us.
We have a variety of opportunities in the coming year to support promising social enterprises while accelerating the learning of SV2 Partners and families. Mark your calendars and register for our upcoming events. We look forward to seeing you soon.
Get to Know David Onek, Our New CEO
We begin the new year with opportunities to meet and get to know David. In addition to reaching out to Partners individually, he will host three informal, meet-and-greet Zoom calls with small groups of Partners. David looks forward to sharing more about his background, hearing from Partners and then opening it up for Q&A. Mark your calendar for Thursday, January 7 in the morning, Tuesday, January 12 over the lunch hour or Monday, January 25 in the early evening.
Grant Making & Impact Investing
Our first Impact Investing meeting is on Wednesday, January 13 where we’ll focus on investing for racial equity, as part of our ongoing series on this topic. We’ll delve into equity funds with representatives from three Black-led funds presenting. Partners will decide which to move forward to the due diligence phase with an eye to investing.
Our Education Grant Round begins in late January. The focus of the Grant Round will be on the education approaches that are needed to address the learning loss and inequitable impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly as we look forward to recovery and rebuilding.
Environment issues are at the forefront of many challenges facing the world, with implications for the Bay Area and our local communities. Climate and environmental justice are foundational to our ability to thrive as individuals and communities. We’ll dig into the issues and learn more about local organizations having an impact in our Lightning Grant Round (LGR) on the Environment that gets underway on Thursday, January 14 and continues with meetings on Tuesday, January 26 and Tuesday, February 9.
Family Philanthropy
Our SV2 Teens Program launches on Sunday, January 10. Our teen social impact leaders will gain exposure to pressing local social issues, learn about nonprofit organizations and collaborate together to provide funding to three organizations.
We also invite current Partners to join our next Family Philanthropy Interest Circle meeting on Monday, February 22.
SV2 Learning Opportunities
A broad array of learning events are planned, in a variety of topic and issue areas. We invite you to continue your learning around investing for racial equity at the fourth meeting of our year-long series (to be held in February/March, exact date TBD). Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) and cash is the focus of this session. Look for more details on the date and time of that event in the coming weeks.
You’ll be able to deepen your effective giving knowledge with both an introductory level workshop and deeper dive workshop on the Art of Assessing Nonprofits. Targeting new as well as more seasoned givers, we are thrilled to offer both learning tracks this year. You are invited to pick the one that best suits your current knowledge level or plan to attend both.
We continue to Get Proximate, even in this time of COVID. Please join us for an engaging session with One Life Counseling Center (OLCC), Getting Proximate with Immigration: Trauma and Community Impact. We will learn more about the “immigrant-rich” community of North Fair Oaks and we will hear directly from OLCC clients who have made migration journeys and now reside in the North Fair Oaks Community. Join us on Friday January 29th at 12:00pm. RSVP here.
Please stay on the lookout for new articles in the Get Proximate series appearing each month in the SV2 Newsletter. You can access past articles here (starting with the October 2020 eNews).
SV2 Book Club
Partners can start reading Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own by Eddie Glaude Jr., in preparation for the first Social Impact Book Club meeting of the new year on Sunday, January 31.
Looking Ahead
We look ahead to 2021 with optimism and remain committed to our focus on supporting recovery from the pandemic in ways that are more equitable and inclusive. We invite all of our Partners to engage at whatever level works for you. Mark your calendars, register for upcoming events, and stay tuned for ongoing information through our monthly SV2 newsletter.