News
DSVP Members are successful examples of Social Entrepreneurs
10/23/08
New nonprofit born and 135,000 school-aged children in Dallas County benefit
DALLAS – October 23, 2008 – “It is probably best we didn’t know everything we were getting ourselves into when we started this. Research showed us that Dallas lacked a unifying program to promote communication and increase training among afterschool providers”, said Janet Mockovciak, co-founder, Dallas Afterschool Network and Dallas Social Venture Partners partner. Dallas Social Venture Partners (DSVP) was the genesis from which Mockovciak and two others gave birth to this new nonprofit.
DSVP is a nonprofit organization that is a partnership of individuals and foundations committed to strengthen the North Texas community through the thoughtful application of their collective dollars and business expertise. DSVP maintains a social investment portfolio from the contributions of their partners (what they call their members) that invests in nonprofit groups they believe will make a strong impact in positive change for children in Dallas.
Launched in Dallas in 2000, DSVP is one of 24 chapters in North America who are members of Social Venture Partners International. With 95 partner units (what they call members) which represent 135 individuals, DSVP currently supports 13 investees (what they call the nonprofit organizations they support) chosen to be in their portfolio (what they call the group of organizations they support). A partner unit can be any two individuals such as a husband and wife or business colleagues who join DSVP as a partner unit.
DSVP chooses nonprofits that serve children at risk, particularly in the area of education, for their portfolio. They maintain a social investment portfolio they believe represents agencies which have the ability to make strong positive impactsfor youth in the North Texas community while also creating a strong influence on the agencies’ long-term sustainability. Over the past eight years, DSVP has distributed a total of over $1.5 million to North Texas nonprofits and invests thousands of hours annually in service to 13 nonprofit organizations.
Two years ago three DSVP partners were volunteering at the same DSVP investee agency that provides after school care to children in i the community. Through their involvement with this facility they recognized a need for an umbrella organization to identify and facilitate collaborative opportunities to bring resources to childcare groups in underserved areas of Dallas. Suzanne Kiefer, Tanya McDonald and Janet Mockovciak found themselves faced with the opportunity to do something that could really make a difference in the lives of thousands of the city's children. Once they experienced the potential to help through their own volunteer involvement, there was no stopping them from giving birth to Dallas Afterschool Network (DASN). They decided to invest in a long-term, and much needed, solution to this social challenge found in their city.
They became the first DSVP partners who spun off from their DSVP investee relationship to create a nonprofit agency. As social entrepreneurs, they used their skills and resources from DSVP to help them launch Dallas’ first nonprofit after school network.
Kiefer, McDonald and Mockovciak created a nonprofit group following the DSVP model of engaged philanthropy. What makes these women social entrepreneurs and not just philanthropists is that their help does not end with the check-writing phase. Like a venture capitalist, they invest themselves in the success of the program. They give of their time and of their talents, expertise and sources that will build the organizational, management and technological infrastructure to make DASN work more effectively.
Within a year of deciding to devote
