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Social Venture Partners, a "venture philanthropy" fund and organization first founded in Seattle, Wash., three years ago, now has a Portland chapter.
Social Venture Partners Portland (SVPP) was incorporated in December last year as a nonprofit organization. With 25 members already on board, the organization intends to invest its members' time, money and professional expertise in nonprofit organizations working with children and educational programs in the Portland metro area.
Taking an approach similar to that of private venture capitalists, SVP Portland will donate both seed money and its members' professional management skills to help launch and grow startup local nonprofit organizations, as well as new programs within existing nonprofits.
SVP was launched in Seattle by Paul Brainerd, the founder of Aldus Corp., which was later sold to Adobe Corp. The venture philanthropy model has proved popular, especially among people who have made their fortunes in technology and other sectors of the new economy SVP chapters are now active in more than a dozen cities in the United States and Canada, and in London. The Seattle chapter now has...