Michael Brasher (far right), CEO of Boys to Men Tucson, receives a check for $15,000 from Fast Pitch Tucson (pictured with SVP CEO Ciara Garcia and Emcee Tom McNamara)
Social Venture Partners (SVP) Tucson bridges the gap between philanthropists and nonprofits – driving relationships and resources between them and building resilience in nonprofits and the Tucson community. In addition to creating nonprofit partnerships and collaborations that build successful community-driven solutions, SVP has a track record of stabilizing, strengthening and scaling nonprofits.
Fast Pitch, introduced by SVP in 2015, is a free training program for nonprofit leaders culminating in a sell-out event designed to create community level change. During SVP Tucson’s five-month training program, nonprofit leaders hone their ideas and improve their fundraising and messaging skills through structured learning sessions, practice clinics, and coaching. In a study of the nonprofit organizations that participated in the Fast Pitch program from 2015-2019, SVP found an average of 144% growth in revenue, with even greater results for nonprofits with budgets under $1 million.
Boys to Men Tucson applied for Fast Pitch in 2021 with one staff member and had limited exposure in the Tucson community. During Fast Pitch, Boys to Men Tucson gained skills that enabled the organization to win over the Tucson community in both financial support and community awareness.
Fast Pitch Class of 2021 Alumni Michael Brasher shares, “SVP is clearly an organization that is listening to the community and responding. The communities that we serve at Boys to Men are seeing an immediate impact after Fast Pitch. Through SVP’s prioritization of organizations doing DEI work, a very small and newer nonprofit like Boys to Men Tucson will come out of this experience radically changed and with substantially increased fundraising capacity to support our work in the future.” With the success at Fast Pitch 2021 Boys to Men Tucson was able to grow to seven staff members, revitalize and increase their board of directors, and expand programming to more masculine identified youth.
In 2022 Boys to Men Tucson applied to receive multi-year capacity building support with SVP’s community investment program and was chosen as one of two new additions to the 2Gen Nonprofit Collaboration. This organization is ready and willing to collaborate with SVP to create exponential two-generation, community-level change. Boys to Men Tucson also will use many aspects of SVP’s Capacity Building support as they continue to expand their impact in the Tucson community.
The David and Lura Lovell Foundation has invested in SVP Tucson from the very beginning as Ann Lovell was a founding board member. The Foundation recognized that Tucson needed a new philanthropic solution to create greater impact for our community. The Foundation’s contributions have empowered SVP’s growth into a vital community organization that is creating systemic change for families. As of September 2022, SVP Tucson has invested over $2,000,000 into 84 local nonprofits through our Capacity Building and Fast Pitch Programs. In 2021 alone SVP Tucson served over 113,000 people, 80% who live in poverty and over 50% who are people of color
