• Who Becomes a Partner?

Some Partners are new to philanthropic giving, while others have a history of either personal or foundation giving. All want to be involved in making a difference in our community. Partners typically join Cleveland SVP for any of three reasons:

1. To invest their money and time in social challenges, and to see the impact of that time and money leveraged by pooling it with other donors.
2. To learn more about their local nonprofit community, and how grantmaking and hands-on volunteering work.
3. To be involved in a model of collaborative decision-making with other Partners and with local nonprofits, as well as the venture capital principles in Cleveland SVP's approach.

• Partner Involvement

Partners can scale their level of involvement from money-only to one-time events or time-based projects to ongoing commitments (typically 6 to 12 months) as a committee chairperson, committee member, or lead partner for an investee. Currently about 30% of Cleveland SVP Partners are "money-only," while 70% volunteer their time in some capacity. When a Partner joins Cleveland SVP, he or she fills out a Volunteer Profile that describes their interests, skills, available time and professional background. The Executive Director then works with each Partner to find the best possible fit for his or her skills and availability. The "best possible fit" falls into three areas of involvement:

• Joining a Working Group to build and manage CSVP's internal infrastructure. Working groups tackle communications, database & web site support, finance, volunteer organization, partner recruiting, and partner education.
• Serving on an Investment Team to either choose a new round of investees or determine ongoing funding for existing investees.
• Joining a Volunteer Team (V-team) to work directly with an investee. See also Cleveland SVP's Volunteer Model.

The entire Partnership comes together a few times each year at Partner Meetings. Otherwise, Partners work in small teams that focus on specific tasks or outcomes. Partners also meet up at Partner Education and social events throughout the year. 

• Enroll Online

Partnership, for those 40 and over, entails a minimum commitment of $5,000 per year for two or more years. Associate Partnership, for those 39 years old and younger, entails a minimum commitment of $2,500. All donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by current law.

Becoming a Partner is easy:

1. Fill out the online enrollment form
2. Send in your first year's commitment (you can pay by check or with stock)

After you complete these steps, a Cleveland SVP staff member will help you get plugged into the organization and get connected with other Partners.