Social Venture Partners plans to add more philanthropists

Social Venture Partners (SVP), a network of philanthropist-investors, is planning to increase the number of members, fostering the culture of investing time and monies into not-for-profit non-governmental organisations.

Ram Kaundinya, Chair of SVP Hyderabad Chapter

Set up 10 years ago taking a cue from a similar effort in the US, the SVP now has over 380 members across seven Chapters in the country.

“We have added 58 partners last year and looking to add 80 more this year. In the next 4-5 years, we are planning to take the total number of partners to 700 from the present 380,” Govind Iyer, Chair of SVP, told businessline.

Unlike angel funds and other funding agencies, SVP doesn’t take any equity in the NGOs. It collects ₹2.5 lakh from each of the partners and give grants to the NGOs, which are picked following a rigorous selection process.

“More than money, our partners give their valuable time and assist the NGOs in improving governance, organisational development and evolving strategies,” he said.

Each NGO will be attached to two partners, who are called Lead Partners. The SVP stays with the NGO for three years and help them in reaching out to investors and the ecosystem. The SVP has far supported 90 NGOs, which are into areas like livelihood activities, education and skilling, in the last 10 years.

Ram Kaundinya, who has taken over as the Chair of SVP’s Hyderabad Chapter, said the country needed to “travel some distance in inculcating a philanthropic mindset”. “Several people are giving money to the needy. Getting them along to a formal philanthropic system will hold the key,” he said.

“Scaling up the efforts and multiplying the impact manifold is the next big target of SVP, especially in Hyderabad. The idea is to produce high impact outcomes,” he said.

Citing an example, he said the Chapter is supporting a not-for-profit Swasti, which works for rehabilitation of sex workers. “We are supporting another organisation Ankuram that seeks to work with government schools to deliver superior learning outcomes of about 50,000 children in the next five years in Narayanpet district of Telangana,” he said.

Roadmap

The SVP’s Hyderabad Chapter has prepared a roadmap to improve livelihood of at least one lakh households in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh through its activities by 2025. “We are in the process of shortlisting verticals as per the interest areas and expertise of the partners and creating a unique driving strategy for each vertical,” Kaundinya said.