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CaseStudy:SocialVenturePartnersIndiaiSocialimpactthroughenhancedcollaboration OriginsandChapterExpansionSocialVenturePartnersIndiawasfoundedinBangalorein2012asamemberoftheglobalSVP network. The first American chapter emerged in Seattle in 1997 from the desire ofsuccessful technology professionals to improve the impact of their charitable giving byleveraging their professional skills and business networks. This model of hands-ongrantmaking by committed individuals (partners) was the foundation for a network ofchaptersthatgrewrapidlyintheUnitedStatesandCanada.In2005thenetworkbegantoexpand internationally. By the end of 2013 SVP had 27 chapters in North America, anestablishedchapterinTokyo,andinitiativesstartingupinIreland,India,ChinaandAustralia.RaviVenkatesan,SVPIndia’sfoundingchairman,isaMicrosoftveteranwhowasencouragedbyhiscolleaguesinthecompanytoexplorehowtheSVPmodelcouldbeadaptedforIndia.WithencouragementandfinancialsupportfrompartnersinSeattle,anSVPchapterinIndiastartedtotakeshapein2012.Fromthestart,itaimedtobeasignificantforceinphilanthropyratherthananisolatedlocaleffort.“Youstartsmallandinsignificant,”saidVenkatesan,“butparticularlyaftermyexperienceofMicrosoft,Iknewwehadtoplanforscale—tobeoneofthelargestandmostinfluentialorganisationsontheIndianphilanthropylandscape.”In July2013,SVP Indiagained legal registrationasaSection25nonprofit companyunderwhichindividualcity-basedcirclesbecamelocalchapters,andthechairmanofeachchaptertakingaseatontheSVPIndiaboardtohelpsteercountrywidestrategy.Livelihood,includingjobcreationandvocationaltraining, isanoverarchingnational focusareaforallchapters.Each group would then choose to tackle additional localised social and environmentalchallengesthatthreatenthewell-beingoftheirparticularcommunities.Over four years the Indian network has established active chapters in Bangalore, Pune,Mumbai and Delhi, with others in the pipeline. SVP India chapters have mobilised 180businessleaders,philanthropistsandactivecitizenstobecomeoneofthelargestnetworksof engageddonors in India.During this time chapter partners have fundedor advised18nonprofits, guiding their growthand steering thedeliveryof increased social impactwithUS$460,000andmorethan17,000volunteerhours.

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TheEvolvingJourneyiiSVP Indiabeganbyadopting the triedand testedgrantmakingprocessesof SVP chaptersaroundtheworld,assistedbySVP’snetworkofficeandclosepersonaltieswithchaptersinSeattle,PortlandandotherU.S.cities.ButthescaleofIndia’ssocialproblemscoupledwiththe entrepreneurial fibre of thosewho joined the Indian chapters raisedmany questionsaboutscaleandimpact.MakingsmallgrantstononprofitorganisationsintheclassicalSVPstylewasanecessaryandappropriatestartingpointforagroupofpeopleaddressingsocialproblemsthroughcollectiveaction.Butseveralpartnersrealiseditwasnotenoughtomoveafewoutofpovertyandintoemploymentby funding small initiatives,but rather to “inventnewmodels that can scaleefficiently,attackstructuralimpediments,andeveninfluencepolicies,”asVenkatesanwrotetoallchapters in2016.SVPIndia’searlycollectiveexperienceofsmallgrantsandcapacitybuilding support for nonprofits that created scores of new jobs has given rise to otherpathwaysthenetworkcouldtakeforscalingsocialimpact.“Asecondpathwayistofindmoreestablishedorganisationsandworkwiththemtohelpscaletheir impact. If theyareona trajectory to impact25,000 livesoveraperiodof time,ourengagementwouldaimtoscalethistosay100,000,”explainedVenkatesan.Thechapters’supportofLabourNet,VruttiandPuneCityConnectexemplifythisadditionalpathway,withindividual partners adding value to grants by advising senior managers at nonprofits onbusiness strategies for sustainable growth, mobilising third party funding, assisting withaccess to technology solutions, or introducing nonprofits to potential corporate partners.“This is the true power of SVP – leveraging the incredible network of our partners,”Venkatesanadded.In2017thissecondpathway isbeingexpandedasSVPIndia’sstrategicengagementwithfivenonprofitsissettogrowto15.ThethirdpathwayenvisagedbyVenkatesanisthecreationofa“livelihoodsplatform”bySVPthat would encourage the flourishing of the ecosystem for sustainable job creation. Thisecosystem comprises diverse stakeholders including nonprofits, skills agencies, donors,investors,employersandgovernmentwhooftenoperate in siloswithout cross-institutioncollaboration. SVP India envisaged a platform that would bring stakeholders together,connectingthemfornewpartnershipswithsharedobjectivesandefficiencies.Aparna Sanjay, the general manager of the Bangalore chapter, recalled that it took an“evolvingjourney”withkeymilestonestobuildtheecosystemplatform.Fromlate2014thechapterhadtwoimportantrelationshipswithnonprofitsthatwereformativeinthepartners’understandingofhowtoachievethemostsocialimpactwithmodestresources.LabourNetreceivedagrantfromthechapterforitsworkinvocationalskillsandruralenterprise,and

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hadrequestedsupportwithhumanresourcesandother internalorganisationalprocesses.OneoftheBangalorepartnersbrokeredaprobonoassignmentbyInfosysconsultantsthathelped LabourNet understand the inefficiencies of its management systems andrecommendedatechnologyplatformtoaddresstheseproblems.Sanjaysaidthisengagementhelpedthechapter“realisethatconsultingadvicewasahugecontributiontotheorganisation,underscoringourventurephilanthropyapproach.”Thiswasthefirsttimethatconsultingadvicewasfocusedontheinternalmanagementprocessesofthenonprofit,ratherthanitsprojects.AsecondkeylearningcamewhentheBangalorechapterassistedVrutti,asocialdevelopmentorganisation, inthenonprofit’sworkwithfarmers.OvertwoyearstheBangalorepartnersbecamedeeplyinvolvedinhelpingtransformVrutti’sbusinessmodelanddesigningalow-costtechnologyplatformwithassistancefromMindtree.“Thedeepengagementoffiveorsixof our partners with Vrutti was transformative but involved no grant,” said Sanjay.“Transformationcamebybringingtherightpeopletogether,”headded.Duringthistimeofexperimentationandlearning,therewasintensediscussionamongthepartnersaboutthescaleanddepthofsocial impactthechapterscouldfacilitategiventhesmall pool of resources at their disposal asmeasured against an ocean of need in India.FulfillingthemoralimperativetoachievegreaterimpactrequiredSVPIndiato“comeupwithcreativesolutions,notliveinasilodoingourownthings,”saidSanjay.SVP’spartnersinIndiacouldleanonalargebodyofexperienceandinsightsfromU.S.chapters,butultimatelytheyhadtofindan“Indianway”forwardthatworkedeffectivelyinthelocalculturalcontextusing“frugalinnovation.”iiiGoBigorStaySmallThe chapters debated the risk of “mission drift” by straying from SVP’s traditional,grantmaking model that originated in North America and was gradually adaptedinternationally. Several partners in India were also cautious that a focus on scale mightundermine the hands-on, experimental nature of SVP engagement with nonprofits. Theoutcome of this “Go Big” or “Stay Small” debate was to pursue both alternativessimultaneously, asmutually supportive strategies. ThiswouldallowSVP India to continuesupporting small nonprofits through the traditional model while engaging with largernonprofitsonscalablesolutionstointractable,masssocialproblems.In 2016 Venkatesan publicly announced SVP India’s commitment to help create amillionsustainable jobs although at that time plans for how such an ambitious goal would beachievedwerestillsketchy.IndianpartnersdrewontheexperiencesofseveralU.Schaptersthat ranFastPitcheventsatwhichnonprofitswouldbegivenslots topitch theirwork topartners.Thiseventideawascoupledwiththeconveningofecosystemstakeholdersatthe

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inaugural conference (conclave) of theMillion Jobs Mission (MJM) held in New Delhi inJanuary2017.MJMwillbeaplatformformulti-stakeholdercollaborationthatwillsupportnonprofitswiththepotentialtocreatejobsandenhanceincomesatscale.InthefirstyearSVPIndiaenvisagesworkingwith15pre-selectednonprofits,termedDesignPartners, that could demonstrate the ability to create at least a cumulative 100,000sustainable livelihoods each in the next five years. At the conclave, the Design Partnerspresented their livelihoodmodels to awide range of private and corporate foundations,impact investors, multilateral agencies, national and local government representatives,professionalservicefirms,andacademics(consortiumpartners).Atthetimeofwriting,theMJMwasintheearlystagesofitsinstitutionaldevelopmentwithkeyecosystemactorsbeingprepositioned,andahighprofileconclaveeventhavinggiventheinitiativevisibilityandmediaattention.Ridingonthismomentum,SVPhasspentthelastfewmonths creating abackbone organisation needed to provide its chapters and consortiumpartners with the secretariat support of the sort associated with the Collective Impactframework.Lead Partners fromSVP providesignificant amountsof time mentoringand guiding thedesign partners toachieve their goalseven as thesecretariat engageswith other largeplayers (governmentagencies,donors) for long-term institutional support.Themovementwillonlygrowassimilarconclavesarebeingplannedeveryyear,eachaddingafurther10-15designpartnersintothemixinadditiontoalargernumberofconsortiumpartners,swellingtheecosystemevenfurther.“Asinanylargemulti-stakeholdereffort,thecontoursofthesolutionsarefuzzyandmaycallformany simultaneousexperimentsbeforeadefinitepathorpaths is decidedupon. Justgettingallplayerstothinkabouttheprobleminacollaborativefashionwouldbeahugestepforward.SVP Indiaseesthisasatremendousopportunitytosuccessfullydemonstratethepower of collective action in solving a very challenging social problem for India,” Sanjayconcluded.

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iThisprofileisaneditedversionofthatpublishedinCirclesofInfluence:theimpactofgivingcirclesinAsia,NUSBusinessSchool,Singapore(July2017).©RobJohn,NUSBusinessSchool(2017).iiOneimportantdocumentthatdescribestheprocessofexperimentationandlearningthatledtotheMillionJobsMissionisOurEvolvingJourneybyRaviVenkatesan,theprefacetotheSVPIndia2015/16AnnualReport,SVPPhilanthropyFoundation,Bangalore,India.iiiFrugalinnovationorJugaad(aHindiwordmeaninganintelligentwaytofindalow-costsolutiontoaproblem)hasdevelopedintotherealmofmanagement,innovationandstrategy.