Aspire and Commit to a Better Community

It’s a tradition we all adhere to as the New Year rings in - we reflect, aspire and commit to what we want to see in the 365 days ahead. How do we want to better ourselves and the community we live in? For many, an important aspiration is how to engage more in the community and make an impact in the lives of others. You may be looking for ways to address a social issue that is near and dear to your heart, you may be looking to invest your time or talent to deserving organizations, or you may just want to educate yourself about local issues, social innovations, or new forms of addressing community issues.Mission Capital’s Social Venture Partners (SVP) is an incredible network of 100+ individuals in the Austin community who believe that together you can do more to address key social problems than anyone can do individually on their own. And for that to happen, you need to find the brightest people with the best ideas and business models to solve them. It’s a great group to be a part of. Here’s a snapshot of what our network did last year:

• The partnership grew more than 20% from 2014 adding nearly two dozen entrepreneurial business leaders eager to lend their time, talents and connections for social good.
• Partners selected three investees--Easter Seals Central Texas, E3 Alliance and Mothers Milk Bank--to work alongside and help execute their business plans. Just in the last year, E3 is on track to directly impact 1,100 teachers and 28,000 students over the next 5 years.
• As a partner and as individuals, partners directed $170,000 of capital investment in terms of grants, equity and debt. And the work of our partners has driven 2.5 million in fundraising commitments to local organizations.
• Our two newest investees, Multicultural Refugee Coalition and Society St. Vincent de Paul, are now ramping up with partner teams to help scale their ventures.

As 2016 starts to unfold, there’s a lot on our dance card. Applications for the 2016 Mission Accelerator class launches on February 18. We welcome our inaugural Social Venture Fellows class of nine rising leaders in the private sector eager to learn about philanthropy and social innovation. We’re introduction an impact investing community of practice for Partners who want to learn about the growing market and evaluate potential opportunities. And we’ll continue, together, to create impact and make a dent in important social problems that we aspire to solve.We’re looking forward to an incredible 2016. If you want be play an active role in helping nonprofits dramatically increase their community impact, email Stella Savage to inquire about joining Social Venture Partner or attending our Annual Kickoff event on Tuesday evening (January 26, 2016).