Building Capacity Builders: The Investee

SVP Partners Tanya Anderson, Debbie Newell and Paul Cavanaugh had their first meeting with Open Arms Perinatal Services at their location in North Beacon Hill just as spring was settling into 2015. They were cautious, fully aware that finances can be a sensitive subject for anyone. But as it turns out, they had nothing to worry about.

Co-founder and executive director of Open Arms at the time, Sheila Capestany, had been waiting for an opportunity to take their finances to the next level. Also, the meeting space, true to Open Arms’ character, was like sitting in a family living room, taking the stress out of the air.

“I think they meet there with mothers and their babies. It needs to feel warm and comfortable,” Tanya remembers. “So it was the perfect environment to start this conversation, because normally in finance you sit at a table that’s cold and stark. It sort of took the thing down a notch.”

Building on the success with Open Arms, SVP’s Finance community-practice-timeline-graphic-revised. The community of Practice has gone through the financial health assessment with seven organizations thus far, with three more planned over the next year. By 2017, the process will be integrated into the first year with all incoming investees.

Read the source article at Social Venture Partners