SILICON VALLEY SOCIAL VENTURE FUND - SV2

SV2's goals are two-fold:

1. To develop effective philanthropists and social impact leaders across Silicon Valley

2. To scale the impact of promising nonprofits and social enterprises to improves lives in the Bay Area and around the world

Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund (commonly known as SV2) is a vibrant community of givers and change-makers who come together to learn about effective giving and pool their resources to invest in innovative nonprofits and for-profit social ventures. SV2 envisions a more equitable and sustainable Bay Area and world where everyone thrives. Our mission is to unleash the resources and talents of the Silicon Valley community to achieve meaningful social impact.

SV2 pursues this mission through an engaged giving model with three core lines of work:
Grants & Impact Investments: Our donors (called “Partners”) pool their capital to give financial support to high potential social ventures and work together to identify and fund the most promising organizations
Beyond-the-Dollars Support: Many Partners roll up their sleeves and contribute time and expertise in service of SV2 Grantees’ needs
Learning Programs: We offer workshops, speakers, and other opportunities for Partners and Grantees to augment their learning and growth

Five guiding principles inform SV2’s strategies. These principles represent the values and purpose that SV2 seeks to infuse in our work:
We will foster a community of continuous learners with Partners, Grantees, Investees, and community members.
We will broaden the voices involved in our work as we seek to break down the traditional power dynamics in philanthropy.
We will be leaders in practices that align giving and investing with personal values.
We will work with our network of change makers to drive impact in our Bay Area community.
Equity is a central through line in our work.

SV2's main organizational capabilities center around:

- an engaged, strategic, and high-performing Board of Directors
- a seasoned staff team
- dozens of committed and talented SV2 Partner leaders who volunteer to run virtually all of SV2's giving and learning programs (enabling SV2 to keep its paid staff team small and lean)
- mission-aligned strategic allies we collaborate with across the field, including peer funders and the global Social Venture Partner network

SV2 has a long, proven track record of developing effective givers. SV2 has empowered more than 500 strategic givers since its founding almost two decades ago.

During this time, SV2 has also carefully diligenced and funded more than 160 locally-based nonprofits and social enterprises, many of whom have gone on to achieve remarkable scale and become best-in-class social impact models for others.

Our new strategic plan was approved by our Board in December 2021, and it will both preserve the heart of SV2 and push us into new territory. We will be doubling down on what makes SV2 unique while piloting new approaches, learning from these efforts, and refining and fine-tuning as needed. We are excited to begin implementation of our new strategies as we approach our 25th year and beyond.