A series of exciting announcements as SVA’s WA Venture Philanthropy portfolio grows

At an evening devoted to SVA’s WA Venture Philanthropy portfolio in Perth last week, Shiri Leventhal, Associate Director, Venture Philanthropy, shared several pieces of positive news with assembled guests.

The highlight of the evening was Shiri’s announcement that a new venture would be joining the WA portfolio. Dismantle runs a bike engagement program which helps disadvantaged and at-risk youth transition into further education and employment pathways.

In welcoming the social enterprise, Shiri highlighted Dismantle’s strong partnership approach in delivering their BikeRescue program as a key factor in their selection. Working exclusively through and with youth service providers, Dismantle has collaborated with over 60 partners to reach more than 500 young people in WA.

Pat Ryan and SVA staff
From left: Shiri Leventhal, David Williams, both SVA, Pat Ryan of Dismantle, and Rob Koczkar, SVA CEO.

Dismantle CEO Pat Ryan then took to the floor to lay out the three-year venture partnership goals and how Dismantle plans to leverage the support from SVA and its pro bono partners. Chief among these goals is developing a social franchise model that will enable BikeRescue to reach more regional communities, while recognising the importance of local program delivery to ensure sustained outcomes.

‘As you can guess, driving our van out to Karratha and back is not the most efficient way to deliver a program,’ Pat explained, while detailing that it is often youth in regional areas that are most in need of support. ‘We are therefore very excited about working with Shiri, SVA and their network to develop a more effective and sustainable model for scaling our work.’

Shiri then shared that this innovative partnership will also be trialling a repayable funding model that will see Dismantle, once sustainable, repay a portion of its funding to support new ventures in SVA’s WA portfolio. Shiri explained that this exciting and unique blend of grant and repayable funding will enable Dismantle to progress towards impact investment readiness.

It was noted that although Dismantle has received some initial funding, further funding is still required to enable this partnership to come to fruition. Shiri highlighted the important role that venture philanthropy is playing for these ventures and the WA community and invited all interested funders and supporters to connect to learn how they can support these exciting partnerships.

Prior to the Dismantle announcement, attendees received an update on Marnin Studio, an Indigenous arts and therapeutic studio and the first venture in the WA Venture Philanthropy portfolio. Marnin Studio was represented by studio manager Brooke Small, women artists Deb Yaddah and Eileen Forrest and visiting artist Megan Kirwan-Ward, who all made the 2500km trip from remote Fitzroy Crossing to share the organisation’s achievements since partnering with SVA in May 2016.

Brooke and the women thanked SVA and its pro bono partners King & Wood Mallesons, Azure Consulting, CT Group Solutions and Drawhistory for the valuable support that they have been providing to the Studio. Due to this support, Brooke was able to share that Marnin Studio has been making significant progress towards professionalising the Studio’s operations, achieving sustainability and enabling them to support more women to become leaders and change agents in their community. Key achievements in 2016 included:

  • Securing new distributor relationships
  • Engaging 21 new women with the Studio
  • Supporting 25 women to develop increased initiative and self-direction
  • Supporting 13 women to take on roles as leaders and role models
  • Generating $40,000 in income by and for the women

To cap off this positive partnership update, Shiri also announced that Marnin Studio and SVA had won the Indigenous Philanthropy Award at the 2017 Philanthropy Australia Awards being held in Melbourne that same night – recognising the impressive work that Marnin Studio is leading in the Fitzroy Valley community and the role of venture philanthropy as an effective funding model.

Marnin and SVA
From left: Megan Kirwan-Ward, Deb Yaddah, Brooke Small, and Eileen Forrest from Marnin Studio, and Shiri Leventhal and Stephanie Shorter from SVA.

Simon Axworthy from the Azure Foundation then spoke, sharing his experiences with SVA’s venture philanthropy portfolio from a funder and pro bono partner perspective. He explained how pleased Azure has been with their decision to ‘outsource’ their foundation’s management to SVA and that SVA’s philanthropic expertise has paid off by enabling them to leverage their funding, support ventures more strategically and ensure they are having real impact in the WA community. He also shared how rewarding it has been for Azure’s employees to apply their skills to supporting SVA’s ventures through the pro bono network and how they are looking forward to continuing to support Marnin Studio and now Dismantle.

Rob Koczkar, SVA CEO, drew the evening to a close by thanking all parties for supporting SVA’s ventures to achieve real results for those living in disadvantage and invited new funders and supporters to connect with SVA to learn how they can be supported to ensure their philanthropic journey is having real, lasting impact.

With the formalities finished, guests gathered to celebrate over a drink with the SVA, Marnin Studio and Dismantle teams, with Pat, Deb, Eileen, Megan and Brook on hand to discuss what’s next for their ventures.