Founding Partner describes growth of SVPSA

Pawl and two other partners were introduced to the concept of Social Venture Partners (SVP) by a member of the SVP chapter in Austin. He admitted he had never heard of anything like it from a philanthropic standpoint, and was immediately intrigued. Pawl comes from a capital markets background and had worked with venture capital firms before. So the venture capital approach to business being applied to philanthropies was something that was immediately attractive for Pawl.

“I’ve seen how impactful private capital can be when applied appropriately, along with professional guidance to growing private businesses,” Pawl said. “And I thought, what a fantastic thing to do in the philanthropic world.”

Helping nonprofits make an impact

After moving to San Antonio in 2022, Rebecca White quickly found her niche. With two decades of experience in the nonprofit world, including five years leading her own consulting firm, she immediately started to explore the local nonprofit landscape.

When she learned about SVPSA from Partner Billy Cox, she was captivated.

“At first I thought wow, could this be? Maybe I don’t understand what he’s saying,” she said. “Then I dug into SVPSA and I was just so impressed.”

Helping the homeless one life at a time

As the director of homeless services for Christian Assistance Ministry (CAM), Valerie Salas often feels like Batman putting on his cape.

She leads a team of five assisting one of the city’s most vulnerable and challenging populations: people experiencing chronic homelessness.

Most of them are not candidates for more conventional homeless services due to mental illness, physical disabilities or substance abuse issues. Salas’ team meets them where they are, whether it’s on CAM’s downtown campus or the streets. When they’re ready, CAM will help them with other needs, such as ID recovery, employment, housing, and other support services.

Connecting local nonprofits through technology

Bill Neely

Bill Neely left a successful 24-year technology career in the corporate world after he started having more fun working with nonprofit organizations.

Neely’s IT experience combined with his passion for helping others has led him to establish his own nonprofit organization. Today he’s the executive director of the San Antonio Community Resource Directory (SACRD), which maintains a free, comprehensive online directory of social services offered by nonprofit organizations, congregations, government agencies and other community groups in and around San Antonio.

Creating a world-class park in San Antonio

One of the best parts of Shannon Perry’s job is when she sees children leaving a show at the Magik Theater. As soon as they turn to see Yanaguana Garden at Hemisfair, their eyes get bigger, their jaws drop and they start running with joy toward the colorful, vibrant playground next door.  

“That never gets old,” she said. “I love seeing the faces of those kids.”

Creating better leaders through coaching

Carissa was training a group to go into rural areas and teach others when she had an aha moment.

“For me it was a life-changing moment of realizing this is what I want to be about, equipping the leaders who are going to go out and make an impact in their sphere,” she said. “I really view that as my purpose.”

Supporting moms and families

When Tia Gibson’s younger brother died tragically, she was lost in grief. 
“I didn’t realize how deep-rooted it was. I didn’t know how to deal with it, but I knew I still had my children to take care of,” Gibson said. “I decided I needed to do something that would allow me to feel again and to live out his legacy.”

That’s when she decided to start Monster Moms…

Pairing young people with caring mentors

Gable Crowder learned early on the difference having a positive role model makes in a kid’s life. Growing up in the projects of Baltimore, he was the only kid he knew who had a father at home…

Helping children with disabilities soar

SVPSA Partner Sharon Krietzburg never intended to be the executive director of a nonprofit. She was working part-time for one when the founders decided to shut it down. Krietzburg, now fully committed to the mission, decided to continue the work she was passionate about: providing once-in-a-lifetime vacations to San Antonio for children with disabilities and their families from all over the U.S.

SVP founder shares leaderships insights in San Antonio

The most important (leadership trait) of all, Shoemaker said, “is a generosity mindset, which looks for ways to connect people and is based on the belief that bringing people together makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts.”

“It’s insanely important in the world today. It’s not about being nicey nice and polite. Having a generosity mindset is a truly strategic way you approach your work. When you walk into the room, are you looking to see who should be connected?” he said.