The early results of these organizations are impressive, and VPP is proud to have contributed to what they achieved. Much of the early growth took place during one of the more difficult economic periods for nonprofits and was achieved while the investment partners were simultaneously strengthening their infrastructures.
But the real gains from these investment partnerships in changing outcomes for children, nonprofits, and the region will take place over the next four to six years. In the private investment world, the return on investment in a single organization takes four to seven years, and the total return of a venture capital fund takes at least seven to ten years to be fully realized. Similarly, for VPP's first investment fund, the total social return will be fully realized in the 2010 to 2012 time period.
By 2010, the investment partners conservatively estimate they will be serving more than 80,000 children in the region-up from 44,000 today-with improved programs and services that will produce demonstrably superior outcomes to change the lives of these children.
VPP also anticipates significant impact will be generated by the synergies and cumulative effects created by the fact that the portfolio organizations are all in the same region. Imagine the aggregated power and capacity of 12 strong, effective high-performing nonprofits with great (some transformational) leaders and engaged, energized constituencies, working together to learn, share, and grow strong in the same geographic area. Through their improved effectiveness and expanded thinking, these 12 organizations will influence their peers, create new and innovative partnerships, and become catalysts for significant and lasting social return for the children and families of the National Capital Region.
VPP is confident of these future gains for several reasons: the nonprofit partners have had significant early successes; they continue to take important steps to make their organizations stronger and more effective (actions that will pay dividends for children and youth in the years ahead); nearly half of the first fund investments are less than two years old; and, to date, only 41% of the $28 million in investment capital has been deployed to VPP's nonprofit partners.
It's important to note that VPP has also been building its infrastructure during this time period. The organization has created, developed, and refined its team, approach, and systems, learning from the IPs and its early mistakes.
VPP is proud and respectful of each of its IPs, the relationships that have developed, and what has been achieved together. Yet despite this progress, we are really just scratching only the surface of what needs to be done to drive change in the field that leads to consistent high performance and lasting success for nonprofits serving children and youth. Significant changes-both inside and outside the region and field-need to occur to make sure that these IPs and other breakthrough organizations have the opportunity and resources to continue to grow, thrive, and become sustainable over time.
