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Fact Sheet |
Leadership |
| Impact Summary »
Please note: this Investment Summary represents
VPP's perspective at the time of the investment agreement, March,
2002.
In March, 2002, Venture Philanthropy Partners and Heads Up:
A University Neighborhood Initiative, Inc. entered a multi-year
agreement to help Heads Up strengthen and grow its organization
to serve more children and college students, to improve the value
of the services it provides, and to ensure Heads Up’s long-term
success. VPP will provide up to $2,074,000 in total funding over
a four-year period and provide significant non-financial support
to augment this funding. The non-financial support will include
strategic management assistance; the leverage of VPP’s investors,
board, advisors, and other contacts; and direct engagement in
initiatives such as the development of information systems. In
addition to the $174,000 it already received from VPP for comprehensive
planning, Heads Up will receive $600,000 the first year of the
agreement. In the subsequent three years, we anticipate funding
allocations of $650,000, $450,000, and $200,000. This funding
is contingent upon Heads Up’s achievement of agreed-upon
milestones (outcomes, outputs, and organizational accomplishments)
and the continued validity of the key assumptions upon which this
partnership has been based.
OPPORTUNITY
Heads Up and VPP share a high expectation that Heads Up will achieve
its aspirations to “become a leading and influential provider
of out-of-school-time programs for children and teenagers in District
of Columbia neighborhoods and to become the premier youth-related
community service program for local universities and undergraduates.”
This investment partnership is to ensure that Heads Up, augmented
by VPP’s support, will reach its goals to:
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Serve at least 2,400 children and teens through
programs at 25 sites in 2007, a six-fold increase over five
years;
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Measurably demonstrate its positive impact
on children, teens, and college students;
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Be considered by D.C. universities and undergraduates
to be the preferred youth-related community service and service-learning
program.
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Play an influential role in shaping out-of-school-time
policy in the District of Columbia, the region, and nation;
and
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Be high performing with excellent operations
and a highly effective, well-trained staff.
RATIONALE
VPP enthusiastically supports making an investment in
Heads Up for many reasons—in particular, because Heads Up
offers a promising model for high-value, out-of-school-time programs.
VPP believes, and research indicates, that strong academic and
character-building programs help children succeed in school, increase
their chances of continuing their education beyond high school,
develop good life skills, reduce involvement in negative activities,
and contribute to the overall health of families and the community.
Therefore, if Heads Up is able to deepen its program and significantly
broaden its reach, it will prepare thousands of District youth
in “at-risk” situations to become successful, productive
members of society.
Also critical to VPP’s decision is Heads Up’s strong
leadership. Co-founders Vin Pan and Darin McKeever have a track
record of building the organization, developing effective programs,
and garnering financial and other support. As evidenced during
the planning process, they have the ability to think strategically,
are open to input and challenges to their ideas, and are committed
to strengthening and building the capacity of their organization,
even as it means letting new senior management into their inner
circle.
In addition to confirming the strengths of these two senior staff
members, the planning process revealed some areas of opportunity
on the board, including several strong and highly committed members
who are willing to make hard decisions, aim high, ask hard questions,
and roll up their sleeves. The planning process and surrounding
activities also confirmed VPP’s suspicion that Heads Up
is highly receptive to and excited about VPP’s high-engagement
model and its strategic management assistance in particular.
The out-of-school-time sector in Washington, DC needs a market
leader, and VPP believes Heads Up can step up to fill that role
with the financial and management assistance that VPP offers.
Research during the planning process confirmed that the out-of-school-time
market is fragmented. Heads Up is one of the largest after-school
programs in Washington, DC, and has key competitive advantages.
Heads Up also believes it can contend and work with the public
school system’s own after-school program. And with the Heads
Up leadership team (including planned hires) and its commitment
to strengthening its organization, Heads Up can become an example
of organizational excellence, setting a standard regionally and
nationally.
VPP’s funding and non-financial support
is aimed at helping Heads Up strengthen its organizational capacity
in the hope that this will allow Heads Up to increase its scale
and improve outcomes for the children it serves. Heads Up will strengthen
its organizational capacity through its best efforts to:
- Continuously improve its leadership, management, and staff’s
skills and effectiveness. Key actions include creating a new
director of partnerships and recruiting and integrating a director
of operations/COO and a development director;
- Focus on demonstrated outcomes and achievements for children,
measure these outcomes and achievements, and hold itself accountable
to them. Specifically, ensure that program outcomes are defined
and information systems to measure and track those outcomes
are developed and integrated into ongoing management processes;
- Develop a diversified fund development program capable of
sustaining Heads Up for years beyond the term of this agreement,
including gaining eligibility for and earning Office of Early
Childhood Development (OECD) subsidies; and
- Improve curriculum and program quality and expand capacity
of program staff. Key actions include recruiting staff dedicated
to curriculum and training; completing rollout of outstanding,
research-based youth and teen curricula; and implementing evaluation
and quality control systems.
INITIAL PLANNING PHASE
The initial planning phase began in September 2001, with the formal
planning effort lasting from October 2, 2001 to January 15, 2002.
McKinsey & Co. led the effort in conjunction with a planning
team made up of Heads Up board members, Heads Up staff, and two
VPP representatives. A staff working group helped provide information
for the effort. In the planning phase, Heads Up:
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Reviewed its current internal and external
situation;
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Revisited its mission, set aspirations, and
defined strategy;
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Identified priority initiatives and resources
required; and
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Developed an implementation plan and communicated
findings.
The planning effort included planning-team meetings, board reviews,
interviews, site visits, and focus groups, and entailed 1,000 hours
of collective working time. The planning team embraced the planning
effort, discussed and resolved very difficult issues, and now Heads
Up Executive Director Vin Pan and other managers quite obviously “own”
the plan. The full board has participated in the planning effort and
supports the plan wholeheartedly, even as it spells out changes for
its own activity level, focus, and composition.
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