We use the term “investment” instead of “grant” to emphasize that the money we give to a nonprofit represents a larger commitment on both parts. LASVP is making a 3-5 year financial and time commitment to work in partnership with the investee, to help them achieve their business growth-and-improvement goals. The investee, in turn, is making a commitment to be responsible for monitoring their progress, and achieving specific, agreed-upon business results.

Applicants must be classified as a 501(c)(3) public charity by the IRS, with programs based in Los Angeles County. Applicants must fit with our investment focus area and meet additional criteria as outlined in that cycle’s grant guidelines. For an example of our 2007 Grant Program Guidelines, see Grant Guidelines.

LASVP partners select investment focus areas based on an assessment of needs in the Los Angeles community and on the interests of our partners. We expect to continue investing in the sectors we commit to, and add to these over time as LASVP grows and evolves.

In 2007, we continued our investments in LA-based public charter schools, and began investing in environmental nonprofits.  In prior years, we have made two investments in South L.A. charter school organizations. We will continue investing in these sectors going forward, but do not expect to add new sectors in 2008.  For more information, see Our Investees.

Our “investments” include both our money and our time. Typically, we can make one investment for every 12 LASVP Partners. We expect that LASVP will make 1-2 new investments each year, in addition to evaluating our current investments for renewal. The financial grant amount will vary, but is expected to be in the range of $25,000-$40,000 per year per investee. In addition to the financial grant, LASVP partners volunteer our time and expertise to work with our investees on strategic projects to help build the organizational capacity, management and infrastructure of their organizations. This in-kind assistance can be as much as 2-3 times the value of the financial grant.

Because LASVP selects a specific area of focus for each grant (or “investment”) cycle, applications are accepted by invitation only. LASVP does not have an open application process. Once the investment cycle begins, there are several steps that applications must complete as part of our due diligence process. For more information, please see the description of our Investment Process.

LASVP has not yet determined the timing of our next investment cycle. Due to the nature of our engaged philanthropy model and our multi-year commitments to investees, we will grow our grant portfolio as the number of our partners grow.

Yes. We would be happy to notify you when our next grant cycle begins. Please note that our investment focus areas tend to be fairly specific, so many interested organizations may not qualify. To provide us with information about your organization and contact person, click here.