Social Venture Partners Arizona Teams with Entrepreneur Incubator SEED SPOT to Help Local Nonprofits Build Capacity

Social Venture Partners Arizona Dec. 15, 2015

In an effort to boost nonprofit capacity building throughout the Valley, Social Venture Partners Arizona (SVPAZ) is teaming up with SEED SPOT to offer 20 of the Valley’s most innovative nonprofits exclusive access to the entrepreneur incubator’s intensive boot camp. The organizations are testing the waters of a more robust partnership to instill for-profit skillsets and mindsets in the nonprofit world.

SEED SPOT’s boot camp is an intensive, five-day program enabling entrepreneurs to hone their business models, better understand the needs of their clients, unlock opportunities for growth, define their action plans, and connect to a network of mentors and experts who can make it all come together.

Now, SVPAZ is helping SEED SPOT expand the vision, opening up the boot camp to the 20 semifinalists of the 2016 SVP Fast Pitch competition. The founders and executive directors of these organizations will participate in a specialized boot camp tailored to nonprofits only, which addresses their growth challenges in the marketplace. SVPAZ and SEED SPOT will evaluate interest and outcomes of the boot camp to assess the possibility of an ongoing nonprofit boot camp for other local community leaders.

Fast Pitch, affectionately known in the business and philanthropic world as “American Idol with a soul,” is a two-month-long training and mentoring program designed to sharpen their social impact and business plans, and to train them to succinctly and powerfully “pitch their passions.” It culminates as a public event March 1 at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, where eight finalists take the stage to answer a critical, complex and highly entertaining question: How can you change the world in three minutes?

The SEED SPOT partnership is intended to provide these semifinalists with additional skillsets that can be used to further hone their programs, raise future funds and increase awareness once the competition is complete.

“We are so excited to partner with Social Venture Partners Arizona and be the ‘next step’ after Fast Pitch,” said Courtney Klein, co-founder CEO of SEED SPOT. “In addition to pitch coaching, we will train ventures on best practices in business that will help them become viable and sustainable organizations.”

SVPAZ Executive Director Terri Wogan Calderón says the ultimate goal of the partnership is to help the nonprofit community create a larger social and economic impact Valley-wide. “Fast Pitch has become the premier nonprofit pitch program and competition in the Valley. This program has helped a number of organizations effectively tell their story and gain additional community support, and we are excited to use the expertise of SEED SPOT to take these organizations even further and generate a much wider, positive footprint in the local community.”

Organizations interested in learning more about SEED SPOT’s five-day boot camps can visit seedspot.org.

Community members interested in attending the March 1 Fast Pitch competition can purchase tickets at fastpitchsvpaz.org. Early-bird pricing is available until Jan. 1.

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