Over the past five years, VPP forged 12 investment partnerships with highly respected nonprofits serving children and youth in the National Capital Region. We partnered with them to demonstrate that a different type of philanthropic approach-one that adapted the best principles of private investment firms and applied them to investing in the nonprofit sector-could help great leaders build more effective institutions. Ultimately, VPP believes these organizations will generate a greater social return for the children they serve, for the community, and for its founding investors. VPP provided large sums of growth capital over multiple years to its investment partners, gave significant amounts of hands-on strategic assistance, and leveraged resources wherever possible. Along the way, this approach was refined by blending it with time-proven lessons shared by foundations and nonprofits.

VPP believes that investments to build and strengthen organizations are not ends in themselves, but are investments that keep on paying-in this case, through stable, more effective providers improving the lives of children, year in and year out.

Early results show that this approach is working. The investment partners are becoming stronger, more effective organizations, able to serve more children better. Overall, the breakthrough nonprofits VPP supports have significantly stronger infrastructures and greater capacity. They are serving more children, in more locations, with better programs.