The Most Momentous Year

To say that 2015 was the most momentous year in the history of our organization would be a significant understatement. As I reflect back on all we were able to accomplish, and all of the impact we had in this community, I’m humbled and maybe a bit overwhelmed! The credit for such an incredible year goes to our amazing staff, board, supporters and partners. Here’s a sampling of our 2015 highlights:

• New Strategy. We successfully launched a significant change in our vision and strategy, bolstering our focus on strengthening nonprofits while casting a bold new vision to see the most complex problems in our community get solved.
• New Brand. Our strategy shift necessitated a full evaluation of our brand as well. After more than a year of brand assessments, stakeholder input, extensive research, and more, Greenlights for Nonprofit Success proudly became Mission Capital in September.
• New Clients. We were honored to strengthen more than 30 great organizations in 2015 with our in-depth professional consulting services, including groups like Austin Partners in Education, Austin Travis County Integral Care, Emancipet, Texas Charter Schools Association, Komen Austin, Texas Book Festival and many more.
• New Conference. Our annual conference formerly the “Texas Nonprofit Summit” also experienced a significant change. With a clearer focus and an incredible set of speakers, we launched the first-ever summit for social innovation, and it was by all accounts a glowing success serving hundreds of social sector leaders.
• New Accelerator Class. Our second annual Accelerator propelled four great organizations, Multicultural Refugee Coalition, Society of St. Vincent DePaul, Explore Austin, and WeViva, to gain expertise, create business plans and define their focus. Two great events bookended the Accelerator, beginning with Philanthropitch , an exciting evening of fast pitches and judges questions to determine who gained entrance into the Accelerator, and culminating in our Accelerator “Demo Day” where the Accelerator class showed off their months-long work.
• New Forms of Impact. Our collective impact project with the Travis County Collaborative for Children continued to make great strides in improving our local foster care system, and we were part of launching several other related innovative initiatives bringing new forms of capital to our area (including three nationally-funded Pay for Success feasibility studies).
• New Human and Financial Capital. Our high-impact “venture philanthropy” group, Social Venture Partners (SVP), grew to more than 110 partners, bringing hundreds of thousands of dollars in both traditional and non-traditional investments into area nonprofits and social ventures. This group of engaged philanthropists are working closely with the 2015 investees to get their business plans off the ground.
• New Research. Our On the Verge publication was our most extensive and impactful research ever, leveraged by thousands of professionals to make better decisions about programs, funding, collaboration, and more.

It will be hard to top 2015, but we are going to give it our best shot! While we have only officially been Mission Capital for about four months, we want our friends and supporters to know that you can continue to expect the same great support and service you have experienced in years past, but with a whole lot more in 2016, including:

• More Learning and Leadership Offerings. We revamped many of our educational offerings to fill the needs of the sector, including new offerings around leadership development, using data to drive your mission, systems change and systems leadership.
• More Access to Capital. We are working with funders and impact investors to help focus their giving and investing. We’re providing more opportunities for Austin-area philanthropists who want to actively engage in our community.
• More Service Offerings. We have developed and will continue to roll out new services for organizations to help them better manage processes and outcomes, scale their programs, access new forms of capital and be a part of systems change.
• More Robust Networks. We are growing and intentionally bringing together our networks (including our nonprofit member network and our Social Venture Partners network) with new benefits and opportunities for engagement.

We are witnessing nothing less than the dawn of transformational change in the social sector, where new forms of human, financial and intellectual capital are being engaged in social problem-solving like never before. And we at Mission Capital are proud to be leading the charge in this community!