Today we’d like to introduce you to Ken Davenport.
Ken, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I started my first company right out of graduate school at UCSD and never stopped. After doing four start-ups and working in a variety of sectors (healthcare and IT) over a 20-year period I woke up one day in 2010 and realized that I wasn’t fulfilled in my work and that I needed to find a greater meaning in the second half of my career. So I quit my company and decided to take some time off to find my purpose in life. That lead me to joining San Diego Social Venture Partners, a venture philanthropy organization. SVP consists of business people who want to give back to the community by investing both time and money to nonprofit organizations.
At the time I joined SVP, I hadn’t spent any time in the charitable sector, so it was a great learning opportunity for me. It so happens that the year I joined SVP the sector it was investing in was the military, and I quickly found a passion in helping active duty and military veterans. I was the lead partner for our investment in the Armed Services YMCA at Camp Pendleton, and spend two years working closely with the organization on a variety of issues, from board development to technology adoption. Since then, much of my personal time has been devoted to helping military veterans transition to the civilian world, and I’ve served on the board of directors for the Travis Manion Foundation.
In working with nonprofits, I quickly came to realize that while they are deep in programmatic knowledge, they struggle with business and operational issues. So along with a few other SVP partners we founded Mission Edge.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
No start-up is ever smooth! We’ve struggled on a number of levels. When we started Mission Edge as a 501c3 organization we assumed that we’d be able to attract funding from foundations and donors — knowing that in order for nonprofits to provide good services to the community, they need to operate efficiently. But we quickly realized that funders are programmatically focused — they don’t want to fund overhead/operations, and so while we did receive some start-up capital from the Parker Foundation, we’ve had to survive solely on the basis of our fee revenue and corporate sponsorships. We have a great relationship with Qualcomm, and we run a number of community engagement programs for them. But funding has been challenging for us.
The other struggle reflects the struggles of our clients — mostly small to mid-size nonprofits. These organizations are generally underfunded and understaffed, and providing services to them at a price they can afford is challenging. We have made great strides in standardizing delivery and using technology to do remote work, but finding the perfect balance of service level and cost has been difficult.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Mission Edge – what should we know?
Mission Edge’s initial business model was to provide outsourced back office support — accounting and HR — to other nonprofits, essentially providing them with highly skilled staff on an as-needed basis. Our model is that of a social enterprise — meaning we are a fee-supported organization — so we charge our clients for our services but at a reduced rate. Since 2012 we’ve worked with more than 200 nonprofit organizations, providing operational and back office services. Our clients include The Honor Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, Feeding San Diego, Team Rubicon Global and many others.
Today, we have expanded deeply into more programmatic areas that support nonprofits. We run a skilled corporate volunteer program with Qualcomm and Mitchell International that creates opportunities for employees to give back to the community using their skills. These range from marketing plan development to app design and creation. We also link corporate employees with mentorship and board service opportunities with nonprofits.
Most recently we launched SAIL — the San Diego Accelerator and Impact Lab. This is a 12-week structured program that helps nonprofits develop earned revenue models — lessening their reliance on unpredictable grants and donations. Our first cohort of 10 nonprofits culminated with a pitch event at Qualcomm. Cox, Union Bank and the San Diego Foundation were core supporters, and the results were promising. The winning organization was Second Chance, which is developing an organic produce business and employing at-risk youth.
Our objective is to help organizations serving the community become more effective and sustainable.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Founding and current board members — David Lynn, Duane Nelles, Steve Hermes.
Current board members: Cami Mattson (San Diego Foundation), Molly Cartmill (Sempra) and Nancy O’Leary.
My COO Justin Apger has been with me since the beginning and has helped develop our infrastructure and processes to enable us to scale.
Alicia Quinn, our Director programs, as created and expanded our corporate business.
We owe a debt to San Diego Social Venture Partners for helping us to develop the concept. To the Parker Foundation for our seed grant and to Qualcomm for ongoing financial support.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2820 Roosevelt Road, Ste 200
San Diego CA 92101 - Website: www.missionedge.org
- Phone: (619) 269-9267
- Email: info@missionedge.org
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MissionEdgeSD/
- Twitter: @missionedgesd
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
