Youth Invest Partners announces it is sunsetting operations during the first quarter of 2024

Contact: Sarah Dovere, sdovere@youthinvestpartners.org

After serving Greater Washington for 23 years, Youth Invest Partners has made the decision to responsibly sunset and wind up its affairs, including, to the extent possible, the transition of its work to partners throughout the region.

Washington, D.C. – After 23 years of improving the lives of thousands of young people in the Greater Washington community through investments of more than $133 million in 34 non-profit organizations and their leaders, Youth Invest Partners (formerly Venture Philanthropy Partners + Raise DC) has reached the difficult decision to cease its operations and dissolve during the first quarter of 2024. Youth Invest Partners’ Board of Directors and leadership came to this decision after thoughtful consideration that included an assessment of the current philanthropic landscape and the organization’s long-term financial sustainability, particularly given the increased cost of executing on our mission.

Under the visionary leadership of Carol Thompson Cole for 20 years, Youth Invest Partners has laid the foundation for non-profits and leaders to grow and thrive to better serve the children, young people, and families of this region. Youth Invest Partners looks forward to watching this work continue and evolve in the coming years under the management of other, like-minded organizations. The organization will transition its programmatic work, to the greatest extent possible, to program partners and third-party organizations in an effort to continue the critical work related to early childhood education, career and college readiness, and boys and young men of color.

“I am proud of everything Youth Invest Partners has done in Greater Washington and the ways we have evolved and innovated to better serve our community,” said Carol Thompson Cole, President & CEO. “From the early days of capacity-building investments to embracing cross-sector collaboration and systems change, we have helped develop leaders, organizations, and systems serving every jurisdiction in the region that will go on serving young people for many years to come,” Ms. Cole continued.

Youth Invest Partners has had the privilege of serving Greater Washington for over two decades thanks to a long roster of dedicated and passionate partners and investors.

“We are thankful to every investor, foundation, and corporation that has supported us over the years. Our investors saw the needs of this community and showed up to support our young people. We are thankful for how much we have been able to do and the legacy we will leave on the community thanks to the support we received,” said Tony Marquez, Board Chair.

Venture Philanthropy Partners was co-founded by Mario Morino, Senator Mark Warner, and Raul Fernandez, and joined later by Jack Davies. With extensive backgrounds in technology, government, business innovation, and venture capital, the group sought to leverage the principles of private investing to transform the non-profit sector. They were joined by 32 founding investor families and since then an additional 128 individuals, families, foundations, corporations, and local governments have joined as investors and funders. Together, they sought to empower other non-profit organizations in this region to achieve greater results and reach more young people. These organizations include Mary’s Center, KIPP DC, Friendship Public Charter School, Year Up, and more, which combined serve over 57,000 young people annually. The result: stronger organizations serving young people, better life outcomes for those young people, non-profit leaders with greater voice and influence, and systems change for future generations. The unwavering support of Mr. Morino, Senator Warner, Mr. Fernandez and Mr. Davies has been vital in sustaining the organization for all these years.

In 2020, Raise DC joined with Venture Philanthropy Partners to combine capacity building, strategic assistance, and collective impact to create long-lasting systemic change for the young people and families that call this region home. Since then, the combined organization, Venture Philanthropy Partners + Raise DC, rebranded as Youth Invest Partners and launched and supported Collaborative Action Networks focused on early childhood education, boys and young men of color, and career and college readiness in Washington, D.C. and Fairfax County, Virginia.

Co-Founder Mario Morino said, “I am proud to know that Youth Invest Partners accomplished what we set out to do: help put young people on the path to becoming successful, healthy adults, and contribute to the social sector. Under Carol’s leadership, we were able to develop countless leaders across Greater Washington and help scale the capacity of organizations working to support the children who are most affected by systemic racism and inequity. This work was critical to the region and the lessons we learned along the way will be critical for the next generations of innovators in philanthropy.”

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Youth Invest Partners led social change by making sustained investments in community organizations and spearheading partnerships between businesses, community members, funders, government, non-profits and philanthropists. Through direct financial investments, and strategic assistance to strengthen organizational capacity, we have deployed more than $133 million to organizations serving more than 57,000 children and young adults in our region, leading to improved academic achievement, higher graduation rates and brighter futures for Greater Washington youth ages 0-24. Learn more at youthinvestpartners.org.