In 2019, SVP Denver and the Denver Active 20-30 Children’s Foundation (DA 20-30) worked on a year-long capacity-building engagement with National Sports Center for the Disabled (NSCD). The NSCD offers adaptive lessons for individuals and groups of people with disabilities in a variety of action sports, adventure sports and competitive programs. Athletes with any physical, cognitive, emotional or behavioral diagnosis may participate in sports and recreation programs year-round in the Colorado front Range and mountains. NSCD is one of the largest therapeutic recreation and competitive adaptive sports agencies in the world, based out of Winter Park Resort, Devil’s Thumb Ranch and Empower Field at Mile High (Broncos Stadium).
SVP Denver has a long-standing relationship with DA 20-30 and partners with them on two capacity building projects each year. Cody Phifer led the SVP/DA 20-30 capacity building project and was joined by fellow DA 20-30 members Russ Williams, David Ray, Nick Eggemeyer, Ross Watzman and Devin Shrum.
The team worked with NSCD on several projects. The first focused on developing a theory of change and logic model for NSCD. The SVP team provided guidance for numerous meetings with stakeholders to gather input on the organization’s purpose and impact. NSCD now employs this logic model for a variety of purposes including staff and volunteer engagement, donor development and creating a framework for rebranding. DA 20-30 also provided funding for a marketing project and participated in branding discussions.
Staff and volunteers are excited to develop a new brand strategy in connection with the NCSD 50th anniversary; the first phases were kick-started by the capacity-building partnership. SVP also assisted NSCD with some inventory management challenges. Together they were able to clean up the NSCD inventory database and explore some software options for improving their inventory processes.
“We already are moving on to phase two of many of the initiatives that we completed during the SVP partnership,” says Kim Easton, CEO of NSCD. “The logic model is helping us to set priorities, develop aligned program impact evaluation, assess and maximize use of resources, and create internal clarity to increase staff engagement. The inventory project gave us a foundation to work from in order to better manage our equipment assets. Our goal will be to launch a new brand identity at the closure of our 50th anniversary celebration this year and create excitement and energy about where NSCD is headed for the next 50 years!”
We at SVP Denver are grateful for our partnership with DA20-30 and the multiplier effect it allows us to have on NSCD, and other capacity-building engagements.