Social Venture Partners Portland Contributes to the Success of CASH Oregon

Bruce Murray and Jim Harper do a great double act. This high-energy duo—an SVP Partner and executive director of CASH Oregon, respectively—spend up to 20 hours each week in each other’s company. They know each other so well they finish each other’s sentences.

The relationship is paying dividends. In the three years SVP Portland has incubated CASH (Creating Assets, Savings and Hope); the budding organization has grown tremendously. CASH started as a group of community members who wanted to increase the number of low-income families using the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a refundable federal income tax credit. Today, CASH is a multi-site nonprofit that filed more than 11,700 electronic tax returns in 2006—generating $10.7 million in payments to low-income families.

“This is money going back into the local economy, back into the pockets of low-income working families, whose average adjusted gross income is $20,500. We’re reaching the right people,” says Bruce. Among those people is a recent veteran of the Iraq war, father to three young children, who is working full-time while studying at Portland Community College. He came to CASH for assistance in filing his return and “we were able to help him get back $7,075”, says Bruce. “He was so pleased.”

Targeting local zip codes known to have high concentrations of low-income families, CASH operates from “super” sites, such as local shopping and community centers. More than 70 percent of the returns it files are for people of color. Together with Portland Partners Scott Collins, Rance Gregory, Joel Kaplan, Laurie Weiss and Sue McGrath, Bruce has helped CASH with raising operating funds, budgeting, forecasting, legal advice, business and logistics planning—and more. Bruce, a former executive vice president of Bank of America and Jim, a former high-tech executive, are now shepherding CASH Oregon’s transition to full independence. CASH has filed for federal nonprofit status and recently elected a new board, of which Bruce is a member.

Bruce is clear about why he’s involved. “This is an exciting start-up, with all the strategic challenges of a start-up. [It] doesn’t matter whether it’s Silicon Valley, or Wall Street, or a Portland nonprofit. There’s immense satisfaction in the feedback. Jim is a great guy to work with, and wonderful things are being accomplished.”

For Jim, working with SVP Portland is “probably the most rewarding and enriching experience I have had. They bring their diverse backgrounds, their different experiences to the table…I tell them I need something done, and these people volunteer. We wouldn’t be where we are today without them.”