Hire
- Hire one intern and financially sponsor another intern at a nonprofit organization in summer 2016 through Hire1Youth and continue to do so in following years.
Year One Progress: Hired one intern and sponsored another intern. Internship was extended through November 2016, and intern was hired into a full-time position by Brown Advisory.
Year Two Progress: Hired one intern and sponsored another intern. Our intern returned to high school for her senior year.
Year Three Progress: Hired one intern that worked two sessions and sponsored another intern. Our intern returned to school for his junior year.
Year Four Progress: Hired two interns to work at ABS over the summer. One returned to high school for his senior year and the other started his first year of college. We also financially sponsored a third intern.
- Mentor 12 Baltimore City middle school students from September 2015 through June 2016 in partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters’ Beyond School Walls program.
Year One Progress: Met every other week with 12 fourth-graders from Patterson Park Public Charter School.
Year Two Progress: Continued to work with the same group of students from Patterson Park Public Charter School.
Year Three Progress: Continued to work with the same group of students from Patterson Park Public Charter. There are 10 students that are mentored in the Beyond School Walls program.
Year Four Progress: This is the fourth year that we’ve mentored the same group of 10 students that attend Patterson Park Public Charter.
Buy
- Maintain percentage of professional services expenditures with firms with an office in Baltimore at 75% over the next three years ($1.7 million in 2015).
Year One Progress: Spent 63 percent of professional services spend with local firms in first year (2016) due to a lower than average number of deals. We are on track to achieve our goal for the three-year period based on deal activity in 2017.
Year Two Progress: Spent 87 percent of professional services spend with local firms, giving us a two- year cumulative spend of 79 percent, which is ahead of our goal.
Year Three Progress: Spent 94% of professional services with local firms, giving ABS a three-year cumulative percentage of 82%, which is ahead of our goal.
- Encourage all local Baltimore professional services firms with which we spend more than $50,000 annually to join the BLocal initiative. To date, four out of five firms have committed to BLocal.
Year One Progress: Four out of five firms committed to BLocal. The fifth firm is a national firm for which the local office was not able to make a commitment. However, the local office did hire a summer intern through the Hire One Youth program.
Year Two Progress: Continued to look for opportunities to promote BLocal and encourage other local firms to join the initiative.
Year Three Progress: Continued to look for opportunities to promote BLocal and encourage other local firms to join the initiative.
Year Four Progress: No update.
- Increase nonprofessional services spend with Baltimore-based businesses by 30% over the next two years, to approximately $250,000. The 2018 goal will be to spend $350,000, with a similar financial target in 2019.
Year One Progress: Increased expenditures by 43 percent, to $272,280 in 2016.
Year Two Progress: Increased targeted spending by 22 percent, to $331,933 in 2017.
Year Three Progress: Increased targeted spending by 15% to $380,561 in 2018.
Year Four Progress: Spent $353,289 on nonprofessional services with Baltimore-based businesses in 2019.
- Host 10 meetings in Baltimore in 2016 (double the present number) to increase spending with local hotels, restaurants, and transportation services.
Year One Progress: Hosted 10 meetings in Baltimore.
Year Two Progress: Hosted 12 meetings in Baltimore. In total, $162,181 was spent with local hotels, restaurants and transportation services. We also continue to recommend BLocal to our vendors.
Year Three Progress: Hosted 8 meetings in Baltimore. In total, $148,415 was spent with local hotels, restaurants and transportation services. We also continue to recommend BLocal to our vendors.
Year Four Progress: Hosted 8 meetings in Baltimore. In total, $149,219415 was spent with local hotels, restaurants and transportation services.
Direct Investment
- Make a financial investment of $15,000 in support of Big Brothers Big Sisters’ Beyond School Walls program.
Year One Progress: Invested $15,000 with Big Brothers Big Sisters’ Beyond School Walls program.
Year Two Progress: Invested $15,000 with Big Brothers Big Sisters’ Beyond School Walls program.
Year Three Progress: In 2018, ABS invested $15,000 with Big Brothers Big Sisters’ Beyond School Walls program.
Year Four Progress: In 2019, ABS invested $15,000 with Big Brothers Big Sisters’ Beyond School Walls program.
About ABS Capital Partners
ABS Capital Partners is an investment firm focused on providing equity investments and business expertise to small growth companies located in North America. Our goal is to deliver superior results for our investors—and ultimately the teachers, state workers, students, and charitable organizations they represent. We have backed more than 120 growth companies, including local Baltimore businesses such as Audacious Inquiry, Bambeco, ConnectYourCare, Brown Advisory, and Metastorm (acquired by OpenText). ABS was founded in 1990, originally part of Alex. Brown & Sons, and has 24 employees in offices in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.
