It is becoming more and more obvious that no one sector is going to solve the problems like educational achievement gaps, homelessness, or violence.  The President seems to be calling for a genuine effort to work across sectors to focus on the best organizations out there that can really lead to results.  At the press conference the President said:

If anyone out there is waiting for government to solve all their problems, they are going to be disappointed.  Because ultimately, the best solutions don’t come from the top-down, not from Washington; they come from the bottom-up in each and every one of our communities.

The bottom line is clear: Solutions to America’s challenges are being developed every day at the grass roots – and government shouldn’t be supplanting those efforts, it should be supporting those efforts. Instead of wasting taxpayer money on programs that are obsolete or ineffective, government should be seeking out creative, results-oriented programs like the ones hear today and helping them replicate their efforts across America

Powerful words, but what does it mean in practice? This is what I have learned.

The White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation was created through the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act which was passed in March.  Part of the President’s Domestic Policy agenda, the office is responsible for:

• Catalyzing partnerships between the government and nonprofits, businesses and philanthropists in order to make progress on the President’s policy agenda
• Identifying and supporting the rigorous evaluation and scaling of innovative, promising ideas that are transforming communities (through the Social Innovation Fund)
• Supporting greater civic participation through new media tools
• Promoting national service

The Social Innovation Fund has been seeded with $50 million and is being managed by the Corporation for National and Community Service.  The fund will provide grants to existing grant making institutions that will invest in growing innovative, results driven organizations.  They have been careful to state that innovation does not equate new.  Regardless of age of institution, the emphasis is on adding capacity to bring the best ideas to the forefront.

To be eligible to receive a grant, grantmaking organizations must propose to focus on improving measurable outcomes relating to: education for economically disadvantaged students, child and youth development, reductions in poverty, health, resource conservation and local environmental quality, energy efficiency, civic engagement, or reductions in crime.

The grantmakers must match grants from the Fund with their own internal resources and then must use the funds in order to make subgrants to community organizations that will use the funds to replicate or expand proven initiatives, or support new initiatives, in low-income communities.

So, in a nutshell, the Fund will make grants to other grantmakers who will need to match those dollars and re-grant to local organizations based on rigorous outcomes based data.  While sounding relatively simple there is a mix of great enthusiasm and hesitation in the philanthropic blogosphere for how it will play out – as they say, the devil is in the details.

One organization, Public Innovators who works with government leaders on addressing social problems, is advocating that the Fund give priority to cross-sector collaborations that work directly with state governments to achieve impact on a much broader, systemic scale.  Locally, steps have been taken towards this effort.  State Representative Paul Thissen (DFL- 63A) introduced legislation this session for a Minnesota Social Innovation Fund and an Innovations Commission.  The legislation passed (with some amended language) and included grant money to begin studying how such a fund would be structured.

Representative Thissen states about his legislation,

“Minnesota is a state known for innovation — in the private sector and in public policy.  We know what works.  But it is frustrating to see ideas that work in small, targeted settings fail to grow to help more people, while some programs that have outlived their usefulness continue to be funded.  That needs to change and this legislation is designed to push us toward smarter, more effective ways of helping Minnesotans and building our communities.”

How would you like to see the Fund for Social Innovation used locally?

Interested in learning more – here are some links to additional resources on the topic:

What Exactly is the Social Innovation Fund?

Obama Pushes for Social Innovation

White House Officials Discuss Plans for Social Innovation Office