May 21, 2009 | Read Time: 2 minutes
As part of his budget request for fiscal 2010, President Obama is asking Congress to provide $50-million to support creative and successful nonprofit groups as part of a new Social Innovation Fund.
The fund was authorized by the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, a new law that expands national-service programs, and will be managed by the Corporation for National and Community Service.
Speaking this month at the Council on Foundations’ annual conference, in Atlanta, Melody Barnes, director of the White House domestic policy council, said the money would provide “growth capital to support the replication of high-impact, results-oriented nonprofits in communities around the country. It will build a pipeline of programs that have demonstrated results and are ready to spread across the country to solve our most serious problems.”
“The Social Innovation Fund reflects the president’s new governing philosophy: finding and investing in what works; and partnering with and supporting others who are leading change in their communities,” added Ms. Barnes. “We are also working with federal agencies across the government to identify new solutions to problems that have resisted traditional approaches.”
She asked foundations and other nonprofit groups to give her advice about how the fund should operate, what charities it should support, and how the White House can evaluate whether it makes any progress.
“We don’t intend to reinvent the wheel. We want to borrow from what you and others have learned and use it to advance this agenda,” she said.
As examples of the problems it will seek to solve, she said the president wants the fund to support innovative job-training programs in the Midwest, math and science education, and efforts to curb obesity among American children.
A ‘Simple’ Idea
Michelle Obama, the first lady, also highlighted the fund in remarks she made this month to a gala event in New York celebrating Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People Awards.
“The idea is simple,” she said. “Find the most effective programs out there and then provide the capital needed to replicate their success in communities around the country.”
She added: “By focusing on high-impact, results-oriented nonprofits, we will ensure that government dollars are spent in a way that is effective, accountable, and worthy of the public trust.”
Ms. Obama recalled her work as founding head of the Chicago office of Public Allies, a group that trains young people for nonprofit and public-service jobs.
“There are few things more rewarding than watching young people recognize that they have the power to enrich not only their lives, but the lives of others as well,” she said.
