Global Donor Meeting Offers Glimpse of ‘Social Innovation’ Office

While the Obama administration has been quiet about its plans for the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, participants at last month’s Global Philanthropy Forum, in Washington, were given a glimpse into the new government effort.

Sonal Shah, the head of the office, told the audience of about 400 foundation leaders and philanthropists from around the world that the social-innovation office has three goals:

• To identify innovative efforts in America and what types of problems they are solving.

• To provide money to innovative nonprofit projects and other efforts seeking to fix critical national problems. For example, she said, the president is interested in improving math and science education and assisting states like Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana, where local industries need to be revitalized.

• To promote national service and volunteerism. Ms. Shah touted the expansion of AmeriCorps, which was signed into law recently, as the “first piece of action” in social innovation.

Ms. Shah, who formerly led global-development projects at Google.org, said that the office wants to work with foundations more closely than previous administrations have done.

She said her focus is primarily on domestic issues, but she is working with the National Security Council to bring a global perspective to the effort.

Ms. Shah said the office has a small staff and for now is focused primarily on listening to ideas from nonprofit leaders and others.

When asked when it would make announcements about its programs, Ms. Shah responded in jest: “I hope soon, or I’ll be out of a job.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton struck a note similar to Ms. Shah’s during the Global Philanthropy Forum, saying she has assigned a veteran diplomat to start a program to work with foundations and philanthropists.

During the event, which is run by the World Affairs Council of Northern California, the secretary said the new effort, called the Global Partnership Initiative, will work with nonprofit groups, businesses, and others to fight poverty abroad, improve education, and support other foreign development efforts.

“I know that we’ve only been in office for a little shy of a hundred days. But I’m even more convinced now than I was when I became secretary of state that the problems we face today will not be solved by governments alone,” she said.

She added: “It will be in partnerships — partnerships with philanthropy, with global business, partnerships with civil society. We have to find new ways to fill that space that is unfortunately left to create vacuums in too many places around the world.”

Elizabeth Bagley, who was a senior adviser to former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and an ambassador to Portugal, will lead the program.

While participants at the event welcomed the Obama administration’s willingness to join “public-private partnerships” with nonprofit organizations, some people wondered what such partnerships would actually look like.

One example discussed at the conference was the U.S. Palestinian Partnership, an effort started in 2007 to expand economic and educational opportunities for Palestinians.

The effort was one of about four large government-nonprofit efforts started by Condoleezza Rice, when she was secretary of state, and other government officials. But it is the only one that survives today, said Walter Isaacson, president of the Aspen Institute, a think tank in Washington.

Aspen is part of the Middle East project along with several large corporations and the Case Foundation, a grant maker in Washington that was established by Steve Case, the founder of America Online, and his wife, Jean.

Asked why the U.S. Palestinian Partnership has attracted support while the other partnerships foundered, Mr. Isaacson credited Ms. Case’s “persistence” in recruiting corporations. He also said that donors who want to be involved in this kind of work have to be willing to take risks and be patient, as it may take years to witness improvements.

During the event, Thomas Siebel, a technology entrepreneur and chairman of the Thomas and Stacey Siebel Foundation, said he plans to establish a new philanthropy prize: $20-million to encourage the creation of affordable energy-efficient homes.

Mr. Siebel, whose foundation is best known for its efforts to prevent methamphetamine use, told the audience that he has been working for two years with researchers at Stanford and Princeton Universities and other institutions on the project.

While it’s possible today to build a home that has a zero-energy “footprint,” Mr. Siebel said, it’s an incredibly costly task. By contrast, he wants to support the development of energy-efficient homes that are no more expensive to build than ordinary houses.

Mr. Siebel said he plans to officially announce the prize this fall.

More articles about the Global Philanthropy Forum are available on The Chronicle‘s Web site.