Expanding the Impact of Community Solutions

The Social Innovation Fund (SIF), an initiative of the Corporation for National and Community Service, is an innovative approach to transforming lives and communities that uses limited federal investment as a catalyst to grow community-based nonprofits with evidence of strong results.

By fostering private and public collaborations that identify, evaluate, and expand these nonprofits, the SIF increases access to effective programs that enable people and communities in need to overcome their most pressing challenges in the areas of economic opportunity, health, and youth development.

The SIF uses an operating and program model that is itself innovative and truly represents a “new way of doing business” for the federal government. This model is distinguished by four key characteristics:

• Reliance on outstanding existing grantmaking “intermediaries” to select high-impact community organizations rather than building new government infrastructure.
• A requirement that each federal dollar granted be matched 1-to-1 by the grantees and again by their subgrantees with money from private and other non-federal sources, thereby increasing the return on taxpayer dollars and strengthening local support.
• Emphasis on rigorous evaluations of program results not only to improve accountability but also to build a stronger marketplace of organizations with evidence of impact.
• Effective leverage of the grant program to share knowledge and insights with the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors.

The SIF was established in 2009 under the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act.

The Social Innovation Fund Announces Four New 2012 Grantees

The SIF announced the selection of four outstanding new grantees on July 31, 2012. The new grantees will each receive awards of $2 million over two years, and are eligible for continued funding for a total of up to five years. These four grantees, like the 16 organizations selected in previous competitions, are experienced grantmakers with strong track records of success who have proposed compelling, innovative programs to tackle some of our country's biggest challenges in areas of high need. They are:

• GreenLight Fund, which will work to close the achievement and opportunity gap for youth in Boston, Philadelphia, and the San Francisco Bay area.
• Twin Cities Strive in partnership with Greater Twin Cities United Way, which will focus on youth development for children in kindergarten through college in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.
• John A. Hartford Foundation, which will expand an evidence-based depression treatment program into rural communities in Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho.
• Capital Area United Way, which will address early childhood development in the Greater Baton Rouge area.

Continuation awards totaling $33.9 million have also been made to seven existing grantees, which have all delivered consistent and compelling results in their geographic and issue areas. Those grantees include: AIDS United, Jobs for the Future, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, Missouri Foundation for Health, New Profit, Inc., and The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation.

Because the SIF requires that each federal dollar granted be matched dollar for dollar by the grant makers and again by the nonprofit organizations they select for grants, these federal grants will leverage more than $100 million in private funds. Together, that means that through these new and continuing grantees, a total of nearly $150 million will support the growth of innovative nonprofits serving people and communities in need.

Learn more about all of the grantees engaged in the Social Innovation Fund.

The Social Innovation Fund Recently Added 49 Promising Programs to Its Portfolio

The Social Innovation Fund added 49 promising programs to its portfolio of selected community solutions in the spring of 2012. These programs were chosen by five Social Innovation Fund grantees to receive subgrant awards of at least $100,000 per year for up to five years, which they must match dollar-for-dollar. With their awards, these promising programs will transform the lives of more people by attacking challenges in youth development, economic opportunity, and healthy futures.

The 49 newly awarded programs were selected by the following Social Innovation Fund grantees: The Corporation for Supportive Housing, Mile High United Way, NCB Capital Impact, United Way of Southeastern Michigan, and The U.S. Soccer Foundation. For a complete list, view the Spring 2012 Subgrantees Fact Sheet.