Posted on May 28, 2010

White House Announces Commitments Totaling $50 Million to Social Innovation Fund

The Corporation for National and Community Service has announced additional commitments totaling $50 million in support of the Social Innovation Fund, an initiative by the federal government to support promising nonprofits and innovation in social change work.

Housed at CNCS, the fund plans to award grants to nonprofits with innovative solutions that have the potential to achieve lasting progress toward solving national challenges in the areas of economic opportunity, youth development and school support, and healthy futures. On Thursday, five funders announced commitments totaling $45 million to match SIF grants or invest in other innovative community-based solutions. They are the Open Society Foundation's Special Fund for Poverty Alleviation ($10 million over one year), the Omidyar Network ($10 million over two years), the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation ($10 million over two years), the Skoll Foundation ($10 million over two years), and the Doerr Family Foundation ($5 million over two years).

In addition, a consortium of twenty national and regional funders announced commitments totaling $5 million to the Scaling What Works initiative, which will provide complementary funding for initiatives designed to build the infrastructure needed for the long-term success of SIF. Led by Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, Scaling What Works will work to build more effective partnerships between philanthropy and the public sector in order to accelerate the pace at which community solutions are scaled, provide a mechanism for more donors to support the growth of promising nonprofits, and offer a platform for collaborative learning so that SIF intermediaries can learn from each other and share their lessons with communities across the nation.