Why is it that in a country with so many resources, and government and nonprofit programs devoted to education, economic prosperity, and health and well-being—social issues we know to be essential to our success—are we unable to spread what works faster? As of 2008, nearly one-quarter of the American population failed to finish high school, 21 percent of American children lived below the poverty line, and the U.S. health care system ranked 37th in the world—lower than any other developed nation. With 1.4 million tax exempt organizations in the country working towards these social issues, why are we not spreading what works faster?
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The establishment of the Social Innovation Fund last year marked a great milestone for the field of social innovation in the United States. As the Corporation for National and Community Service is receiving applications for its 2011 Notice of Funds Opportunity, I want to share a few insights that I believe are relevant to any [...]
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As 2010 draws to a close, I have found myself reflecting on the journey that the field of social innovation and entrepreneurship has experienced.
In February of 2011, Root Cause will celebrate its seventh birthday. It is amazing to me to consider how far we have come as a community working to advance the field [...]
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With the establishment of the White House Office of Social Innovation, the announcement of the Social Innovation Fund awardees earlier this summer, and last week’s article on social innovation in the Economist, social innovation is now officially the hot term of the day – so hot that there is a danger that it will end [...]
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Yesterday, I was at the White House to attend First Lady Michelle Obama’s announcement of the first round of philanthropic commitments Social Innovation Fund. By now, especially for those of us working to bring the sectors together to invest in what works, the Social Innovation Fund is not news. But it was hard not to [...]
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Seeking the Next Generation of Philanthropists for a Twenty-First Century Approach to Solving Social Problems
Posted on May 06, 2010
A familiar refrain to any reader of this blog is that the United States is not currently using its resources for solving social problems as effectively as it could be. According to Giving USA, U.S. foundations and individual donors spend more than $300 billion annually on contributions to charity. By U.S. Census Bureau figures, our [...]
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Today was a landmark day for anyone interested in improving the way we address social problems in Massachusetts. In a ceremony at Year Up this morning, I joined Governor Deval Patrick along with Vanessa Kirsch and Kim Syman from New Profit, Inc. and a group of over 40 nonprofit leaders including Jumpstart, Playworks, Year Up, [...]
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This past weekend was a big one for New Orleans – not just because of the Saints’ Super Bowl victory over the Colts but also the landslide victory for Mitch Landrieu in the election for mayor that took place on Saturday.
Landrieu’s job will not be an easy one, to say the least. As we approach [...]
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No, it’s not just that the Saints are going to the Super Bowl − it’s Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu’s candidacy for the mayor of New Orleans.
This Saturday’s election in New Orleans features the latest in a string of campaigns in which a candidate’s core messages include social innovation or civic engagement. Lt. Gov. Landrieu, for [...]
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The moment that we have been waiting for is here. This week, the Corporation for National and Community Service released a draft Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for the Social Innovation Fund (SIF) for public comment. As I have mentioned before, this should be seen as a good step toward building a broader social innovation [...]
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Lawrence Baker: Social Innovation? What a concept! What we need in...
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JBRootCause: Hi Rhesa, You can find the interview here: ...
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Rhesa J: Looking for updated link to an interview mentioned...
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E Favorite: Hi, Tom - if you're talking about a teacher f...
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