Andrew Wolk

Social Innovation: The Next Chapter

Posted on 19. Aug, 2010 by Andrew.

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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A New Role for Government … and Foundations

Posted on 28. May, 2010 by Andrew.

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 06. May, 2010 by EmilyC.

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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Deval Patrick’s commitment to advancing social innovation in Massachusetts

Posted on 16. Apr, 2010 by Andrew.

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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New Orleans in the Spotlight

Posted on 08. Feb, 2010 by Andrew.

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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What’s hot in New Orleans?

Posted on 04. Feb, 2010 by Andrew.

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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Social Innovation Fund Draft NOFA is out…Public Comments Due By Jan 15th

Posted on 20. Dec, 2009 by Andrew.

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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Driving at Social Impact in Texas

Posted on 16. Dec, 2009 by Andrew.

Last week I traveled to Dallas for the OneStar Foundation: Texas Center for Social Impact’s Governor’s Nonprofit Leadership Conference. The theme of the conference was “The Driving Force for Social Impact 2009: Where the Rubber Meets the Road.” The title was well chosen; the OneStar Foundation is definitely taking a leadership role in advancing social [...]

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Watch the live stream from Dallas

Posted on 09. Dec, 2009 by Andrew.

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Governor’s Nonprofit Leadership Conference

Posted on 08. Dec, 2009 by Andrew.

I’m excited to be giving a keynote tomorrow at the OneStar Foundation: Texas Center for Social Impact’s Governor’s Nonprofit Leadership Conference in Dallas. OneStar is doing some great work through their Texas Social Innovation Initiative to identify effective nonprofits and support their work (they will announce the seven winners of their competition tomorrow), drawing on [...]

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