Northern California Grantmakers

The Nonprofit Sector and Community Solutions Act of 2010 (H.R. 5533) was introduced on June 16th, 2010 by Congresswoman Betty McCollum of Minnesota, and intends to strengthen America’s communities by making the federal government a more productive partner with nonprofit organizations.

Despite the importance of the nonprofit sector to the U.S. economy and to the success of many federal, state and local policy initiatives, no federal agency or congressional committee has responsibility for evaluating, building or maintaining the capacity of the nonprofit sector, and government does not collect the data necessary to make sound policy decisions that have measurable impacts in communities.  This Act proposes to:

• Establish the U.S. Council on Nonprofit Organizations and Community Solutions consisting of 16 leading voices from across the sector. The council would produce a report and convene an annual summit on improving the relationship between government and our sector.
• Create an Interagency Working Group on Nonprofit Organizations and the Federal Government composed of cabinet members and other leaders from agencies such as the IRS, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Corporation for National and Community Service. This body would help coordinate efforts between the two sectors.
• Require federal agencies to increase collection of data on nonprofits, with $5 million going to the National Science Foundation for research grants to our sector. The bill spells out a number of proposals such as more accurate counts of employees and better tracking of government funding to nonprofits.

This bill could establish more effective partnerships between philanthropy and government at the federal level, as there would be an opportunity for foundations to share program-area expertise and best practices in supporting community-based organizations and those that they serve.

Read more about H.R. 5533 at Independent Sector and in a recently published article from the Nonprofit Times.

The Social Innovation Fund (SIF), a new public-private investment vehicle established by the 2009 Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act has recently announced the availability of $50 million in Federal funding for intermediary organizations.

Funds are available in the range of $1 – $10 million for between seven and 10 intermediary organizations.

Annual SIF awards are designed to:

• Fund effective and potentially transformative portfolios of nonprofit community organizations to help them strengthen their evidence base, and replicate and expand to serve more low-income communities;

• Identify more effective approaches to addressing critical social challenges and broadly share this knowledge; and

• Develop the grantmaking infrastructure necessary to support the work of social innovation in communities across the country.

Nonprofit community organizations will be competitively selected by SIF intermediaries and receive subgrants to:

• Produce measurable outcomes within a specific issue area or geographic region;

• Evaluate their effectiveness; and

• Replicate and expand to serve more individuals and communities.

Priority issue areas are:

Economic Opportunity – Increasing economic opportunities for economically disadvantaged individuals.
Youth Development and School Support – Preparing America’s youth for success in school, active citizenship, productive work, and healthy and safe lives.
Healthy Futures – Promoting healthy lifestyles and reducing the risk factors that can lead to illness.

Organizations that want to apply for social-innovation money must submit a letter of intent by March 1, with applications due by April 8. The awards will be announced by July.  Full details about the SIF and this funding opportunity, including downloadable application details are available here.

The White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation will be a social innovation fund that provides seed capital to help grow programs addressing social problems that don’t have the funds to take their programs to scale. President Obama has asked for $50 million dollars from Congress for the fund and is asking foundations for matching funds.

Allison Fine, a nonprofit leader and expert on technology and communications, questions if it’s social innovation or if it’s funding tried and trued approaches. Fine wonders if the White House will they take the risks really needed for true innovation.

The White House has expressed that they are open to ideas, and acknowledge that they can’t address social problems by itself—that they need to “partner with creative people on the front lines.”

Listen to the entire NPR story online.