Government in the Era of Social Entrepreneurship

The advent of social entrepreneurship as a model for innovating social solutions is fast growing and powerful. However, there is danger in getting caught up in our momentary love affair with social enterprise and forgetting our time-tested, steady partner in social improvements: the government.

Just as my fellow blogger on this site eloquently argued that we should not abandon the traditional non-profit sector during the present social sector age of enlightenment, so too should we not ignore the tremendous power of (non-corrupted, non-bankrupted) governments to fund and bring to scale important social programs.

Here in the United States, most of the programs aimed at improving low-income neighborhoods are funded by the government, not private sources. The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University published a report in 2007 that cites "...a study of youth-serving organizations [that]...found that organizations in low-income neighborhoods had a high percentage of government funding and almost no philanthropic support."

In international development aid, private philanthropic contributions account for only about half of what governments contribute annually. Of course, there are those who argue that despite its enormity, governmental international development aid has done little. Nonetheless, governments are capable of a scale thus far unmatched by private social entrepreneurial efforts.

Despite the criticism of government bureaucracies as agents of change, the purchasing power and sizable infrastructure of governments makes them a significant force for good. The future of social progress is in the interaction between private innovation and government scale, rather than in a misguided notion that social entreprenures will supplant government interventions all together. Social enterprises benefit from nimble, resourceful thinking that is geared toward sustainability, a thinking that should be infused in our government programs. However, innovation and sustainability does not necessarily beget scale.

As governments continue to distribute funds to the social sector through large public works and social service programs as well as experimental efforts like President Obama's social innovation fund, we must acknowledge that governments continue to drive the social sector, and are our partners in growing the best of our ideas into sizable social interventions.

The Social Innovation Fund is emblematic of the convergnece of social entrepreneurship and the government. Indeed, the Obama Administered recently selected a new Director of the Social Innovation Fund, Paul Carttar, whose professional background indicates more of predilection for social entrepreneurship than for government bureaucracies.

As social entrepreneurship as a field continues its process of maturation, it is essential that we break down any ideological misgivings we may have about the government. Ultimately, what matters is doing the most good for the most people. We should innovate and evaluate our interventions, then work with our government partners to help bring our solutions to scale.

Photo credit: dyana