Social Innovation Fund Fact Sheet

by Nathaniel Whittemore · 2009-07-23 14:52:00 UTC
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A couple days ago, the Corporation for National and Community Service released a fact sheet about the much-buzzed about Social Innovation Fund. There's not a huge amount new there, but it clarifies some things and brings up a question or two.

The document lays out the breakdown of how the money will be spent: 5% on research and evaluation of the SIF, 85% growth funding distributed through intermediary grant making partners, and up to 10% distributed directly to community organizations by the SIF. The total amount of the fund remains intedermined, as the Serve America Act requested $50 million, but the House Appropriations Committee trimmed that to $35 million last week with the Senate not having decided yet.

The grants to intermediary grantmaking organizations (the 85% above) will be made in $1 million to $10 million chunks, with the requirement that those grantmaking organizations match the funds 1 to 1. The subgrants that those organizations must make must be above $100,000 and for a duration of 3 to 5 years.

A piece that isn't new but that I hadn't fully thought through the implications of until now is that community organizations recieving grants must match them, as well. CNCS promotes this as demonstrating that each $1 of the government's money enables $3 of value to nonprofit organizations, but it does bring up the question of from where community organizations are going to get the cash to match.

This may create a new organizing opportunity for nonprofits to leverage online fundraising platforms like GlobalGiving. As I've written before, platforms for fundraising and action are not the same as reasons for action, but this could provide a pretty awesome context for communities to leverage small donations and individual stakeholders.

Nathaniel Whittemore is the founder of Assetmap. Previously he was the founding director of the Northwestern University Center for Global Engagement.
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