Weekend Entrepreneur Links: Social Innovation Fund

In this late edition of the Weekend Entrepreneur Links, most of the posts focus on the Social Innovation Fund, an initiative of the Corporation for National and Community Service that just announced its first set of grant intermediaries -- the foundation partners who will distribute the money to specific nonprofits. In my estimation, the Fund veered hard toward funding "what works" as opposed to funding risky, novel innovation. Ultimately, the question is how much value they add.

Builders, Buyers & the Social Innovation Fund: Sean at Tactical Philanthropy has been the most stalwart voice supporting the Social Innovation Fund process. This post, which actually started as an email to me, does a good job of articulating his reasons for this excitement. What it comes down to is a frustration with the nonprofit funding world's tendency to fund projects and programs rather than organizational capacity, and what Sean sees as a really bold statement from the US government that the way forward to a healthy social sector is investment in great organization, not preselected funding priorities. I can buy that, but I'm less sure that's the best value add for the government.

Wise Picks? Commentators Weigh In on the Social Innovation Fund Grants: As usual, the Chronicle of Philanthropy's roundup of commentary from the SIF decision covers wide ground and gets the essentials of the various arguments. One of the more interesting links is to a Google map of the recipients (and grantees who have been announced so far).

Open Society Foundations Partner with Federal Government to Drive Innovation and Opportunity Combating Poverty in Communities Nationwide: The title of this piece is basically what you need to know about the story. I include it here because even if I am somewhat disappointed in the approach the Social Innovation Fund took, I absolutely want it to succeed in the direction it has taken. One of the major promises of the Fund was to recruit matching partners, so the fact that that is happening is a very positive sign.

Trader’s Cocoa Binge Wraps Up Chocolate Market: This one has nothing to do with the SIF, but is worth reading. It's the story of a trader who is snatching up a huge portion of the world's cocoa market in order to be able to influence prices. According to the piece, he has about 7% of the global crop. This piece reminds us of the huge questions about unfettered financial power.

Photo credit: r-z