Community Solution in Action

Social Innovation Fund grantees are actively investing in high-impact solutions across the country. Sixteen intermediary grantmaking organizations have been awarded funding – 11 in 2010 and five more in 2011 – to implement programs in three priority areas: economic opportunity, healthy futures, and youth development. Intermediaries were selected to receive funding for three to five years through competitive processes conducted with unparalleled openness and transparency.

The 11 intermediary grantmakers selected in 2010 all held highly competitive sub-grant competitions, in which more than 500 organizations participated. They selected over 150 Social Innovation Fund subgrantees representing a wide range of organizations including community foundations, local non-profit organizations, faith-based organizations, academic institutions, local public agencies and more.

The map below provides a snapshot of all the intermediaries selected in 2010 and their first major cohort of subgrantees. Each of the intermediaries selected in 2011 will make subgrants in the spring of 2012, and a new map will become available at that time.

The following table identifies all of the grantees selected in the Social Innovation Fund in 2010 and 2011. Please click on the intermediary names to read more about their initiative and subgrantees or to see their application materials.

AIDS United

AIDS United (formerly National AIDS Fund) supports innovative strategies that will increase access to care and improve health outcomes for at least 3,500 low-income individuals living with HIV/AIDS. The project employs rigorous evaluation and informs the implementation of the White House National HIV/AIDS Strategy. It will also offer lessons that will reduce barriers to care for a broad range of chronic disease sufferers.

Federal Awards:	$3.6 million in 2010 $0.6 million in 2011 (to establish a $2.1 million annual rate)
Focus Area:	Healthy Futures
Geographic Focus:	Cities with high HIV/AIDS incidence rates and southern states such as Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, North and South Carolina
Collaborating Partners:	Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Collaborating Funders:	Bristol-Myers Squibb; Walmart Foundation

AIDS United’s Access to Care Initiative (A2C) aims to increase the number of HIV positive individuals receiving care. The SIF grant to AIDS United supports 10 innovative partnerships – collaborations of nonprofits, researchers and others – that are improving individual health outcomes and strengthening local services systems. In total, it will connect at least 3,500 low-income and marginalized individuals with HIV to high quality health care and the supportive services they need.

In conjunction with this SIF grant program, AIDS United has partnered with researchers at Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health to conduct rigorous evaluations of its initiatives. Findings are expected to inform federal policy, including existing federal funding for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, and the implementation of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy’s recent National HIV/AIDS Strategy. Lessons from the evaluations will also inform efforts to increase access to care among individuals with other chronic diseases.

Subgrantees

Application Materials

Track Record before Social Innovation Fund Grant:

• Working through a network of over 30 Community Partnerships across the states and other partners, AIDS United provides grants and support to over 400 community-based organizations annually and has leveraged and invested over $160 million in HIV services over the past 21 years from its Challenge Grants program.
• AIDS United has extensive experience in managing major grant making initiatives that address HIV/AIDS-focused needs in communities and populations most affected by the epidemic, including translation of prevention science to community, support of HIV prevention and advocacy activities in the southern US through Southern REACH and the Gulf Coast Relief Fund, and development of access to care programs in both urban and rural communities throughout the U.S.
• Through its AmeriCorps/Caring Counts Program, AIDS United has trained and supported over 500 youth and adult Corps members who work with local organizations to provide direct services to people living with HIV/AIDS.

Progress:

• AIDS United has selected 10 well-qualified subgrantees that will expand innovative access to care initiatives to 3,500 individuals in high-incidence cities throughout the U.S.;
• Convened their new SIF subgrantees in New Orleans to share and generate ideas for more effectively overcoming the barriers that prevent low-income individuals with HIV from accessing high quality health care;
• Initiated training and infrastructure development among their subgrantees to support critical data collection and staff training; and
• Worked with its subgrantees to formalize collaborative partnerships within its focus communities in an innovative strategy to engage all available resources for supporting low-income individuals with HIV.

Corporation for Supportive Housing

Corporation for Supportive Housing will expand and replicate supportive housing models that combine health, housing and social services to improve the health and housing outcomes from homeless individuals with complex health needs who frequently multiple public crisis systems.

Federal Award:	$2.3 million over two years (2011-2012)
Focus Area:	Healthy Futures
Geographic Focus:	San Francisco, CA, Hartford, CT, Los Angeles, CA, and Ann Arbor, MI
Collaborating Partners:	None indicated
Collaborating Funders:	Conrad N. Hilton Foundation

Based in New York City, Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) is an established leader in the supportive housing movement. CSH’s SIF initiative will support an integrated approach to addressing chronic homelessness with individuals with complex health needs. CSH will work with selected subgrantees that will work with public agencies to identify frequent users of public health systems and provide supportive housing tied to client-centered, integrated primary and behavioral health services. At scale, this initiative will serve frequent users of public health systems that are also homeless in San Francisco, CA, Hartford, CT, Los Angeles, CA, and Ann Arbor, MI. These locations have a significant level of need and opportunity to develop and scale innovative supportive housing models that target this population. By coordinating the needed services and the public systems that serve these frequent users, the potential for impact is huge as this initiative focuses attention on the challenges facing a vulnerable population.

Subgrantees

Application Materials

Track Record before Social Innovation Fund Grant:

• The Corporation for Supportive Housing has developed over 49,000 new units of supportive housing.
• CSH has invested over $270 million in low-interest loans and grants to support the development of supportive housing.
• In the last 5 years, CSH has provided $17 million in grants to 333 nonprofits to support housing initiatives.

Progress:

• The Corporation for Supportive Housing has selected four subgrantees in San Francisco, CA, Hartford, CT, Los Angeles, CA, and Ann Arbor, MI.

Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky

Through its SIF grant, the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky will improve access to needed health services, reduce health risks and disparities, and promote health equality in 6-10 low-income communities in Kentucky. Subgrantees will focus on testing innovative strategies to increase physical activity, improve nutrition, and curb smoking and other unhealthy habits and increase access to health services in underserved communities.

Federal Awards:	$2 million over two years (2010-2011) $1 million in 2012
Focus Area:	Healthy Futures
Geographic Focus:	Kentucky rural and low-income communities
Collaborating Partners:	Center for Community and Health Evaluation
Collaborating Funders:	None indicated

The Foundation’s approach is characterized by funding and intensive training and technical assistance to community groups with innovative ideas for improving the health of their community. It draws on local knowledge to identify pressing health needs and supplements local initiative efforts with local health statistics to help focus investments on pressing challenges. Working collaboratively with communities, indicators of health progress are developed and tracked. Current subgrantees are testing innovative strategies to increase access to needed health services, including dental and behavioral health, in underserved communities. With SIF funds, the Foundation is expanding its work to increase the rigor of evaluation applied to each innovation.

Track Record before Social Innovation Fund Grant:

• The Foundation initiated the Local Data for Local Action program to offer grants, data and technical assistance to community-based coalitions working on pressing health issues. Grantees are diverse and have included local health departments, a state university, and a county board of education.
• The Foundation sponsors targeted research, forums, training programs, and technical assistance. The Foundation funds KYhealthfacts.org, populated with data analyzed by the Kentucky State Cabinet for Health and Family Services and epidemiologists at the University of Kentucky. This information helps guide and ground local proposals and the Foundation investments.
• Prior Foundation investments have contributed to development of a model for in-home care of the state’s frail elderly population; launch of a pilot e-prescription program; and expansion of school-based primary and dental care for low-income families with limited transportation.

Progress:

• The Foundation has awarded 5 grants to date focusing on a variety of issues important to Kentuckians: access to health care in rural and underserved areas, expanding fitness opportunities for low-income youth, and providing innovative dental care for special needs children;
• The Foundation, in conjunction with its evaluation partner, Center for Community and Health Evaluation (CCHE), has been deeply engaged with subgrantees – providing them technical assistance as they develop their evaluation plans. These plans will push subgrantees to be more rigorous in their evaluation efforts; and
• While most subgrantee programs are still in initial stages, several programs are seeing patients and have served over 500 individuals.

Jobs for the Future

Partnering with Jobs for the Future, the National Fund for Workforce Solutions (NFWS) is expanding its targeted training and technical assistance to at least 23,000 low-income individuals over three years while also addressing the critical skill needs of more than 1,000 employers. The leveraged SIF funds will dramatically increase economic opportunities for disadvantaged workers and job seekers through investments in regional workforce collaboratives that partner with employers to identify jobs and career pathways in high-growth industries.

Federal Award:	$7.7 million over two years (2010-2011)
Focus Area:	Economic Opportunity
Geographic Focus:	Baltimore, MD, Boston, MA, South Wood County, WI, Cincinnati, OH, New York, NY, Pittsburgh, PA, Philadelphia, PA, Seattle, WA, Atlanta, GA, Greenville, SC, Louisville, KY, Mobile, AL, and New Orleans, LA
Collaborating Partners:	Council on Foundations; Workforce Learning Strategies
Collaborating Funders:	Annie E. Casey Foundation; California Endowment; Ford Foundation; Hitachi Foundation; John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; Prudential Foundation; Walmart Foundation; Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation; Microsoft Corporation

The National Fund for Workforce Solutions (NFWS) is expanding its innovative approaches to job training and career support in various communities. The selected subgrantees represent the implementation of the NFWS’s and its partner, Jobs for the Future, Social Innovation Fund grant award. The approach of the National Fund is distinguished by a strong focus on two customers: the employee and the employer. While aspects of program implementation vary from community to community, all local sites forge close working relationships with employers, which ensures that NFWS supports training and career programs that prepare jobseekers and workers for the jobs that exist in each community.

Subgrantees

Application Materials

Track Record before Social Innovation Fund Grant:

• NFWS works with over 80 workforce partnerships and more than 900 employers in 23 communities. In 2009, 9,735 participants received degrees or credentials, 4,058 secured jobs, and 81 percent of participants are working full-time.
• $23.7 million in commitments from national NFWS funds has leveraged over $100 million from more than 200 local and regional funders.

Progress:

• NFWS has selected 16 workforce collaboratives across the country;
• These sub-grantees were convened in Washington, DC for an intensive training session; and
• NFWS is selecting a portfolio evaluator who will be charged with developing a rigorous cross-site evaluation to determine the impact of the workforce collaborative model.

Local Initiatives Support Corporation

The Local Initiatives Support Corporation is growing Financial Opportunity Centers – a workforce development and asset-building model that boosts earnings, reduces expenses and coaches low-income families on how to make better financial decisions – to six new cities and 7,500 total participants. The Centers are a core component of the organization’s strategy to build sustainable communities.

Federal Awards:	$4.2 million in 2010 $4.2 million in 2011
Focus Area:	Economic Opportunity
Geographic Focus:	Chicago, IL, Cincinnati, OH, Detroit, MI, Duluth, MN, Houston, TX, Indianapolis, IN, Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN, San Diego, CA, San Francisco Bay Area, CA, Providence, RI
Collaborating Partners:	Economic Mobility Corporation
Collaborating Funders:	Citi Foundation; John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Annie E. Casey Foundation

The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) is expanding by six cities and by 75% (from approximately 4,000 to 7,500) the number of individuals and families served by an innovative workforce development and asset building model called Financial Opportunity Centers (FOCs). The FOC model focuses on improving the financial bottom line for low-to-moderate income families by helping people boost earnings, reduce expenses, and make appropriate financial decisions. A rigorous evaluation design to be conducted at Chicago FOC sites, and additional analysis of other expansion sites, will provide greater evidence about the model’s impact on employment, earnings and savings. The studies, to be conducted by the Economic Mobility Corporation, have been designed to inform workforce policy more broadly.

Subgrantees

Application Materials

Track Record before Social Innovation Fund Grant:

• The FOC model, piloted in Chicago, Illinois, has demonstrated evidence of effectiveness, including positive impacts on long-term job retention, net income, net worth, credit score and overall financial stability. Results from one evaluation showed that 56% of participants recorded gains in net income, 42% showed increases in credit scores, and 43% increased net worth.
  
• The FOC model has several innovative features:
  • Bundling. FOCs provide participants with a “bundle” of services across three critical and interconnected areas: 1) employment placement/skill improvement; 2) financial coaching; and 3) accessing income supports. Early evaluation of this approach found that 25% of clients achieved a "major economic outcome" – a result three times higher than the 8% of those receiving only one service.
  • Use of Community-Based Organizations. The community-based organizations that offer FOC services are often perceived as more trusted, familiar, accessible and able to provide a more individualized level of assistance than government-run providers.
  • Use of Coaches. FOC staff serve as coaches, not case managers, with responsibility for empowering participants to set financial goals and develop an individualized pathway to economic independence.

Progress:

• LISC provided technical assistance to 47 SIF subgrantees regarding its FOC program model and helped them build key infrastructure for accurately tracking outcome data;
• Consulted with subgrantees to further refine its client flow process, through which clients will be able to achieve positive long-term outcomes such as increases in net worth, credit score, and income;
• Improved its case management system (called the Efforts to Outcomes system) to better track the progress of each individual client and the overall success of the FOC model in improving clients’ economic futures; and
• Advanced the development of its program to rigorously evaluate its operations and outcomes, including arranging a comparison group through the City of Chicago’s workforce centers to provide statistically sound analysis of the impact of its FOC model.

Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City

The Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City and the NYC Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO) will replicate five effective anti-poverty programs originally piloted by CEO in eight urban areas. By advancing the education, employment and financial savings of low-income adults and families, the programs will combat poverty across a diverse cross-section of America.

The Mayor’s Fund SIF grants are replicating five evidence-based Economic Opportunity programs through partnerships with 18 subgrantees in seven urban areas: Kansas City, Memphis, Newark, New York, Northeast Ohio (Greater Cleveland and Youngstown), San Antonio, and Tulsa. The programs aim to achieve transformative change across diverse cities and population groups on critical measures of economic opportunity, including education and vocational skills, employment outcomes, savings, and other measures of family well-being. The five programs include Jobs-Plus, Family Rewards, SaveUSA, the Young Adult Internship Program, and WorkAdvance.

Subgrantees

Application Materials

Track Record before Social Innovation Fund Grant:

• The partner organizations have been leaders in replicating effective approaches.
  • The Mayor’s Fund played an instrumental role in establishing the national coalition of Mayors Against Illegal Guns – now a separate nonprofit organization involving more than 500 mayors from over 40 states to stop the flow of illegal guns into US cities.
  • CEO replications and national impacts include: 1) establishing a local Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE) which now co-leads a national coalition of cities that advances innovative financial empowerment initiatives for low-income individuals; 2) developing a new poverty measure recently adopted by the U.S. Census Bureau; and 3) adding work incentives to conditional cash transfer programs – an effort that has been replicated by other countries.
  • MDRC has worked in more than 500 communities and specifically assisted with the replication of the After-School Project, which instituted enhanced reading and math instruction models in 50 schools and community-based after-school centers in 13 states.

Progress:

• The Mayor's Fund and CEO have leveraged partnerships to open 16 SaveUSA sites in four cities (Newark, NJ; New York, NY; San Antonio, TX; and Tulsa, OK);
• Provided intense technical assistance and training to its subgrantees to improve their capacity to provide effective services and carry out rigorous data collection; and
• Helped 1,334 individuals save approximately $800,000 in under 4 months (many of these individuals opened their first bank account through SaveUSA and are now saving for down payments on homes, children’s educations, or their own education).

Mile High United Way

Mile High United Way (MHUW) will fund subgrantee programs that leverage community volunteers to collectively address 3rd grade literacy rates in rural and urban areas across the state of Colorado. Building upon a strong state movement for reform and with strong bipartisan support from Colorado’s Governor, Lieutenant Governor and state legislature, Mile High United Way is poised to introduce key transformations in Colorado’s education system.

Over the next five years, the Early Literacy SIF will showcase a systematic change in Colorado early literacy initiatives. MHUW will coordinate early childhood education programs and service providers around a shared vision of early literacy proficiency and a standardized set of outcomes, mobilize volunteers in organizations using evidence-based programs to improve early literacy proficiency rates, and demonstrate an increase of 25 percent in third grade reading proficiency levels with increasing levels of evidence.

All selected subgrantees will work closely with MHUW in collaboration with a research organization to undertake rigorous evaluations to improve the strength of their evidence. Key measurable outcomes of this program include:

• A 25 percent increase in third grade reading proficiency levels by 2016, based on standardized testing in Colorado;
• A robust statewide coordination of the early literacy agenda;
• The comprehensive development of a communications plan to inform the general public about the plan to increase early grade level reading proficiencies;
• Ongoing data measurements;
• Consistent collaboration with early learning councils across the state to engage volunteers in this important effort; and
• A comprehensive database of 3,000 volunteers directly implementing this initiative.

Subgrantees

Application Materials

Track Record before Social Innovation Fund Grant:

• MHUW has a history of applying evidence produced by rigorous evaluations to decision-making and to improving specific programs within this issue area, such as Making Connections-Denver funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, MHUW's community allocation process and the nationally recognized Denver's Road Home.
• MHUW has incorporated evidence in the support of replication and expansion of grantees by working with school districts on designing and evaluating after-school models.

Progress:

• MHUW conducted a state-wide listening tour with Colorado Lieutenant Governor Joe Garcia before hosting their competition for subgrantees.
• MHUW selected 11 subgrantees working across the state of Colorado to address early childhood literacy.

Missouri Foundation for Health

The Missouri Foundation for Health is investing in 7 sub-grantees working in low-income communities across the state to reduce risk factors and the prevalence of two preventable causes of chronic disease and death: tobacco use and obesity. The project draws on an integrated community change model blending two transformative models of prevention on obesity and tobacco control.

Federal Award:	$2 million over two years (2011-2012)
Focus Area:	Healthy Futures
Geographic Focus:	Missouri, urban and rural low-income communities
Collaborating Partners:	Washington University’s George Warren Brown School of Social Work; St. Louis University School of Public Health; Trailnet; Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights
Collaborating Funders:	None indicated

This SIF grant supports Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH) efforts to implement the Strategic Innovation in Missouri (SIM) project. The project is investing in 7 sub-grantees working in targeted low-income and high-need communities in the state. The goal of SIM is to improve the health of Missourians by reducing risk factors and prevalence of the two most preventable causes of chronic disease and death: tobacco use and obesity. To achieve this goal, a team of qualified MFH staff is administering a competitive application process based on the expansion and replication of the Community Health Improvement (CHI) model across Missouri. CHI is an integrated community change model blending two transformative models of prevention on obesity and tobacco control. Potential innovations to be funded as a result of the project include farm-to-school food programs, workplace changes supporting physical activity and tobacco cessation, and campaigns promoting nutrition and reduction of tobacco use, point-of-sale advertising of tobacco products and smoke-free policies. The potential impacts of the project on individuals and communities include:

• Short-term: Increase in access to services for community residents; increase in local health policy changes in targeted communities; increase in understanding of health effects and preventive activities and expansion of CHI into identified sub-grantee communities.
• Intermediate-term: Decrease in current smoking rates and exposure to indoor tobacco smoke; increase in physical activity and higher rates of consumption of five fruits and vegetables per day.
• Long-term: Decrease in rates of diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure and reports of fair or poor health status; replication of CHI in additional Missouri communities.

Track Record before Social Innovation Fund Grant:

• The Foundation has implemented two related funding programs – Healthy & Active Communities, and Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Initiative – in more than 50 communities in Missouri. As a result, more than 250,000 Missourians have been reached and 215 local policies have been changed.
• Existing grantees include long-established local coalitions, multi-tiered community health centers serving multi-county areas, major university systems, local public health departments, hospitals, and small independent nonprofits providing critical health services not typically reimbursed by third parties.
• Community partners are diverse and include major universities and research centers (Washington University in St. Louis, University of Missouri-Columbia, University of Missouri-St. Louis, RAND Corporation), statewide coalitions (Missouri Convergence Partnership, Missouri Council for Activity and Nutrition, Tobacco-Free Missouri), governmental bodies (Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services) and other area foundations (Incarnate Word Foundation, Healthcare Foundation of Greater Kansas City, Gateway Center for Giving, Deaconess Foundation).

Progress:

• Missouri Foundation for Health selected seven subgrantees across five regions of Missouri to implement proposed strategies for addressing tobacco-use and obesity prevention;
• Through their partners Trailnet and Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights, Missouri has provided technical assistance to grantees to ensure they have the skills necessary to successful implement the Community Health Improvement model; and
• Missouri has submitted a subgrantee evaluation plan, in conjunction with Washington University’s George Warren Brown School of Social Work and St. Louis University School of Public Health. This plan aims to rigorously evaluate the Community Health Improvement model.

NCB Capital Impact

NCBCI’s Stewardship Capacity Fund (SCF) will scale and replicate “shared equity homeownership” (SEH) programs to build the capacity of local organizations to more effectively manage public investment in affordable homeownership for low-income families.

NCBCI will replicate “shared equity homeownership” (SEH) programs to address a troubling decline in nationwide homeownership rates among low-income families. Rather than offering one-time grants, NCBCI’s SEH programs enable new homebuyers to partner with a government or nonprofit agency acting as a co-investor, injecting substantial public funds to reduce homeownership costs. In return, homebuyers will agree to limit, or share, their equity appreciation to preserve affordability so that the initial public investment can ultimately serve far more families. A growing body of empirical research shows that SEH programs can make homeownership safely affordable for low-income families, and that those families can build assets to move on to unassisted homeownership. NCBCI’s Stewardship Capacity Fund will engage high capacity nonprofit organizations that would expand or replicated SEH programs in critical regions across the country. SEH programs require active "stewardship" by a public or nonprofit agency with capacity and experience. NCBCI will address this challenge by providing active “stewardship” to bolster local capacity to manage these investments over time.

Subgrantees

Application Materials

Track Record before Social Innovation Fund Grant:

• For more than 28 years, NCBCI has delivered high-impact investments and development support benefiting millions of Americans.
• NCBCI has managed Coming Home, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded program that was designed to bring the benefits of assisted living to low-income, frail seniors living in rural areas.
• Over the last 20 years NCBCI has successfully led 8 major philanthropically driven initiatives.

Progress:

• NCBCI selected 10 subgrantees working in nine states across the country and the District of Columbia.

New Profit Inc.

New Profit Inc. will collaborate with five to six innovative youth-focused nonprofit organizations with existing evidence to yield significant improvements in helping young people navigate the increasingly complex path from high school to college and productive employment. The project will expand the reach of these nonprofits to improve the lives of nearly 8,000 young people in low-income communities throughout the country.

Federal Awards:	$5 million in 2010 $5 million in 2011
Focus Area:	Youth Development
Geographic Focus:	Baltimore, MD; Chicago, IL; Indianapolis, IN; Los Angeles, CA; Miami, FL; New York City, NY; Providence, RI; San Francisco, CA; Seattle, WA; and West Virginia
Collaborating Partners:	Blue Ridge Foundation New York; Robin Hood Foundation; SeaChange Capital Partners; Open Society Institute
Collaborating Funders:	Blue Ridge Foundation New York; Robin Hood Foundation; SeaChange Capital Partners; Open Society Foundations

New Profit, Inc. and its collaborative partners have implemented the Pathways Fund, a vehicle to select and invest in a portfolio of our nation’s most promising social innovations focused on transitioning low-income youth from high school to post-secondary education and productive employment. These organizations will deepen their impact in existing locations and collectively replicate to several new cities over the five year course of the SIF grant. Overarching goals of the Pathways Fund will include increases in high school graduation and GED attainment, increases in college enrollment, increases in college credit accumulation rates, and achievement of living wage employment for participating youth ages 12-24.

Track Record before Social Innovation Fund Grant:

• New Profit Inc. has over 11 years of experience investing in effective innovative nonprofit organizations focused on a diverse set of issue areas. New Profit helps its grantees build and create well-defined plans to achieve measurable program outcomes, evaluate program effectiveness, improve performance, and replicate, aiming to help organizations move from preliminary evidence to moderate and strong evidence over the course of its grants. Currently, New Profit's U.S.-based grantees operate programs 163 cities in 41 states and the District of Columbia.
• New Profit Inc. works closely with its portfolio organizations to improve their results on the ground and expand the reach of their programs into new communities. Among the organizations in New Profit’s portfolio are Teach For America, KIPP, Citizen Schools, and Jumpstart.In 2009, organizations in New Profit's portfolio achieved a 35% compounded annual growth in revenue and a 40% compounded annual growth in beneficiaries served.
• New Profit Inc. has a track record of success in moving organizations toward stronger evidence. New Profit typically seeks early-stage organizations with developing program models that have a track record of promising data and are committed to the use of data collection and evaluation for program improvement. Toward the end of New Profit's initial four-year investment, organizations typically have an established program model and are ready to engage in third-party impact evaluation. Organizations that have moved toward stronger evidence include BELL, KIPP, New Leaders for New Schools, and Computers for Youth.

Progress:

• New Profit Inc. conducted in-depth due diligence to select three of the nation’s most innovative models for youth development and school support, namely the National College Advising Corps, Single Stop USA, and YouthBuild USA, adding to their existing portfolio, which includes Year Up, iMentor, and College Summit;
• Received a $200K SIF grant match commitment from JPMorgan Chase and another $500K match commitment from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to leverage the resources provided by the SIF grant and maximize the impact of each federal dollar; and
• Convened all leaders and funders of its Pathways Fund initiative in a Gathering of Leaders in Miami, FL during which subgrantees and partners formed strong relationships and set an ambitious agenda for working together over the course of the SIF grant.

REDF

REDF creates job opportunities for thousands of Californians with multiple barriers to employment – including dislocated youth, individuals who have been homeless or incarcerated, and those with severe mental illness – in sustainable nonprofit social enterprises in low-income communities throughout the state. This project is being evaluated to determine the potential of these enterprises as scalable employment vehicles.

REDF is the only intermediary in the country that provides grants and technical assistance exclusively to nonprofit social enterprises that employ low-income people with multiple barriers to employment, including, dislocated youth, individuals who have been homeless or incarcerated, and those with severe mental illness. Through the SIF grants, REDF will:

• Employ at least 2,500 low-income young people and adults with multiple barriers to employment in nonprofit social enterprises (a figure that will expand to 8,000 by 2020 as enterprises achieve sustainability);
• Expand their work to include multiple low-income communities in California, such as Fresno, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and San Diego;
• Conduct a rigorous Social Return on Investment (SROI) analysis and impact analysis to quantify the effect of social enterprises on employee income, receipt of public and employer benefits, education, taxes and incarceration; and
• Produce a growth plan and guide for replication that will inform both the expansion of REDF and the social enterprise model, with the goal of employing tens of thousands of people in the identified target population throughout the U.S.

Track Record before Social Innovation Fund Grant:

• Assisted more than 40 nonprofit social enterprises that have employed and increased economic opportunity for more than 5,500 individuals. Types of enterprises include: landscaping, electronic waste and other recycling, outsourced property management, apparel screen printing, stadium concessions, and janitorial services.
• Evidence found that among those employed in REDF-assisted enterprises who were interviewed 18 to 24 months after hire, 77% had worked in the previous six months and between time of hire and follow-up, and the average wage increased by 31%.

Progress:

• REDF selected six subgrantees working in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Richmond, San Rafael, and Santa Monica in their first competition.

The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation

The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation is combining large grants, strategic business planning, rigorous evaluation and capital aggregation to increase the scale and impact of 9 youth development organizations in communities of need across the United States. Their subgrantees are focusing on improving the educational skills and workforce readiness of economically disadvantaged young people as well as helping them to avoid high-risk behavior.

The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation (EMCF), in collaboration with the Bridgespan Group and MDRC, provide financial, strategic planning and evaluation support to a current portfolio of nine youth development and school support nonprofit organizations working in both urban and rural communities throughout the nation. These subgrantees help youth ages 9-24: 1) improve their educational skills and academic achievement; 2) prepare for the world of work and make the transition to employment and economic independence; and, 3) avoid high-risk behaviors such as criminal activity and teen pregnancy.

Over the last decade, EMCF has implemented a grant making approach that identifies highly-promising nonprofits serving disadvantaged youth from low-income communities and makes large, long-term investments to strengthen their evidence base and replicate and expand them so they can serve more young people. At the heart of this approach is a multi-year business plan that guides an organization’s development. EMCF will donate the cost of formulating such business plans. To help facilitate expansion into new target geographies, co-investors will assist with the identification and selection of nonprofit organizations.

Track Record before Social Innovation Fund Grant:

• Over the last 10 years, EMCF has invested over $220 million in 33 nonprofits that directly serve youth in all 50 states and Washington D.C. The average grant has increased from $90,000 in 2000 to $2 million today.
• EMCF has worked with 19 other investors to create a $120 million Growth Capital Aggregation Pilot designed to help three effective nonprofit organizations – Citizen Schools, Nurse-Family Partnerships and Youth Villages – grow to serve 55,000 youth.
• Other signature investments include the Harlem Children’s Zone, which provides a comprehensive network of programs in New York’s Harlem community that extends from birth through college. One of EMCF’s first partners in youth development, HCZ has expanded from 24 blocks to 100 blocks in Central Harlem and serves over 10,000 youth and individuals annually. An independent evaluation by Harvard University economists found that HCZ’s Promise Academy charter schools significantly reduced the black-white achievement gap in mathematics and English/Language Arts.

Progress:

• EMCF received 225 applicants for SIF funding and collaboration (of these, 169 had never had relationships with EMCF before becoming aware of its SIF partnership);
• Visited and investigated 21 organizations to find the most innovative models of youth development to include in their portfolio;
• Chose nine of the nation’s most innovative youth development organizations to scale and strengthen to reach more disadvantaged youth throughout the country; and
• Created the True North Fund to combine federal and philanthropic resources and demonstrate how public and private dollars can be aggregated to help evidence-based programs achieve greater scale and impact.

U.S. Soccer Foundation

The US Soccer Foundation (USSF) will support the expansion and replication of Soccer for Success (SfS), a no-cost, after-school, sports-based youth development program whose goal is to improve health by arresting and reducing obesity through physical activity and nutrition education.

USSFF will collaborate with 13 organizations from across the country to engage approximately 12,000 low-income youth, who are most at risk to suffer from obesity and its short and long-term health and psychosocial consequences. The USSF will administer SIF grant awards and provide oversight and technical assistance to its subgrantees, which will implement and conduct SfS programs, the USSF's signature anti-obesity effort, for five years. SfS uses a group mentoring model supported by a sports-based environment to encourage physical activity with an infusion of nutrition, health education, and healthy lifestyles. SfS's goal of improving participants' health will be followed using quantitative indicators for the following measurable outcomes: reduction in body mass index (BMI), increase in nutrition knowledge, and increase in fitness levels.

Rigorous data collection and evaluation will support preliminary evidence and demonstrate that Soccer for Success (SfS) is an economical, scalable, and evidence-based program to arrest, prevent, and reduce obesity, a national health crisis of staggering proportions.

Subgrantees

Application Materials

Track Record before Social Innovation Fund Grant:

• The US Soccer Foundation was established with the proceeds from the 1994 FIFA World Cup. In its 15 years, USSF has distributed over $55 million in grant awards and financial assistance to over 600 entities in each of the 50 states to develop safe and accessible play spaces or to conduct programs. Over 1,100 such spaces now exist due to their support, and USSF programming has put soccer within reach for 5 million individuals.
• The National Alliance for Hispanic Health, a longtime USSF partner, provides training to ensure cultural competency in all USSF programs. With its strong cultural influence, soccer is a vehicle to reach at-risk Hispanic youth.

Progress:

• USSF selected 13 subgrantees working across the country to implement Soccer for Success programs.

United Way of Greater Cincinnati

The United Way of Greater Cincinnati, the Strive Partnership and other funders, will address the needs of low-income children and youth from “cradle to career” in the Greater Cincinnati-area though investments in early education, mentoring and literacy programs, college access, career pathways and other innovations.

Federal Awards:	$2 million over two years (2010-2011) $1 million in 2012
Focus Area:	Economic Opportunity, Youth Development and School Support
Geographic Focus:	Cincinnati, OH; Covington and Newport, KY
Collaborating Partners:	Strive Partnership; INNOVATIONS; Institute for Nonprofit Capacity
Collaborating Funders:	Greater Cincinnati Foundation; Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr. / U.S. Bank Foundation; P&G Fund; KnowledgeWorks Foundation

The United Way of Greater Cincinnati, in collaboration with the Strive Partnership, supports a strong community-rooted effort dedicated to addressing the needs of low-income families in the urban core of Cincinnati and northern Kentucky (Covington and Newport) from “cradle to career.” The SIF grant builds on years of collaborative work to identify what children and youth in the area need to succeed, measure progress through an annual report card, elevate nonprofit performance through the use of new management tools, and replicate tested programs. Its priority strategies include early childhood education and home visitation, mentoring, service learning, arts education, dropout recovery, children's health, college access, and career pathways.

Subgrantees

Application Materials

Track Record before Social Innovation Fund Grant:

• The United Way of Greater Cincinnati and Strive Partnership, working with other community stakeholders, developed several documents to guide community investments:
  • The Cradle to Career Roadmap, a document that identifies what children and youth in the area need to succeed; the document has focused nonprofit work and philanthropic investments around a common set of activities; and
  • The Striving Together Report Card, an annual report card that documents education and youth development data for the Greater Cincinnati area, providing a snapshot of the challenges facing low-income communities and tracking progress toward identified outcomes.
• Replication of effective programs by the United Way and partners, including, Books in Action, which improves pre-literacy skills through a focus on books with social and emotional development content, and Health Career Pathways, a workforce initiative that engages employers, educators and others to provide training and support to unemployed or underemployed individuals.

Progress:

• United Way of Great Cincinnati and the Strive Partnership have provided training and technical assistance – both programmed and one-on-one – to its sub-grantees to build their organizational capacity to support scaling impact;
• Moved forward in establishing a funder’s collaborative to attract match funding and encourage community funders to participate in the SIF at both intermediary and sub-grantee levels; and
• Seen success in the SIF’s goal of encouraging cross-sector collaboration as their sub-grantees have toured each other’s facilities and begun discussing how to share best practices, collaborate in data collection, and overlap program services.

United Way for Southeastern Michigan

United Way for Southeastern Michigan will build on the expertise of its partnering organizations and facilitate the development of a portfolio of replicable early childhood learning communities in 10 needy communities in greater Detroit and surrounding areas.

Working on the principle that the majority of development occurs before a child enters school, since 2005 the United Way for Southeastern Michigan (UWSEM) has set a goal that 80% of children in Detroit should enter kindergarten with the social, emotional and cognitive foundation for success. UWSEM’s Greater Detroit Early Childhood Innovation Fund will address greater Detroit’s long-term systemic social and economic problems by investing in children at an early age. Currently UWSEM supports a base platform of service delivery designed to reach children ages 0-5 in their geographic area, which consists of the Detroit Metropolitan area, defined as Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties. This base platform of services, called the Early Learning Communities model, is what UWSEM’s Greater Detroit Early Childhood Innovation Fund will expand and replicate.

Subgrantees

Application Materials

Track Record before Social Innovation Fund Grant:

• UWSEM has a track record of using evidence to select grantees, validate programs, and support the replication and expansion of programs.
• Since 2005, UWSEM’s Early Learning Communities have reached 29 locations serving over 2,000 parents and caregivers
• UWSEM is funding a four-year longitudinal evaluation of its current early childhood grantees to measure the extent to which the program intervention improves school readiness.
• UWSEM supported the replication and expansion of the program from five program sites impacting 280 children to twenty-nine program sites impacting 12,000 children.

Venture Philanthropy Partners

Venture Philanthropy Partners will create a powerful network of effective nonprofit organizations in the Washington D.C. National Capital Region supporting an integrated approach to addressing the education and employment needs of low-income and vulnerable youth ages 14-24.

Operating in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area (the National Capital Region), Venture Philanthropy Partner’s (VPP) youthCONNECT SIF supports an integrated approach to addressing the education and employment needs of low-income and vulnerable youth ages 14-24. At scale, the network of VPP-supported nonprofit organizations – up to eight in total – will directly serve an estimated 20,000 youth. Subgrantees are collaborating and contributing data to a common framework that focuses on increasing education and employment outcomes for low-income youth and decreasing the number of disconnected youth in the region. The potential for impact is much greater, as their leveraged investments focus attention on the challenges facing local youth and rigorous evaluations yield lessons with broad implications for the public and youth development sectors.

Subgrantees

Application Materials

Track Record before Social Innovation Fund Grant:

• Invested over $30 million in National Capital Region nonprofit organizations, allowing them to expand to 21 more sites and serve 37 new neighborhoods, ultimately increasing services to 16,000 more children and youth.
• Developed a committed and engaged community of investors, recently securing commitments of $38 million from nearly 70 individuals, foundations and corporate partners.
• One signature investment is Mary's Center for Maternal and Child Care, a nonprofit that provided an integrated set of health care, education, and social services to nearly 20,000 children over the four-year term of the VPP investment. Positive outcomes included enhanced immunization rates, healthier babies, and fewer teenage pregnancies, as compared to area statistics.
• Another signature investment is the See Forever Foundation’s Maya Angelou Public Charter School. During VPP’s five-year investment, it grew from serving 85 student to 240 and now, three years later, serves 556 young people through four campuses and an education program at the New Beginnings juvenile detention facility which was recently named one of the best educational programs in a confinement facility.

Progress:

• VPP has selected subgrantees, completing their portfolio as follows: College Summity-National Capital Region; KIPP DC; Latin American Youth Center; Metro TeenAIDS; Urban Alliance Foundation; Year Up- National Capital Region;
• Convened network gatherings as well as conference calls and individual sub-grantee meetings among its youthCONNECT network to build collaborative relationships across its SIF Youth Development portfolio;
• Engaged its sub-grantees and partners in capacity building activities, including expanding and solidifying their program services and strengthening staff capacity;
• Worked with its evaluation collaborator, Child Trends, to conduct site visits and one-on-one meetings with each network partner and begin the development of rigorous evaluation strategies, both for individual sub-grantees and for the youthCONNECT portfolio as a whole; and
• Reached out to other SIF intermediaries to learn and collaborate about strategies for evaluation. VPP also reached out to several funders to inform them of the youthCONNECT initiative and to attract and secure additional potential match funding partners for the network.