spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer
Skip Navigation and Go Directly to Page ContentHOME spacer
 
 

Forms Forms | Advanced Search
FONT SIZE:  Default  |  Large

spacer
spacer
spacer
spacer
Serving Communities and Country
spacer
HOME
About Us and Our Programs 
spacer
spacer
spacer
spacer

National Service in Your State

National Service Websites

Site Tools

Grab a Widget!
Grab a Widget!

Subscribe to RSS / XML Feeds:
Subscribe to NationalService.gov RSS Feeds

Terms and Conditions

United We Serve / Serve.gov

spacer
spacer
AddThis Social Bookmark Button About Us and Our Programs > Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act of 2009 >
 
Social Innovation Fund

 

Update on the Social Innovation Fund

Listen to a recording of our national briefing call, hosted on October 15, 2009. Listen >

The Social Innovation Fund was authorized by the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, signed by President Obama in April 2009.

Around the country, communities are developing innovative and effective solutions to national and local challenges—from the high school drop-out crisis, to the lack of job readiness, to homelessness. Unfortunately though, there exists a gap in access to sufficient resources and support to help these promising organizations grow their solutions to reach more Americans.

The Social Innovation Fund will increase public and private investment in the replication and expansion of these solutions to more communities. Specifically, it will create a network of social innovation funds around the country to grow and replicate innovative, promising community organizations with strong evidence, organizational effectiveness, and impact potential.

The Corporation will award grants in the amount of $1 million to $10 million per year for up to five years on a competitive basis to intermediary grantmaking organizations. Grants must be matched dollar-for-dollar in cash. Community organizations will receive financial support from intermediaries on the order of no less than $100,000 per year for 3-5 years, as well as strategic guidance to help them evaluate and multiply their impact. Community organizations must also provide a 1:1 cash match for the total amount—federal and private dollars—they receive from the intermediaries.

The Corporation intends to post a draft Notice of Funding Opportunity for public comment in mid-December, 2009. We expect to announce the selected grantmaking institutions in the summer of 2010.

The Social Innovation Fund was authorized for $50 million dollars, but funding is contingent upon congressional approval of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 budget. The budget has not yet been approved, and a Continuing Resolution has been passed. The Corporation will hold a grant competition as scheduled, but will not award funds until Congress passes a budget that indicates funding for the Social Innovation Fund.

Housed at the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the Social Innovation Fund will help solve some of our nation’s most difficult social challenges. The Social Innovation Fund (SIF) will work with the grantmaking community to fund promising nonprofits that have demonstrated outcomes. It will provide nonprofits with growth funding and other support to scale and spread their impact.

Press Releases, Official Statements, and Updates

gray line
       
  HOME