$50 Million to Identify and Expand Effective, Innovative Non-Profits

President Barack Obama, in his FY2010 budget, will ask Congress to provide $50 million in seed capital for the Social Innovation Fund to identify the most promising, results-oriented non-profit programs and expand their reach throughout the country. Many solutions to our nation's most challenging social problems are being generated outside of Washington; the Social Innovation Fund will identify what is working in communities across the country, provide growth capital for these programs, and improve the use of data and evaluation to raise the bar on what programs the government funds. The Social Innovation Fund was authorized in the recent Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. The Fund will focus on priority policy areas, including education, health care, and economic opportunity. It will partner with foundations, philanthropists, and corporations which will commit matching resources, funding, and technical assistance. The White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation will coordinate efforts to enlist all Americans -individuals, non-profits, social entrepreneurs, corporations and foundations - as partners in solving our great challenges.