Social Impact Investing

While the Administration's focus on evidence-based policy is notable, it is not entirely
unique. In 2013, Elaine Kamarck at Brookings launched the Center for Effective Public
Management, the World Bank Institute promotes what it calls, "Lean" in the Public
Sector, building upon the concepts of "Lean Startup" and "Lean Analytics" from Silicon
Valley, the other agencies such as USAID, Education, and Labor already have
competitive grant programs such as Development Innovation Ventures that take into
account staged or tiered venture capital style grant making, using evidence to support
scale-up grants.
Programs that utilize better information to inform decision-making in grants that involve
strong intermediaries and that enable greater scale and innovation by driving new
private capital into the social sector are often labeled "Innovation Funds," a priority that
enables human and financial capital. This work is highlighted in an April 2014 SSIR
article.
Social Innovation Fund
Instruments
The Social Innovation Fund (SIF) founded in 2009 and administered by the Corporation
for National and Community Service, is one of the flagship social innovation programs
created by the Obama Administration.
Designed by the Office of Social Innovation, the SIF is a public-private partnership that
tests promising new approaches to major challenges, leverages private and
philanthropic capital to meet these needs, and grows evidence-based programs that
demonstrate measurable outcomes. SIF's unique model leverages private and local
resources by investing millions of dollars in experienced grant makers or
"intermediaries" that are well-positioned within communities to identify the most capable
programs and guide them towards greater impact and strong evidence of success. Such
intermediaries then must raise incremental funds 3:1 in order to amplify the power of the
federal funds. These organizations – which include venture philanthropies, community
development financial institutions (CDFIs), operating foundations and social enterprises
– then invest the aggregate capital into high-impact nonprofits that are delivering
evidence-based results in one of three priority issue areas: economic opportunity,
healthy futures, and youth development.
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