America prioritizing social enterprise, nfp innovation, and community engagement

This is from a platform factsheet that was sent to me by a contact. I've copied and pasted the third section into this email and attached the larger document. Note the focus on social enterprise, nfp innovation, and the need for government support. Most fascinating... when do we get something like this in Canada?

 

III. INVEST IN THE CAPACITY OF NONPROFITS TO INNOVATE AND EXPAND SUCCESSFUL PROGRAMS ACROSS THE COUNTRY

In recent years, social entrepreneurs have been the catalyst for much social innovation in education, economic development, health and the environment. By developing innovative solutions to important social issues, social entrepreneurs provide many of the important services that address human needs, improve our quality of life, and make democracy work better. Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe the federal government should invest in this approach by strategically leveraging public and private sector investment; cultivating higher levels of competition, innovation, and accountability in the nonprofit sector; inspiring a new generation of Americans to engage in service; and unleashing the potential of existing high-impact organizations.

In the private sector, companies get this type of support through an institutionalized and significant dedication of resources to research and development. This activity is supported by the federal government with up to $7 billion a year in R&D tax credits. In contrast, R&D in the nonprofit sector is limited, with a disconnect between charitable foundations that can fund innovation and the organizations on the ground that can test new concepts and bring them to scale. As a result, there is little to no marketplace where innovative solutions in the nonprofit sector can start, grow and have a significant impact on the tough issues we face.

Obama and Biden will create a new partnership between the federal government, private sector investors and the nonprofit sector. By leveraging federal dollars, Obama and Biden will foster the use of best practices of the private sector to nurture innovation in the nonprofit sector. This will help identify programs that work and expand them to be scalable in other markets, which will increase the efficiency and impact of the nonprofit sector as a whole. Obama and Biden believe that our problems are not too big, our solutions are currently too small, and they will support an agenda that identifies and scales the best solutions to some of our most pressing problems.

Social Investment Fund Network: Barack Obama and Joe Biden will create a Social Investment Fund Network. This will be a government-supported nonprofit corporation, similar to the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting, that will use federal seed money to leverage private sector funding to improve local innovation, test the impact of new ideas and expand successful programs to scale. The fund will operate through a network of funds that will be rooted in the private sector at the community level, with local decision-making informed by a shared network of best practices. For example, a successful nonprofit organization could apply for funding to study ways to improve or expand the organization to other locations. Or an angel investor could work with the fund to identify high-quality nonprofits that should be expanded to other locations and invest in that expansion. The network of funds would bring experts skilled at analyzing data, picking winners, measuring results, and building capacity to work, and would be driven by the following key principles:

Results-Focused - Funds would provide financial capital to nonprofit organizations based on rigorous criteria and analysis to ensure the highest likelihood of results, particularly projects that would yield a return on investment, such as savings on future public services.

Community-Directed - Funded efforts would respond to specific community-identified priorities. For example, one community might focus on crime prevention while another might choose education.

Cross-sector - Strategies that engage volunteers and businesses would receive special emphasis; a private sector board of local leaders, including business, government, community organizations, and the target beneficiaries would make funding decisions with assistance from analytical experts.

Long-term - Investments would occur over a period of years to increase the likelihood of success and sustainability. At the national level, the Social Entrepreneurship Agency (below) would oversee the fund network to ensure that they meet these criteria. The agency would also help the funds learn from one other, enabling them to build a body of effective practices and expand their knowledge of possible solutions to the problems they seek to address.

Social Entrepreneurship Agency for Nonprofits: Barack Obama and Joe Biden will a create an agency within the Corporation for National and Community Service dedicated to building the capacity and effectiveness of the nonprofit sector. The agency will be charged with:
* Improving coordination of programs that support nonprofits across the federal government.
* Fostering nonprofit accountability.
* Streamlining processes for obtaining federal grants and contracts, and eliminating unnecessary requirements.
* Removing barriers for smaller nonprofits to participate in government programs.

The agency will make grants to build the infrastructure of the nonprofit sector and capacity of nonprofit organizations, including their ability to ensure accountability, manage volunteers, and improve outcomes.