Last week, America Forward’s Director, Kelly Ward, gave an interview about the Social Innovation Fund on Change.org’s Social Entrepreneurship blog. She spoke about the potential for the Fund to have widespread impact by scaling innovative programs and by enabling government, philanthropy, and the social sector to better partner to tackle the social challenges we’re facing as a country.

This week, discussions about the impact of the Social Innovation Fund continued with blog posts by Andrew Wolk, Founder and CEO of Root Cause, and Carla Javits, President of REDF—both America Forward coalition members. Both Wolk and Javits offer their insights on the challenges and the potential of the Fund. We’re excited to see this kind of dialogue about the Fund!

Why the Social Innovation Fund is on the Right Track
Andrew Wolk answers some critiques of the Fund posed by blogger Allison Fine, and highlights three crucial new practices brought to the nonprofit sector through venture philanthropy—”growth funding, more rigorous measurement systems, and long-term funding.”

How can the Social Innovation Fund best serve America?
Carla Javits explores how the principles of venture philanthropy could inform the Social Innovation Fund’s structure and operation, especially if “partners can help the federal government to understand how to best deploy and leverage resources.”