Today, President Obama announced the launch of the Community Solutions Agenda and issued a challenge to government, the private sector, philanthropy, and citizens to come together to find and invest in promising solutions to our nation’s toughest social problems. This agenda, which includes the Innovation Fund and the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, is designed to scale the impact of effective nonprofit innovations and foster promising new ideas in education, health care, energy, and the economy, among other areas.

With today’s event, the President articulated a new governing philosophy. Recognizing that government can’t—and shouldn’t—do all the work, he called on all sectors to participate in solving the challenges facing our communities: innovative nonprofits to develop solutions; philanthropy to identify effective organizations and partner with government to invest in what works; and the private sector to provide resources and other support to bring these innovations to scale.

Specifically, President Obama announced the Innovation Fund, a new funding model that brings together all sectors to identify high-impact social sector innovations and help them grow. Across the country, innovative solutions to persistent social challenges already exist. But too few organizations—including those with consistent track records of strong performance—are able to find capital that will enable them to expand beyond a modest level. The Fund addresses this issue.

With an initial $50 million from the federal government, the Innovation Fund will leverage investments totaling approximately $1 billion over five years. Administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service, the Fund will provide grants to existing grantmaking institutions that will in turn invest in growing innovative, results-driven nonprofits. Both grantmaking institutions and the nonprofit grantees will match the Fund’s investment, generally resulting in a 2:1 match. A $50 million investment in the Innovation Fund was authorized in the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act and included in the president’s FY2010 budget.

President Obama was joined at the White House by four organizations, including Genesys Works and HopeLab, to highlight the power of citizen innovators who are solving critical challenges in healthcare, education, the environment, and the economy. Genesys Works and HopeLab are members of America Forward, a coalition of more than 80 results-driven, entrepreneurial nonprofit organizations. Launched in 2007, America Forward has worked with policymakers at the federal level, including Congress and the White House, to encourage federal investment in social innovation. America Forward’s 2008 policy platform called for the creation of a White House Office of Social Innovation and a Social Innovation Fund Network.

Visit the White House website to read the President’s remarks from the event.