C-SPAN: “President Obama Remarks on Nonprofit Programs” (video)

The New York Times: “Obama Pledges Support for Social Innovation”

The Boston Globe: “Obama Praises Nonprofit, Including New Hampshire Group”

Chronicle of Philanthropy: “President Obama Seeks the Most Promising Nonprofits in America”

The San Francisco Chronicle: “Obama Honors HopeLab for Cancer, Exercise Games”

Nonprofit Times: “Obama Pushes For Social Innovation”

Matthew Bishop: “Philanthrocapitalism in the White House”

The White House Blog: “Community Solutions”

The First Lady also used the occasion to announce the Social Innovation Fund, which President Obama has included in his FY2010 Budget, saying:

The idea is simple: find the most effective programs out there and then provide the capital needed to replicate their success in communities around the country. By focusing on high-impact, results-oriented non-profits, we will ensure that government dollars are spent in a way that is effective, accountable and worthy of the public trust.

As the First Lady’s remarks demonstrate, social innovation is emerging as a key theme for the Obama administration.

You can click here or read the First Lady’s speech in full below:

Remarks at Time 100 Most
Influential People Awards
New York, NY
May 5, 2009

Thank you Rick for that kind introduction and thank you for including me in tonight’s festivities. It is a pleasure to join you all. There are few times in history when the saying “we are all in this together” would be more applicable than now. Events like this one show how truly connected our world is; how one person’s invention can create an entirely new economy; how one person can change how we see the world.

The ability of one person to influence the outcome of someone else’s life inspires me. When I made the decision to leave my job to found Public Allies Chicago, an AmeriCorps program that prepares youth for public service, I realized right away that I had made the right decision.

There are few things more rewarding than watching young people recognize that they have the power to enrich not only their lives, but the lives of others as well. But careers in public service are not always encouraged. We push our young people to strive for things … an advanced degree … a job title … a big salary. Rarely do we urge them to stop and think about what their passion is … what kind of life they want to live … what kind of neighbors and colleagues and parents they want to be. In doing so, we, as a society, often miss out on their creativity, their inventiveness, their resourcefulness– and some really good ideas! We also miss out on the opportunity to inspire a new generation of innovators and entrepreneurs who will direct their energy and talent toward solving their community’s – and our nation’s – most serious social problems.

Careers focused on lifting up our communities – whether helping transform troubled schools or training workers for green jobs or helping low-income families access health care – are not always obvious.
But, at a time when our nation is facing unprecedented challenges, encouraging careers in public service and social innovation is more important than ever. Already, we are seeing young people leading the way with their entrepreneurial spirit, energy and commitment to serving their communities.

For example, Charles Best, a former Bronx public school teacher, started an online philanthropic marketplace called Donors Choose to help teachers who were spending up to $500 a year out of their own pockets for basic classroom materials.

Through Donors Choose, ordinary citizens can directly fund projects initiated by enterprising public school teachers. Online donations have helped students in San Jose become avid readers through the Dr. Seuss series. An art class in the Bronx had no paint brushes. Now every student has a set.

Rebecca Onie is a social entrepreneur who founded “Project Health” to help break the link between poverty and poor health. I remember meeting Rebecca when I was at the University of Chicago and I was very impressed with her. Rebecca organizes college students to staff Help Desks in urban medical centers, universities and community centers. Students then connect low-income families to other critical community and government resources – such as housing vouchers, supplemental nutrition assistance, and educational support. This year, 600 college volunteers will dedicate 100,000 hours to connect over 15,000 low-income children and adults to the resources they need to be healthy.

And then there is John Alford who grew up in a housing project in Brooklyn, attended college in North Carolina and then Harvard Business School. John recently launched NOLA 180 (one eighty) a “turn-around” organization for failing public schools in New Orleans. NOLA 180 transforms these public schools into high-functioning charter schools that prepare every student for college.

Langston Hughes Academy is the first school to benefit. Students spend 50 percent more time in their classrooms. Parents are given teacher’s cell phone numbers so they can call for help with homework.
And, in honor of their namesake, Langston Hughes, students receive instruction in persuasive writing, public speaking, debate and poetry. In its first year, Langston Hughes students outperformed the city’s public school average in reading, writing and math.

Charles, Rebecca and John. I know they are here somewhere. Congratulations and thanks for all of your hard work. This is exactly the kind of social innovation and entrepreneurship we should be encouraging all across this country.

And that is why tonight, I am pleased to announce that as part of the new Serve America Act, the Administration is creating a Social Innovation Fund to help innovative nonprofit groups and social entrepreneurs, like the ones I just mentioned, expand their successful approaches to tackling our most pressing national challenges.

The idea is simple: find the most effective programs out there and then provide the capital needed to replicate their success in communities around the country. By focusing on high-impact, results-oriented non-profits, we will ensure that government dollars are spent in a way that is effective, accountable and worthy of the public trust.

In this room of Leaders and Revolutionaries, Builders and Titans, Artists and Entertainers, Scientists and Thinkers, Heroes and Pioneers, I think we can all agree, we did not get to where we are alone.

Our success was made possible with the encouragement of a diligent parent or teacher, a grandparent who told us we had real talent, an older sibling who paved the way and set a good example, a scholarship or grant that created an unexpected opportunity, or a neighbor or community leader who told us to dream big.

That’s certainly been the case in my own life. I stand here today because of people who loved me, and pushed me and believed in me. I stand here today because of scholarships and grants and experiences that gave me opportunities I was afraid to dream of.

I never imagined that, as a result of all that support, I would be in a position to be a role model for girls around the globe. Girls who look at me and see something more for themselves, more than society expects of them. Girls who now think anything is possible. As global leaders, let’s not underestimate the power each of us has to change the world for someone – and let us not be afraid to try.

See the press release below for more details.

President Obama to Request $50 Million to Identify and Expand Effective, Innovative Non-Profits
White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation to Coordinate Efforts

WASHINGTON – 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 idea is simple: to find the most effective programs out there and then provide the capital needed to replicate their success in communities around the country that are facing similar challenges,” First Lady Michelle Obama will say Tuesday at the Time 100 Most Influential People Awards in New York City, according to her prepared remarks. “By focusing on high-impact, result-oriented non-profits, we will ensure that government dollars are spent in a way that is effective, accountable and worthy of the public trust.”

Melody Barnes, Assistant to the President and Director of the Domestic Policy Council, also highlighted the Fund Tuesday in a keynote speech to the Council on Foundations. “The Social Innovation Fund reflects the President’s new governing philosophy: finding and investing in what works; and partnering with and supporting others who are leading change in their communities,” Barnes said. “We are also working with Federal agencies across the government to identify new solutions to problems that have resisted traditional approaches.”

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. Located within the Domestic Policy Council, it will:

• Catalyze partnerships between the government and nonprofits, businesses and philanthropists in order to make progress on the President’s policy agenda

• Identify and support the rigorous evaluation and scaling of innovative, promising ideas that are transforming communities like, for example, Harlem Children’s Zone, YouthVillages, Nurse-Family Partnership, and Citizen Schools.

• Support greater civic participation through new media tools

• Promote national service.