Policy ideas to advance Social Entrepreneurship

Over the last year, a number of policy recommendations have been made to help advance the nonprofit sector to its 2.0 version. The ideas coming forward bring new hope to the social sector as a whole. Perhaps they can finally help shed the too narrow descriptor of "nonprofit" and break down the silos that exist between the funders and practitioners. Below is a listing of ideas that have bubbled up from leaders in our sector and are being considered by the new administration. All, help position social entrepreneurs, and their actions, in a meaningful way that will advance our social impact activities. Here are a few examples worth your attention and advocacy.

Office of Social Innovation – A White House office to provide political capital that will help elevate best practice social solutions, push common success measures, and help streamline governmental processes to move effective programs to scale.
It is true, under the "service" agenda in Obama's presidential campaign, he assured a place in his White House for an Office of Social Innovation. America Forward claims this Office would “spearhead a government-wide effort to increase focus on innovation and results in social programs,” and “lift up promising nonprofit organizations for greater visibility and promote outcomes measurement and competition for federal funding within the nonprofit sector”. Andrew Wolk, of Root Cause lays out it's history and waits for it to unfold here.

Social Entrepreneurship Agency - A federally run and resourced agency to build nonprofit infrastructure, capacity and effectiveness. (An idea similar to the Small Business Administration)
Under the Corporation for National and Community Service, the Obama plan envisioned an agency responsible for “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; and removing barriers for smaller nonprofits to participate in government programs”.

Commission on Cross-Sector Solutions to America's Problems - A bipartisan, cross-sector (government, business, social) commission to coordinate efforts that address systemic social issues in America.
Proposed under the Corporation for National and Community Service, this commission will help monitor efforts, ensure accountability, build capacity, engage research and development, and help best practices move to scale in a coordinated way.

Nonprofit Capacity Building Initiative - A resource strategy to build the skills, engage the cross-sector leadership and move local solutions to scale.
A grant making arm of the Commission on Cross-Sector Solutions that would help ensure the skills and infrastructure to move good ideas to scale; and build from the on-the-ground efforts of communities by providing matching grants to the efforts of private and community foundations, businesses and local/state governments.

Community Solutions Fund Network - A network of funds targeted to bring together public and private dollars to help seed and nurture along proven on the ground solutions.
Each community is facing their own unique issues and targeted solutions. By creating a network of local and state funds that can attract a blend of corporate, governmental, and foundation grants, communities can develop a portfolio of solutions that make sense to address their unique needs.


L3C– Low Profit Liability Corporation – A new tax designation for social benefit enterprises, it is somewhat of a blend between a mission-based 501c3 and a LLC.
By creating a new tax structure for the ventures developed by Social Entrepreneurs, we can start these enterprises that are helping to address the social issues through the business model providing the infrastructure for success from the start.


The bulk of the information presented here have been developed and recommended by America Forward, The Aspen Institute and the National Council of Nonprofits.

All of these ideas are not only exciting but they finally give a serious framework for the social sector as a whole (foundations, donors, nonprofits, etc.). In fact, they are vital for a cross-sector approach to addressing the growing needs and demands that our communities are facing.

For those of you who "get" what this work is about, it is time to start advocating for these ideas so we can start to build momentum from the ground with our individual and collective voices.

The government values my used jeans more than my time.

Inauguration Day Disclaimer: This is a soap box I hope to retire with the new administration. It is time for us to abandon the institutional mentality behind resourcing nonprofits and embrace a new way of engaging leaders who work to solve our social problems. I have every hope and expectation that we as a community will begin to tease out the solutions.

Recently, as I was itemizing a bag of clothes to donate to a local charity, it occurred to me that the government valued my used clothing more than my time. For each pair of adult jeans, I added up $6 as fair market value for deduction purposes. This is what is allowed in Form 526 under contributions of property.

I then reflected on a not too long ago time in my life when I committed long hours of leadership to a local 501C3 organization that focused on our local farmers market. In fact, I spent a good part of three years of my life putting in countless hours working to raise awareness and build a coalition around systemic food issues in North Texas. I engaged a variety of stakeholders (consumers, government, media, and institutional support), to further the conversation around our regional food system. All this while holding down a "real day job" (and raising a family).

So back to the $6 tax deduction for my used (still cute) jeans. It occurs to me that our federal incentives are focused too narrowly. As a career social sector leader, isn't my volunteer time devoted to systemic issues something of value? Something that could be called a "contribution", with similar tracking and incentives?

The bigger questions would be....
How do we find ways to engage the skills and expertise cultivated by our citizens to help solve the social issues of our time? How do we give nonprofits a competitive edge to attract these social entrepreneurs, even for a short time. And how do we get leaders, to do what they do, and help distribute their burden when it is directed to nonprofits.

I have a few ideas. You?