[2][3] The idea for a White House Office for Social Entrepreneurship was first developed at the Center for American Progress by then-Senior Fellow and former Ashoka staffer Michele Jolin.
[5] At the same time, non-profit organizations, even if readily able to obtain short-term startup financing, face difficulty securing capital to sustain and expand successful programs.
The plans highlighted the potential of this sector – as of 2012, nonprofits generated $1.5 trillion within the US economy, employed 13.5 million Americans and contributed nearly 5.5% GDP, while struggling with a scarcity of resources, given the uncertainty of donations, and their lack of access to traditional incentives to growth enjoyed by for-profit businesses.
[7]) The transition plans also called for using federal seed money to leverage private sector funding, so as to improve local innovation, expand successful programs, and test the impact of new ideas.
This is based on research that indicates that communities with higher degrees of civic health have increased economic resilience and lower rates of unemployment.
[10] Such civic health can be measured by indicators such as the rates of volunteering, voting, and the density of per capita nonprofits that provide essential local services.
The data also indicates that interest in volunteering has reached extraordinary levels with historic numbers of applications for public programs such as AmeriCorps and Peace Corps.
In April 2009, President Barack Obama signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act reauthorizing and expanding national service programs.
Enabled by new federal funding, these incremental corps members will gain hands-on experience and new skills that will improve their own professional prospects for the rest of their lives while they are increasing national resilience.
Since the announcement, FEMA Corps members have been on the ground, helping with the coordinated response to disasters such as Superstorm Sandy in New York and New Jersey and the 2013 Moore and El Reno tornado outbreaks in Oklahoma.
In 2010, President Obama signed the executive order establishing White House Council for Community Solutions to engage cross sector leaders to identify initiatives that expanded civic participation,[15] helped solve the nation's most serious problems and create new pathways for "Disconnected Youth", 16- to 24-year-olds who are out of school and work.
[17] The Council participated in a series of town hall meetings across the country[18] and conducted considerable research to understand the issues facing this population.
[19] It spawned other outcomes, including the launch of the Aspen Forum for Community Solutions headed up by former White House Domestic Policy Advisor Melody Barnes.
[20] Based on the research, it is clear that the social sector lacks adequate capital to address the needs of Americans and maintain its role as a safety net and economic engine.
This dual track is enabled by a five-part framework: Harnessing better information, taking into account transparencies provided by technology, data and evidence can support what programs are working, and which are in need of iteration or reform.
Consequently, the government can have a higher probability of "investing in what works," better optimize public spend, and serve as a more responsible fiduciary for taxpayers.
Better information, new instruments and strong intermediaries that help build sustainable ecosystems to solve hard problems can attract and unlock institutional capital, and as a consequence, programs can achieve true impact at scale.
President Obama has proposed to phase in a requirement that all nonprofit organizations file their annual tax returns electronically in order to facilitate improved access to this information in a manner consistent with the Open Government Initiative.
[25][26] As part of President Obama's management agenda, the Office of Social Innovation has helped to lead federal agencies to increasingly focus on the use of data and modeling to inform and improve what is called evidence based policy.
Designed by the Office of Social Innovation, the SIF is a public-private partnership that tests promising new approaches to major challenges, leverages private and philanthropic capital to meet these needs, and grows evidence-based programs that demonstrate measurable outcomes.
SIF's unique model leverages private and local resources by investing millions of dollars in experienced grant makers or "intermediaries" that are well-positioned within communities to identify the most capable programs and guide them towards greater impact and strong evidence of success.
In its first three years, SIF has awarded $137 million[29] to 20 intermediary grant-makers, which have selected 221 nonprofit sub-grantees working in 37 states and the District of Columbia.
These rules facilitate the ability of foundations to move beyond conventional grants and use other financial means to support nonprofits or businesses pursuing charitable purposes.
However, PRIs have not been adopted widely by the nonprofit field because their complexity in part due to the outdated regulations created higher transactions costs for foundations who wanted to use them.
By publishing a set of clarifying examples of how PRIs could be used, the Obama Administration tried to make it easier for foundations to see how they can adopt flexible approaches to the deployment of capital.
The Office of Social Innovation has hosted large-scale meetings, including the White House Forum on Impact Economy executed in partnership with the Aspen Institute.
[41] The US representatives on the Task Force include Matt Bannick, CEO of the Omidyar Network and the Honorable Don Graves, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Treasury.
His work focuses on identifying areas where the innovative application of technology-based options can improve collaboration between the Executive Office of the President and federal agencies to strengthen the relationship between the Administration, nonprofit, philanthropic, and professional organizations to use advanced technologies in the development and implementation of domestic and social policies and programs.
He is a faculty member Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, the executive director of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the co-author of 40 Chances.
[47] Marta Urquilla: Senior Policy Advisor[48] Although the Obama Administration pioneered the Office of Social Innovation, the model has been replicated by other governments in the US and around the world.