Comments on: Social Innovation Fund Announces Grantees

By: Sean Stannard-Stockton

Sean Stannard-Stockton — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:18:56 +0000

Thanks Dana, I definitely agree on the value of human capital. Since a fair bit of human capital costs can be termed “overhead”, it is one of the reasons I’ve always rejected the importance of overhead expense ratios in nonprofit evaluation.

By: Dana Hagenbuch

Dana Hagenbuch — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:31:15 +0000

Perhaps the most exciting aspect is the paradigm shift that SIF represents in how the government thinks about investing in social change. During the press conference to announce the SIF’s grantees, the Corporation’s CEO, Patrick Corvington, stated that, “Feeling good is not enough. Impact is what matters. Results are what matter.”

In our experience at Commongood Careers, SIF grantees can have the greatest impact by targeting their limited resources on “human capital.” And by human capital, we mean that to fully leverage growth capital, nonprofits must be able to recruit sufficient numbers of talented staff and volunteers, utilize proven management systems, and shape their cultures in order to position talent for success, development, and retention.

Having worked for years with several of the SIF grantees, as well as the organizations that they support, we have witnessed first-hand the results that these foundations achieve when they bring financial capital together with human capital.

Although many traditional foundations have either overlooked human capital issues or focused only occasionally on piecemeal support, pioneering groups like New Profit Inc., Venture Philanthropy Partners, and the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation have excelled in supporting a more complete range of human capital needs across their grantees.

Commongood Careers strongly encourages all SIF grantees to consider the impact that human capital will have on their efforts, as well as the many ways that they can help to control those outcomes. As a fundamental determinant of social return on investment, human capital can either be an unanticipated barrier to success or an effective catalyst for achieving it. The difference comes down to intent and strategy.

By: Melinda Tuan

Melinda Tuan — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 23:05:03 +0000

Congratulations indeed to all the awardees of the SIF funds and thanks Sean for the nod to REDF. As one of the co-founders of REDF, I am clearly biased in favor of REDF’s recognition as an effective intermediary. However, REDF also has a long track record of providing high quality, substantive output and outcome data demonstrating the efficacy of their approach to working with nonprofit-run social enterprises. For those unfamiliar with REDF’s approach to measuring results, check out: http://www.redf.org/about-redf/measuring-results.

Since 1997, through its high engagement approach to philanthropy, REDF has been providing employment and hope for thousands of disadvantaged individuals in the San Francisco Bay Area. I look forward to seeing how the SIF funds help REDF reach thousands of additional disadvantaged individuals throughout California in the months and years to come.