If you missed the live stream the first time around, you can watch it anytime here.

Please take a look at what these folks are up to, they are all doing amazing things. The organizations and individuals that supported our effort to spread the word about social innovation in Texas are:

The Microfinance Forum
myImpact.org
Spark Club
Social Velocity
Social Entrepreneurship at Change.org
SVP Toronto
Central Dallas Ministries
Beth’s Blog
PhilanTopic
Social Enterprise Institute
Dallas South
SVP International
Philanthropedia
SVP Portland
La Reunion TX
Business Boomer
Refresh Button
Social Capital Ventures
interSector Partners L3C
Ashoka’s Youth Venture
Xian3k
Livestream
501derful.org

Join us for a new media streaming video conversation with leaders in the nonprofit sector, who will talk about their collaborative efforts to stimulate socially innovative activities in Texas. This exciting conversation will take place on Wednesday, December 9, 2009, at 10:30 a.m. CST. You can participate in the conversation in the following ways:

• Follow us on Twitter at @onestarfdn and at the hashtag #TXSI
• Become a fan of our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/onestarfoundation.
• Return to this blog on Wednesday, December 9, 2009, at 10:30 a.m. CST.
• Contact Nicole Watson at Nicole@onestarfoundation.org to stream the video to your Web site or blog.

We look forward to seeing you at the Governor’s Nonprofit Leadership Conference, and to hearing your thoughts at our new media conversation!

You can read our full press release on our new media conference here.

To learn more about the Texas Social Innovation Initiative, visit our Texas Social Innovation Initiative Web page.

To learn more about the 2009 Governor’s Nonprofit Leadership Conference, visit our GNLC Web page.

America is facing unprecedented social, economic, environmental and cultural challenges. As our population continues to grow, our need for new ideas to solve these challenges increases. Social innovation consists of new ideas that solve social problems, like social entrepreneurship, social enterprise, venture philanthropy, strategic fundraising, growth and capacity capital, and social investing. Social innovation is happening along the American coasts, but less so in the middle of the country.

At its essence, social innovation is about a growing convergence of the three sectors (private, government and nonprofit) that have previously remained largely separate. We must reconfigure the assets of all three sectors and turn them into more effective, more productive, higher functioning sectors that can work with, not separate from, each other to create solutions.

What does this mean for nonprofit organizations that have been working to create social impact for a long time? It means we need to increase the amount of money available to the nonprofit sector. It means we need to help nonprofits become more effective at solving the root causes of social problems. It means we need to create sustainable revenue engines for social impact organizations. It means we need to ensure that the majority of nonprofit organizations that have an interest in and capacity for growth have access to growth capital and management expertise to scale. It means that policy makers need to remove some of the many hurdles in the way of nonprofits. It means we need to overcome the bias against building the capacity of nonprofit organizations. It means nonprofit boards of directors must step up and invest in organization building. And much more.

If you are interested in learning more about social innovation and what it means for nonprofit organizations, join me at the 2009 Governor’s Nonprofit Leadership Conference from December 9 – 10, 2009, in Dallas. I will be leading two sessions on social innovation. The session description is below. I hope to see you there!

Thinking Outside the Box: Social Innovation for Nonprofits

In this seminar, attendees will learn how to employ new models in the social and philanthropic sectors (including social entrepreneurship, venture philanthropy, growth capital, strategic fundraising and social enterprise) so they can more effectively address the social issues in their communities. If nonprofit organizations are strategic with the resources at their disposal, they will be better able to confront social challenges. Particularly in the midst of the economic downturn, nonprofits need new ideas and models for doing what they do more effectively and strategically.

About the Author: Nell Edgington is President of Social Velocity, a social innovation company that helps nonprofits and social businesses grow and generate new revenue.

Our colleague Andrew Wolk of Root Cause has a great blog post up here where he describes his experience being present for the Community Solutions Agenda announcement. Wrote Wolk about the program name, “I like the way that sounds. It focuses the conversation on two core elements of this work: ‘community’ and ‘solutions.’”

What did you think of the president’s announcement? What programs do you feel are exceptional examples of social innovation and impact? Be a part of the conversation at Wolk’s blog or in our comments section below.

Some questions presented to the panel included:

• How can the government support innovative organizations, evidence of social impact and promising programs that have the capacity to scale?
• How can the government engage private funders?
• Should we try to focus on funding specific issues or on geographic areas?
• What should the criteria be in selecting intermediaries?

A robust discussion ensued, with participants urging for inclusion of persons with disabilities, the business community, community foundations and venture capitalists. Panelists also insisted upon transparency in the distribution.

In addition, the participants emphasized the importance of tracking funds. The Serve America Act authorized $50 million to the Social Innovation Fund. While it still has to pass through the 2010 appropriations process, the fund is intended to go in part to grantmaking institutions with a one-to-one cash match. Subgrantees will also be held to the same cash match requirement. Organizations will have to meet multiple criteria to receive funds, which may include service to philanthropically underserved areas.

If funded by Congress, the Corporation for National and Community Service could release a notice of funding availability (NOFA) from the Social Innovation Fund as early as October.  OneStar will continue to keep our partners updated on the progress of this fund, as well as the general progress made by the Office of Social Innovation.