Notes from the National Conference on Volunteering and Service, Part II

June 24th, 2009 - Posted by Elizabeth Darling - No Comments

The White House Office of Social Innovation and the Corporation for National and Community Service hosted breakfast for nearly 200 conference attendees this morning. The breakfast featured a panel discussion with social entrepreneurs Michele Jolin from the White House, Paul Schmitz of Public Allies, Dorothy Stoneman of YouthBuild USA and Kirstin Lodal of LIFT. The panel shared their respective journeys from initial vision to scaling their service models nationally and internationally. The audience included foundations, major corporations, state service commissions, nonprofit CEOs, government leaders and additional interested participants.

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.

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So Many Nonprofit Blogs, So Little Time

May 1st, 2009 - Posted by OneStar Foundation - 5 Comments

Now that OneStar is actively blogging, we wanted to spotlight some other nonprofit-related blogs.  We hope you find them as interesting as we do:

  • Robert Egger: Founder and president of DC Central Kitchen and award-winning author Robert Egger maintains an engaging blog about the nonprofit sector and legislation that affects it.
  • Give and Take: “The Chronicle of Philanthropy” features a “roundup” of nonprofit-related blogs and their current subjects.
  • AndrewWolk.com: The founder and CEO of Root Cause writes about how public, private and nonprofit partnerships can work together to advance social innovation.
  • Philanthropy 2173: Named a “best blog” by Fast Company magazine, this blog contemplates the future of philanthropy.
  • PhilanTopic: Philanthropy News Digest and the Foundation Center manage a blog that features several lengthy, perceptive posts daily on philanthropy issues and news.
  • Giving City: This online magazine about philanthropy and volunteering in Austin features a blog on local nonprofit events and topics.
  • Nonprofit Blog Exchange: This social bookmarking blog links to new posts from other nonprofit-related blogs.
  • Idealist News: A social bookmarking site filled with links to nonprofit news gives readers the opportunity to vote and comment on its links.

What nonprofit-related blogs do you read on a general basis? What do you find interesting about them?

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