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 SIFu2019s grantees, the Corporationu2019s CEO, Patrick Corvington, stated that, u201cFeeling good is not enough. Impact is what matters. Results are what matter.u201dnnIn our experience at Commongood Careers, SIF grantees can have the greatest impact by targeting their limited resources on u201chuman capital.u201d 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.nnHaving 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.nnAlthough 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.nnCommongood 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.

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.

I enjoyed reading this post Geraldine. There’s exciting work happening in Canada, eg MaRS and Toronto’s Centre for Social Innovation are at the forefront of social innovation efforts. I’m looking forward to reading more about SiG. nnIn our new book The Power of Social Innovation (www.powerofsocialinnovation.com) we agree that sandboxes for experimentation and development are valuable. But there indeed are many good ideas already out there that have not reached their full potential. The biggest challenge for these social innovations, we suggest, is growing them–whether that means bringing them to new communities, reaching more people in a community, or ideally influencing change and reform inside a broader delivery system. The barriers and challenges to growth, according to the almost 100 innovators we spoke to for the book, are of a political nature.nnOne of the values of SIF, independent of its dollar amount, is that it will hopefully provide some “cover” for those leaders in communities that would like to import or grow the innovations within these portfolios–the potential for new money could help mitigate some of the political costs of risking something new and/or facing the inevitable opposition from incumbents. It also helps signal the importance of innovation and measuring results in the social sector (both the public and nonprofit sides)–which tends to be risk averse and to favor the status quo.nnBest,nTim Glynn Burke

I enjoyed reading this post Geraldine. There's exciting work happening in Canada, eg MaRS and Toronto's Centre for Social Innovation are at the forefront of social innovation efforts. I'm looking forward to reading more about SiG. In our new book The Power of Social Innovation (http://www.powerofsocialinnovation.com) we agree that sandboxes for experimentation and development are valuable. But there indeed are many good ideas already out there that have not reached their full potential. The biggest challenge for these social innovations, we suggest, is growing them–whether that means bringing them to new communities, reaching more people in a community, or ideally influencing change and reform inside a broader delivery system. The barriers and challenges to growth, according to the almost 100 innovators we spoke to for the book, are of a political nature.One of the values of SIF, independent of its dollar amount, is that it will hopefully provide some “cover” for those leaders in communities that would like to import or grow the innovations within these portfolios–the potential for new money could help mitigate some of the political costs of risking something new and/or facing the inevitable opposition from incumbents. It also helps signal the importance of innovation and measuring results in the social sector (both the public and nonprofit sides)–which tends to be risk averse and to favor the status quo.Best,Tim Glynn Burke

Thanks for your comments Tim. nnI just ordered your book, so it seems like I’m in for a good read. I agree that there are many political barriers to scaling innovations within the non-profit sector. Much of our work at SiG is focused on breaking down those barriers. Earlier this year we released a White Paper entitled “Legislative Innovations” which is available for download from the MaRS site here: http://www.marsdd.com/buzz/reports/sociallegal and which lays out some recommendations for our Province and the Federal Government. Our Social Finance team is dedicated to cross-sector dialogue, education and collaboration on new models of financing both the non-profit and social purpose business communities. I’m not sure if you are familiar with http://socialfinance.ca but you can learn much about the work there. nnUltimately I believe there needs to be balance between the funding of established non-profits with innovative spirits, and new ventures that may seem risky but which have the potential to be systems-changing. nnThanks again for your comments. And for more information about our national SiG collaborative, you can also see our website at http://sigeneration.cannGeraldinenn

Thanks for your comments Tim. I just ordered your book, so it seems like I'm in for a good read. I agree that there are many political barriers to scaling innovations within the non-profit sector. Much of our work at SiG is focused on breaking down those barriers. Earlier this year we released a White Paper entitled “Legislative Innovations” which is available for download from the MaRS site here: http://www.marsdd.com/buzz/reports/sociallegal and which lays out some recommendations for our Province and the Federal Government. Our Social Finance team is dedicated to cross-sector dialogue, education and collaboration on new models of financing both the non-profit and social purpose business communities. I'm not sure if you are familiar with http://socialfinance.ca but you can learn much about the work there. Ultimately I believe there needs to be balance between the funding of established non-profits with innovative spirits, and new ventures that may seem risky but which have the potential to be systems-changing. Thanks again for your comments. And for more information about our national SiG collaborative, you can also see our website at http://sigeneration.caGeraldine