 The Social Innovation Fund (SIF) is committed to exploring effective models that address pressing social challenges. Through the Knowledge Initiative, the SIF shares results and lessons learned on all aspects of our grantees’ work. We are disseminating information about public-private partnerships, scaling, and evaluation findings of the SIF Classic and SIF Pay for Success programs. This allows SIF to inform stakeholders, funders, nonprofit organizations and the broader social sector of the challenges and successes of implementing and scaling evidence-based programs.
Through the Portfolio Spotlights you can learn about topics including how we’re putting Americans back to work and how we’re increasing education readiness for today’s youth. There are also reports that include analysis on how SIF programs are successful and ways they can be improved. Lastly, on the Evidence Exchange you will find reports of evaluations that have been completed to far on SIF-funded projects. Through these evaluations, we’re learning more about how to
most effectively meet community needs in the areas of economic opportunity,
healthy futures, and youth development.
In the coming months, the Social Innovation Fund will be releasing a series of Knowledge Initiative products diving deep into topics ranging from building partnerships to supporting rural communities to sharing results to effect change. You can find all of the existing resources on the Knowledge Initiative landing page, including a new report “United Ways Partner for Impact.”
By Lois Nembhard
Deputy Director, Social Innovation Fund
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From Transactional to Transformational: United Ways Partner for Impact
The United Way is working to meet a core set of basic
needs nationwide by focusing on issues like income, education, and health. With
more than 1,200 U.S. affiliates, the United Way is strengthening communities by
setting a renewed focus on evidence and data to inform funding decisions. Ultimately,
this collaboration will deepen impact and enhance evidence-based practices
across the field.
Since 2010, a handful of United Way affiliates have
received SIF Classic awards, representing a unique opportunity for the
organization to join social-sector leaders with a results-oriented approach to
grantmaking. The new Knowledge Initiative report “From Transactional to Transformational:
United Ways Partner for Impact”
provides insights into the wider movement within private philanthropy. The
report also highlights practical examples for any grantmaker considering data-driven
funding strategies. Best practices include:
- Ensuring
both the funding organization and potential recipients fully understand, are
prepared for, and are committed to carrying out the requirements of
results-oriented grantmaking;
- Providing
adequate resources over the long term to support capacity building of
recipients, particularly for those new to evaluation and rigorous
data-collection processes and systems; and
- Securing the
commitment from co-funders and other stakeholders to support impact-investment
goals and projects over the long-term, as it takes time to implement, nurture,
and see results from them.
These best practices and more emerged from two
United Way affiliates, Mile High United Way of Denver and United Way for
Southeastern Michigan. Read the full report with additional lessons, stories,
and resources.
This month, as the
new school year gets into full swing, the Social Innovation Fund is shining a Spotlight on programs that are keeping youth motivated and healthy throughout the
school year. The three grantees featured in this month’s spotlight include
those working in the classroom as well as through after school and other
support programming.
Keeping
struggling middle school students engaged and motivated to learn helps them
graduate from high school, find good jobs, and create stable homes for their
own children. While early adolescence is a time of great change and self-discovery
for young people, it’s also a time when many middle school students disengage
from school and make choices that put their futures at risk. Recognizing that
such vulnerable students have fewer community supports than elementary- and
high-school-aged children and youth, SIF grantee the United Way of Greenville County leveraged a SIF Classic grant and
funds from other partners to launch the OnTrack Greenville Middle Grades
Success Initiative, a community-wide effort to ensure middle school youth stay
on track toward high school graduation. Learn
more about this intervention to keep middle-school students on track.
The
National Council on Crime and
Delinquency (NCCD), a 2014 SIF grantee, is supporting three communities
across the country to explore the feasibility of using Pay for Success (PFS)
models to promote positive development for youth and reduce their involvement
with the juvenile justice system. For example, the City of New Haven is
evaluating the potential of PFS contracting models to help expand the scale and
reach of a promising program working to prevent high school dropout. The
program, YouthStat, relies on a data-driven approach to identify young people
to receive an array of mentoring, tutoring, career readiness training, and
other support intended to get them on track to school success and
employment. Learn
more about this and other interventions being tested by NCCD.
More
than one-third of children and adolescents in the U.S. are overweight or obese. The SIF Grantee, U.S. Soccer Foundation
is combating childhood obesity with a no-cost, sports-based after-school program
that helps young people stay active and choose healthy lifestyles. The program,
Soccer for Success, uses a group mentoring model to help address health
and delinquency issues among K-8 youth in urban, under-served communities.
Soccer for Success combines soccer activities with nutrition instruction
three days a week during after-school hours. Because the program’s requirements
are minimal, Soccer for Success is flexible and able to meet the needs
of youth in unique settings across the nation. Learn
more about this program and its evaluation results.
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