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Our goal is to provide you with leadership wisdom,
inspiration and resources to lead for innovation. This week, we highlight America Forward.
Launched with the help of David Gergen, professor of public service at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and director of the Center for Public Leadership, America Forward serves as an avenue to solve social problems by enlisting partnerships between government and entrepreneurial social sector organizations. "Imagine three legs on a stool," says Kelly Ward, Director of America Forward. "The first leg is the innovation, proven solutions that achieve measurable impact on tough social problems; the second leg is the human capital - national service, volunteers, and citizens who do the hard work; the third is the role of government, where growth and catalytic capital reside to bring these solutions to the communities that need them most." America Forward's focus is to nurture social-sector invention the way we do business invention - through investment, research, energy and development. Serving as a resource for policymakers, America Forward has sparked a dialogue about the role government can play and how it can best invest in innovative programs. In a time of change - economic, environmental, presidential - social entrepreneurs are motivated to act as change agents, with innovative ideas and a broad vision, but they may lack the tools needed to scale their impact. Among social sector organizations founded since 1970, only 144 have grown to achieve more than $50 million in annual revenues. According to Peter Drucker, changes in perception, mood and meaning provide a source for innovative opportunity. A recent NY Times Op-Ed piece by David Brooks, "Thoroughly Modern Do-Gooders," explains that "Earlier generations of benefactors thought that social service should be like sainthood or socialism. But this one thinks it should be like venture capital."
This past Fall, a landmark national service legislation was introduced, the Serve America Act, which incorporates three significant proposals advanced by the America Forward coalition: a funding mechanism proposal that brings effective solutions to scale; a new commission to spur change within the government to build social sector capacity to address pressing challenges; and a proposal for AmeriCorps alumni and veterans to become social entrepreneurs through fellowship opportunities. According to Ward, encouraging policymakers to rethink the role of government and adopt these innovative policy ideas could make a big difference on the issues facing our nation. "Imagine the impact we could have if government invested in what works and helped scale the best solutions. We could foster innovation in the social sector and achieve positive, measurable results on some of our nation's toughest social challenges." For more information: Contact: An Excerpt from the Leader to Leader Journal Social entrepreneurship is not a new phenomenon. While the name and description may be relatively new, individuals who adopt entrepreneurial strategies to tackle social issues are not. William Lloyd Garrison founded the Anti-Slavery Society in 1833. Publisher of the first anti-slavery newspaper, the Liberator, Garrison campaigned tirelessly for abolition throughout his lifetime. Jane Addams, social worker and reformist, founded the social settlement Hull House in Chicago in 1889. Hull House provided a welfare center for the neighborhood poor and offered a new model that was later replicated throughout the nation. Drucker outlines seven sources for innovative opportunities that should be monitored by those interested in starting an entrepreneurial venture. The first four are sources of innovation that lie within the industry. The last three arise in the societal environment.
It is this essential social sector, in collaboration with its partners in the private and public sectors, that changes lives and builds a society of healthy children, strong families, decent housing, good schools, work that dignifies, all embraced by the diverse, inclusive, cohesive community that cares about all of its people. |
FEBRUARY 6, 2009
 RESOURCES
 
 
PUBLICATIONS
 The Organization of the Future 2 offers insightful wisdom on the most important issues facing any organization today.
 The award-winning journal, Leader to Leader, offers cutting edge thinking on leadership, management and strategy with contributions by today’s top thought leaders.
 The Five Most Important Questions is a tool for self-assessment and transformation; answering these five questions will fundamentally change the way you work. |
What do you get when you cross socially conscious citizens, social entrepreneurs and policy makers? A commitment to move America forward. Through collaboration focusing on service, solutions and scale, that is just what 
There are four innovative components in America Forward's program architecture. The creation of a Social Investment Fund Network that provides a research and development and growth-capital system for the social sector; a Responsibility Agenda that encourages the development of a new generation of engaged, activated Americans; Policy Principles that inform policymakers in the creation of new programs and the evaluation of existing programs; and a Policymakers Checklist, a handbook to assist in reviewing policy proposals.