Think Tanks Propose White House Office of Social Entrepreneurship

November 13, 2008

Think Tanks Propose White House Office of Social Entrepreneurship

President-elect Barack Obama should create a White House office to highlight the important role social entrepreneurs and nonprofit groups play in solving the country’s social problems, according to two liberal think tanks that released proposals this week for reorganizing the federal government.

The Center for American Progress Action Fund, in Washington, and the New Democracy Fund, in New York, proposed that the Obama administration create a White House Office of Social Entrepreneurship. The office, it said, would “give social entrepreneurs and other nonprofit leaders a greater voice in the public policy debates of the day by being part of the White House domestic and economic policymaking processes.”

The proposal, written by Michele Jolin, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, was included in “Change for America: a Progressive Blueprint for the 44th President.”

While the recommendations carry no official weight, they are considered influential because John Podesta, who heads the Center for American Progress, is co-chair of Mr. Obama’s transition team (he is on a leave of absence from the center).

Mr. Obama proposed creating a Social Entrepreneurship Agency while he was on the campaign trail, but he envisaged it residing in the Corporation for National and Community Service, rather than in the White House.

The think tanks’ proposal said the White House Office of Social Entrepreneurship should ensure that all relevant federal agencies spend money to help successful social projects expand. It should also create an “Impact Fund” at the Corporation for National and Community Service to help nonprofit groups collect data and better evaluate their success, it said.

It also suggested that the office:

Create an annual multimillion-dollar prize for the most creative, high-impact solution to a defined social problem. It could also make “smaller, daily efforts” to boost innovative nonprofit groups, for example by creating a weekly “Changemakers” award.

Explore changes to the tax code that would reward partnerships between nonprofit groups and businesses, and encourage charitable giving that would help successful nonprofit groups grow.

Work with the U.S Agency for International Development to create an Innovation Investment Fund to support new approaches to global development, such as the Acumen Fund, which provides money to entrepreneurial anti-poverty projects.

Coordinate with the Commission on Cross-Sector Solutions to America’s Problems, a new entity that has been proposed by the Serve America Act, a bill to expand the country’s national-service programs. The 21-member commission would suggest ways the federal government can help nonprofit groups work more effectively.

(Learn more about what nonprofit groups think about a new agency to spur charitable activity and what philanthropy executives from around the country hope Mr. Obama will do when he takes office.)

— Suzanne Perry

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