Good News for Social Entrepreneurs on Whitehouse.gov

category: Government And Social Entrepreneurship

Published January 21, 2009 @ 08:30AM PT

Yesterday, just before President Obama was sworn in, Change.gov was taken down and the new Whitehouse.gov was revealed. The Obama Administration website is officially a blog.

There are a few things I'd like to see them do differently. VentureBeat's Anthony Ha recognized that unlike Change.gov, there's no ability to comment on the blog. There's just a "contact us" form that only allows 500 characters. This does matter, because it means that at least for now the site is all PR, no engagement.

That said, let's assume that this is just the first step in a far more engaged strategy that actually sees the White House using creative ideas like the "Citizen's Briefing Book" to find out what Americans really care about. Based on the way the president ran his campaign and transition, I think this is a reasonable working assumption. There's also a lot of great stuff on the site already. The organization is simple and easy and I love the history and background information they have.

But of course, in the long run, what really matters is policy. Whitehouse.gov continues the Change.gov and my.BarackObama.com traditions of simplifying the major policy bullet points. So what's there for the social entrepreneurs?

Social Investment Fund Network: Use federal seed money to leverage private sector funding to improve local innovation, test the impact of new ideas, and expand successful programs to scale.
- If the team does this well, it could be really exciting. I think the way that Good Capital was brought into a larger investment for Adina Drinks in order to focus on the fair trade/social mission side of things could be a good model for partnerships for this initiative

Social Entrepreneurship Agency for Nonprofits: Create an agency within the Corporation for National and Community Service dedicated to building the capacity and effectiveness of the nonprofit sector.

I've written before that I would prefer an Office of Social Innovation in the White House, but this is a great step if it does its job well. We don't need just another bureaucracy, but I think an in-house shop that could work to collect, structure, and share best practices for training and impact assessment could be tremendously valuable.

Promote College Serve-Study: Ensure that at least 25 percent of College Work-Study funds are used to support public service opportunities instead of jobs in dining halls and libraries.

Either this idea is new or I just hadn't noticed it before, but I love this initiative as a tool for inspiring social entrepreneurship. I spent 12 hours a week for all of college working in a gym and then staying up late to develop my social projects. I'd love to see colleges get creative about this so that student social entrepreneurship initiatives, with defined and trackable goals and results, could count towards College Serve-Study. If any one from the Obama team is watching, I'd be happy to share what I think that could mean...

Engage Retiring Americans in Service on a Large Scale: Expand and improve programs that connect individuals over the age of 55 to quality volunteer opportunities.

This is another real opportunity to promote social entrepreneurship. Young social startups often need skills they don't have access to, and a pool of professionals could be exactly what the doctor ordered.

New Energy for America: Help create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future.

I mean, do I really need to write about how this could be a huge opportunity for social entrepreneurs?

So imagine this. Its 2011. We've finally sloughed off the worst of the recession, and are rebuilding with smarter institutions that better harness the networked talents of individuals. The moment for social entrepreneurship has arrived as the mood in the social benefit sector is squarely centered around capturing the lessons and practices of what works - old or new - and iterating around what doesn't work as well as it could. At the University of Michigan, and engineering student comes up with a product that will revolutionized energy consumption in the third world, finds a retired executive to help her write the business plan for the product, gets a small "challenge" investment from the a partnership with a large foundation and the US Social Investment Fund Network, and changes the world. We'll see..

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Comments (7)

Re: Promote College Serve/Study

When I was in college several years ago, I networked and negotiated an off campus work-study placement with a nonprofit. The second year, I did the same with my local County Commission on Women, Children and Families.

Being an older, non-traditional student, I wanted to make sure that my work was in alignment with my studies and goals be able to leave college with a solid resume. A much appreciated bonus was that my off campus placements paid more which translated into fewer hours focused on work and more time for my studies.

What it took to enable me to do this involved networking, informational interviews and being proactive; taking the initiative. It's something that anyone could do...

Cynthia
www.phpnw.org

Posted by Cynthia Hanna on 01/21/2009 @ 02:06PM PT
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Cynthia

Sounds like you did a really tremendous job making the college experience work for you! I don't think, however, that making things like this easier, more routine, and more embedded into the "normal" college experience does anything other than engage more people who would otherwise not necessarily be engaged. I'm all for structures that encourage more people to use their talents for good.

Posted by Nathaniel Whittemore on 01/21/2009 @ 02:15PM PT
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What a brilliant move! Other countries, especially the UK, Canada and Germany have had really successful "Third Sector" or "Social Sector" programs that have completely changed the lives of some of the most disadvantaged or vulnerable groups of society. By empowering those innovate creative people who understand something BIGGER than themselves and their own personal gain, we are empowering the right people to lead us.

I searched the whitehouse.gov site and couldn't find this information there. Will someone please send me the link? Send it to brooke.estin@gmail.com, brooke@kiva.org, brooke@changefusion.org or brooke@alldaybuffet.org!

Thanks for this great blog by the way!! I start everyday by reading through it!

Posted by Brooke Estin on 01/21/2009 @ 07:48PM PT
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Thanks for your thoughtful comment Brooke! Most of this is under "service" in the Agenda section.

Posted by Nathaniel Whittemore on 01/21/2009 @ 07:56PM PT
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Thank you!!

Posted by Brooke Estin on 01/21/2009 @ 08:25PM PT
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You're right, of course, Nathaniel. I would have loved it if it had been an easier thing for me to accomplish. I didn't mean to sound as though I disagreed, but change can take time and I would not want anyone to by-pass opportunities until then. Stories like mine should be used to advocate for those changes, not to promote the status quo.

And Brooke, Yes!! Such programs are totally capable of changing and empowering some of the most disadvantaged in any society. And I am an example of that. A disabled single parent, extremely low-income, on and off of public assistance. Growing through an abusive childhood and moving into abusive relationships as an adult. Surviving a bombing that left my children and I homeless for 3 months even though I was working at the time; depression, hopelessness...

With the help of wonderful mentors, I was able to serve a year in AmeriCorp, and it wasn't until then that I truly believed in my life-long dream of attending college. I would love for that dream to be available and readily accessible to everyone, and a work/serve component tied to social entrepreneurship seems ideal.

Posted by Cynthia Hanna on 01/22/2009 @ 12:00AM PT
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I enjoy helping you market this site

thanks

Matt

http://www.mattseo.com

Posted by matt waterman on 09/06/2009 @ 02:15AM PT
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Author

Nathaniel is the founder of Assetmap, a San Francisco-based startup that builds web tools to help people better visualize and leverage their social capital. Before that, he was the founding director of the Northwestern University Center for Global Engagement.