Social Innovation Forum

We are happy to announce the launch of the 2009 Social Innovation Forum Application Process!

The Social Innovation Forum is now accepting first applications through Wednesday, August 6, 2008. The Social Innovation Forum provides a unique opportunity for up-and-coming nonprofit organizations to gain visibility, expand their networks and build capacity. The Social Innovation Forum is offering a minimum of $10,000 to each selected Social Innovator, with an additional $5,000 to follow if specific milestones are met in the year following the Social Innovation Showcase Event. In 2008, each Social Innovator also received access to over $104,000 in consulting, coaching, and in-kind services.

We are happy to consider groups who self-nominate or whose names have been submitted by members of the official nomination committee. To nominate yourself or another organization please visit:

www.socialinnovationforum.org/nomination.html

For the 2009 Social Innovation Forum we will choose one leading Social Innovator from each of the following 2009 Social Issue Tracks:

Empowering Disadvantaged Youth Through the Arts
Sponsoring Partner: Amelia Peabody Foundation and Hunt Alternatives Fund

Getting the Best Possible Start:
Supporting Children & Families through Early Childhood
Sponsoring Partner: Eos Foundation

Making College Graduation a Reality:
Preparing & Supporting Low Income Students
Sponsoring Partner: Highland Street Foundation

The Promise of Healthy Aging:
Fostering High Quality of Life Among Older Adults 65+
Sponsoring Partner: Tufts Health Plan Foundation

School to Work:
Creating Pathways for Productive Employment for Older Youth
Sponsoring Partner: United Way of Massachusetts Bay

Social Enterprise: Nonprofit Earned Income Ventures
Sponsoring Partner: The Fund for Philanthropy & Education

The Social Innovation Forum accelerates the development of enduring solutions to social problems by directing an alternative flow of local resources to innovative, results-oriented organizations striving for efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability. Through an annual rigorous selection process, we choose Social Innovators demonstrating promising approaches to addressing specific social problems.

We provide our Social Innovators with strategy consulting, executive coaching, and introductions to a Social Impact Investment Community made up of government leaders, foundations, and individual donors who are willing to offer time, talent, relationships, and money. Our aspiration is to build a Social Impact Investment Community that will invest and re-invest resources based on performance, in order to increase progress in solving pressing social problems.

In 2008, the Social Innovation Forum worked with six dynamic Social Innovators. Learn more about our 2008 Social Innovators. 

Interested in becoming a Social Innovator? Learn more about our process in the 2009 Applicant Guide.

Social Innovation Forum Updates:

Social Innovation Forum's feature story in The Boston Globe: "Bottom-line philanthropy: Nonprofits find help developing pitches aimed at donors used to seeing results"

The Social Innovation Forum’s 2007 Report Card highlights the growth of our Social Innovators, reflecting the positive impact our process has had on them.

Boston Business Journal Op-ed “Shifting Philanthropic Focus” by Andrew Wolk, Root Cause, and Andrea Silbert, Eos Foundation 

Listen to the Social Innovation Forum's Panel "High-Engagement Philanthropy: Making an Impact Using a Venture Approach" 

Social Innovation Forum Staff

Susan Musinsky
Co-Director
Mary Rivet
Co-Director
Emily Silberstein
Program Coordinator
Kendra Fortin
Intern
Maya Miller-Vedam
Intern

The Social Innovation Forum is a Root Cause social enterprise