The Social Innovation Fund was authorized by the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, and signed by President Obama in April 2009. In December 2009 we began our process by hosting several Social Innovation Town Hall meeting across the state. We are at the next step in of the very rigorous process of developing a proposal for submission to the Corporation for National and Community Service for the Social Innovation Fund (www.cns.gov). We have developed a three-stage approach to designing the grant proposal which will draw on the expertise of community leaders, businesses, and organizations throughout the state. The Design Team of diverse professionals will help develop a proposal that will best position the state of New Mexico to receive this highly sought-after funding. We have no preconceived ideas as to how to tailor the proposal for submission. Instead, we will be looking for input from you to provide insight and expertise on how best to design this proposal to create meaningful system reform in New Mexico.

Since this is a highly competitive process, we have to meet the criteria as outlined in the NOFA and design a structure that will draw on our regional and cultural diversity to produce long-term results.

The criteria outline the Goals of the Social Innovation Fund as follows:

Via a national network of grant making intermediaries, the SIF aims to invest in high-impact nonprofit organizations to:

1. 1. Produce measurable and transformational outcomes within specific issue areas or geographic regions;

   2. Add to the store of evidence of effective approaches to achieving impact; and

   3. Replicate and/or expand their proven initiatives to reach more Americans.

The criteria also state that the Fiscal Year 2010 Priority Areas are:

• Economic Opportunity –
  Increasing the economic opportunities for economically disadvantaged individuals

• Youth Development and School Support –
  Preparing America’s youth for success in school, active citizenship, productive work, and healthy and safe lives

• Healthy Futures –
  Promoting healthy lifestyles, and reducing the risk factors that can lead to illness

The criteria also provide Requirements for Intermediary Grant making Institutions:

• Be an existing grant making institution or an eligible partnership;

• Have a strong track record of using rigorous evidence to select, invest in, and monitor the growth and progression of grantees;

• Make sub grants and otherwise support programs that serve low-income communities;

• Have a well-articulated plan to either:

  • Replicate and expand research-proven initiatives that have been shown to produce sizable, sustained benefits to participants or society; OR

  • Partner with a research organization to carry out rigorous evaluations to assess the effectiveness of such initiatives; and

• Demonstrate either cash-on-hand or commitments (or a combination thereof) amounting to 50% of first-year matching funds. For example, a request of $1 million must be accompanied by documentation of $500,000 dollars in matching funds on-hand at the time of application.

The Three Stages of the Comprehensive Process we are undertaking to formulate and develop the grant proposal are:

Step 1: Solicit Ideas for Structuring the Grant

Are there initiatives, innovations, and organizations producing results in your community that we might not know about? Do you have any idea about how we could structure the proposal to promote systemic reform in New Mexico? Please send us your comments by March 4th.

Step 2: Design Proposal

From March 5th to March 13th, the Design Team will work to evaluate options that are most meaningful to New Mexico’s future as well as position us competitively.

Step 3: Feedback and Preparation of Final Proposal

On March 18, 2010, an overview of the proposal will be available on our website for your consideration. We need your help to make sure that we have identified the most important opportunities. Equally important is to make sure that we have designed the proposal to draw on our regional and cultural diversity and have identified potential unintended consequences. We will also have a Feedback Team that will work with us in more detail on the full proposal.

We invite you to share your ideas and vision with us as we move through the development of this proposal. Please continue to visit our website for the most recent updates and to submit your ideas. Thank you in advance for your participation.