Fuel for the Field

Sonal Shah, President Obama’s inaugural Director of the White House Office of Social Innovation, was here in the heartland of innovation for a whirlwind trip beginning with her appearance at SoCAP 2009 at Ft. Mason, and then meeting with a REDF-assembled group of leaders from REDF’s board and advisory council, social enterprise, business, foundations, and government who shared with her the role and value of social enterprise in job creation. The next day Tessie Guillermo, the visionary leader of ZeroDivide gathered local foundations and nonprofits to offer her suggestions to improve government measurement of social sector outcomes.

Coming to the White House from Google, Goldman Sachs, and the Department of Treasury, Sonal Shah embodies the mission of the Office she leads: to bring together government, philanthropy, nonprofits and the business community to solve social problems. She exhibited the demeanor required to forge these kinds of complicated relationships — strikingly unpretentious, with perceptive, concrete statements and questions.

Sonal Shah listening and taking notes at a REDF-hosted discussion about the value of social enterprise in job creation.

Acknowledging that the Office’s small staff of four (!) has to focus in order to accomplish anything, she was also clear that they cannot do it alone and will need the creativity and partnership of people at all levels of government, business and the social sector. She repeatedly asked us for ideas about government’s role in creating the right environment, and also how to get out of the way as appropriate.

She listened and pressed for policy ideas about how government can help nonprofit social enterprises create more job opportunities for those unlikely to enter the workforce otherwise. She sought clarification about the costs of data collection, and the frustration inherent in providing data that ends up in agency storage boxes rather than informing practice.

Reflecting on her visit, I’d suggest that one of her most powerful levers is the very existence of the White House Office of Social Innovation. Not just the symbolism, but practically speaking Sonal Shah’s presence created the incentive and opportunity for multi-sector meetings about on-the-ground social sector innovation, partnership, performance, and results. Very unusual gatherings that hold great promise.

On the heels of this visit, the Social Enterprise Alliance’s Bay Area Chapter convened to discuss the future of social enterprise. Graciously hosted by the Kapors at their foundation office, REDF’s Jason Trimiew led a lively conversation with Tessie Guillermo, Debbie Alvarez Rodriguez of San Francisco Goodwill and Robert Wexler. Mitchell Kapor took the opportunity to suggest that social enterprise is when “the thing that makes money is also the thing that does good in the world” – e.g. making more money means doing more good. Freada Kapor Klein urged us to consider social enterprises as employers – and bake in from the start a focus on strong values and diversity.

Then the panelists each offered nuggets of good advice for the White House Office of Social Innovation: use the bully pulpit; push innovation deep into multiple government agencies; create Offices of Social Innovation at the state and local levels; pay attention not only to legislation, but to the critically important crafting of regulations and rules that govern implementation; and nurture the next generation of leaders.

A final thought – it will be up to us to seize the opening offered by Ms. Shah, and make it real. What are your suggestions? How do we do that?

Please join us at REDF’s Benefit and Social Enterprise Expo on October 1 at the Bentley Reserve in SF – another chance to talk this over with people from other arenas with similar interests while having great food, and a good time!