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!

Sonal Shah, head of the White House Office of Social Innovation, and I at a REDF convening discussing the role of nonprofit social enterprise in job creation.

I had the good fortune to participate in a panel at the SOCAP 2009 conference held on consecutive stunningly beautiful days at San Francisco’s waterfront at Ft. Mason – a converted military base (swords into plowshares anyone?).  Many attendees were from the business community, young, high-energy, and interested in finding the intersection of social good and profit, or put another way (as coined by REDF’s original leader Jed Emerson) – blended social, financial and environmental value.  A lot of forward-thinking ideas and practice – especially around the use of social media to advance change, and how to measure results as part of a concerted effort to learn what works, and improve practice (especially a panel hosted by Lucy Bernholz).

I was on the opening panel with Sonal Shah, Andrew Wolk, and Vanessa Kirsch (whose organizing of America Forward was instrumental in creating the White House Office).  Responding to the first question – 10 years from now, what achievements could the Office be most proud of — I used the lens of poverty as the example.  Success would be to unstick and start a progressively downward trend for our national poverty rate which has hovered around 12% for about four decades.

I added that “in 10 years, we have accomplished something if innovation is defined not so much in terms of new ideas and original programs, but more around the less glamorous systemic changes in policies, incentives, and practice that connect pieces of a solution to one another; and innovation is about supporting local success, sustaining and replicating or scaling – to the extent it can be done — what works.  And we should try to be undistracted by the ‘beautiful new kid in town’.  We need sustained support for effective programs that really work…because often it’s not as much about innovative change or even program expansion as we might think – but it is about excellent implementation, connecting the dots, and consistency.  Engaging business, and nonprofits, and philanthropy, and various levels of government in the doing and in paying for what needs to be done.  There will be more willingness to pay when we do the work well.” [1]

After the session, REDF convened exactly that kind of group – philanthropy, nonprofits, government, business – for a lively conversation with Sonal Shah about the role and value of nonprofit social enterprise in job creation for people who face the toughest challenges.

In the policy spirit, REDF has signed on to an outstanding set of recommendations to improve the nation’s Workforce Investment Act.  Developed by a dozen national groups focused on homelessness, these recommendations would make the workforce system more responsive and valuable for many people with high barriers to work, who are not able to navigate or access it now.

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