Moving Money off the Sidelines and into Community-Based Organizations

On March 28, 2023, the Social Innovation Forum (SIF) launched a new tool, the Social Innovator Fund, to help individuals direct resources to local organizations more effectively and efficiently.

SIF unveiled the fund to an audience of 36 individuals, including wealth advisors, institutional funders, and donors, at an event on March 28 hosted by Northern Trust. 

In her opening remarks, SIF Executive Director Susan Musinsky highlighted a problem in the philanthropic sector.

“There is too much money sitting on the sidelines – much of it in donor-advised funds (DAFs).This money is not making its way to smaller nonprofit organizations because the people running nonprofits are not sitting elbow to elbow with high net worth individuals.”

Solving a Problem for Donors

Donors interested in social impact are faced with an abundance of choices when deciding how to direct their philanthropic resources. With 34,414 nonprofits in Massachusetts alone, it’s hard to know where to start; there is no simple way to identify and assess them. 

The Social Innovator Fund narrows this list down for donors. Through the Fund, donors give to a set of eight local, community-based organizations who have already gone through SIF’s selection process. These organizations are small (budgets under $2M), headed by community-based leaders, and doing critical work across a range of social issues. 

The structure of the Fund is simple. The total sum of money raised during the calendar year gets distributed evenly among that year's eight Innovator organizations. On January 1, the Fund resets for the next year’s cohort.

Unrestricted Funding for Nonprofits

Tanya Inwald, SIF’s Director of Programs who also spoke at the event, highlighted the unrestricted nature of the revenue that will go to the Innovators through the fund. Unrestricted funding provides an organization with flexible resources needed to scale and strengthen its work. 

In addition, Tanya shared the nature of SIF’s work with organizations in our Accelerator program. Social Innovators receive two years of capacity building and then transition into our Alumni & Nonprofit Network program, where they – and their staff – have access to services and support on an ongoing basis for the long term.

Bior Guigni, Executive Director of Beat The Streets New England (a 2019 Social Innovator) talked about the growth her organization has had since participating in SIF’s Accelerator. When asked about the influx of resources Beat The Streets has received, Bior shared that “being part of the SIF network has helped Beat The Streets to build responsibility,” as it has grown from a $150,000 to $800,000 budget in three years. 

What We Hope to Learn

SIF developed the Fund with support from a five-year anonymous gift that provides a foundational amount for the fund each year and supports SIF’s work to develop the Fund. SIF has taken a “launch and learn” approach, recognizing that we don’t have everything figured out up front and that we will need to iterate and adjust going forward. Throughout year one – 2023 – we will collect input from our Innovators and alumni organizations as well as from Fund donors and prospective Fund donors in order to continue to refine the model. 

For more Information

• Learn more about the Social Innovator Fund, including how to make a gift to support these organizations.
• Contact Saejin Yoo, Special Projects Coordinator, at syoo@socialinnovationforum.org with questions about the Social Innovator Fund.