National Service Agency Names Director of Social Innovation Fund
Washington, DC—The Corporation for National and Community Service named Paul Carttar as Director of the Social Innovation Fund (SIF) today. Carttar is a recognized leader in the fields of nonprofit management and social innovation.
“The SIF is an entirely new way of doing business, and Paul has the expertise to realize the potential of the program,” said Stephen Goldsmith, Chair of the Corporation's Board of Directors, and noted author on social innovation. “Paul's track record of growing nonprofits, experience across sectors and leadership on social innovation is exactly what we need to move the SIF forward.”
Carttar brings 30 years of experience across sectors—public, private, and nonprofit—to the Director's position. For more than 10 years, he has been at the forefront of transforming the nonprofit sector by expanding innovative solutions to address national challenges and helping to set a higher standard of results and impact for the sector. Carttar co-founded The Bridgespan Group in 1999, and subsequently worked for New Profit, Inc., The Monitor Group, and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Carttar has spent years working with top social innovators and growing the nation's most successful nonprofits. As the Director of the SIF, Carttar will work to create a partnership between communities, social entrepreneurs, and the Corporation. He will work with SIF intermediaries to leverage resources to grow nonprofits serving low-income communities, create a learning community that replicates successes across the country, and develop a model for other federal agencies to support social innovation. Carttar's role in the competitive selection of SIF grantees will be limited, as he will not participate in the decision-making process that involves former clients or employers of the last two years.
The SIF is an innovative initiative that is expected to generate nearly $200 million in public-private funds to support transformative solutions to major social challenges in communities throughout the U.S. The SIF is intended to be a catalyst for collaborative efforts across sectors that willincrease theimportance ofevidence in the funding of nonprofit organizations. Its work will be focused in the areas of economic opportunity, youth development and school support, and healthy futures.
Since the passage of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, the Corporation has engaged hundreds of thought leaders across the nonprofit, philanthropic and public sectors to lend their expertise and input to the design and implementation of the program. To date, the Corporation has received over 200 letters of intent to apply for SIF grants. The application deadline is April 8 at 5 p.m. Eastern Time. Click here learn more about the SIF and to read the Notice of Funds Availability.
The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service through its Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America programs, and leads President Obama's national call to service initiative, United We Serve. For more information, visit NationalService.gov.