Government Innovation Initiatives Resource Center 

The past 12 months have witnessed an unprecedented effort by the U.S. federal government to reshape the way it interacts with the social sector. By our count, there are more than 10 "government innovation funds" now authorized. These run the gamut from the broad Social Innovation Fund (SIF) to the education-focused Investing In Innovation (i3) Fund to the tech-focused Global Technology and Innovation Fund to the community-based Promise Neighborhoods fund.

These funds have several points in common:

• They seek to fund models or organizations with the potential to have transformational impact.
• They reward organizations with an evidence-based, results-focus and a commitment to learning and improvement.
• They encourage the philanthropic and/or private sectors to invest alongside government.

With government spending north of $1 trillion per year on the social sector (more than three-fold that of individuals, foundations, and corporations combined), not to mention its role in formulating and enforcing our laws, any shift in how the government operates can have seismic effects on the social sector and the many individuals and communities that depend on it for services.

We have created this special resource center for individuals and organizations of all sectors to explore how these funds might support innovation and scaling of what works. We invite you to explore the pages we have created for two dedicated funds (Promise Neighborhoods and the Social Innovation Fund), along with content we have collected on three topics that cut across these funds (Demonstrating Program Impact, Building Organizational Capacity, and Developing Scalable Models).