The Obama Administration’s Social Innovation Fund (SIF) has now been in operation for several years. SIF was created to fund an annual competition to identify innovative nonprofit programs that provide measurable, scalable solutions to community problems.

Earlier this month, the Stanford Social Enterprise Review published a brief article entitled “The Rise and Struggles of Social Enterprise in 2013.” Here are some of the highlights:

Social Impact Bonds are finally moving from idea to reality, in a few states. These “pay for results” government contracts are a new form of financing where payment only occurs if the agreed-upon social results are achieved. No results, no money. Financing comes from a private sector financing intermediary, which secures funds from private investors …

Here’s a suggested framework from my colleague Jim Kucher (founder/managing director, Income for Outcomes). This reminds me of our earlier blog about social enterprise sound bites. That blog can be seen at: https://management.org/blogs/social-enterprise/2013/04/18/top-10-social-enterprise-sound-bites/ Here’s what Jim wrote: A viable social enterprise must have: • A viable social change theory (what makes you think you can …

Jed Emerson is a leader in social capital, with good ideas and clear thinking on this important topic for many social ventures. Here are some highlights from a recent interview:

In Garrison Keillor’s fictional community of Lake Wobegon, “the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.” As it turns out, this depiction is not limited to Lake Wobegon. One of the most documented findings in psychology is the average person’s ability to believe extremely flattering things about him …

Impact Investing continues to garner a lot of attention, at Davos, at the Clinton Global Initiative, at the G8 Summit, and at social enterprises big and small. But it’s still having little financial impact. For now, big institutional investors are not participating. Until they do, impact investing will remain small.

I love how social media works to connect people across time and space. I’ve posted several of my blogs and articles on my Facebook page ( www.facebook.com/LindaJFerguson) and LinkedIn groups. From one of my posts, I ‘met’ Margot Borden from France. After a few exchanges of ideas, I invited her to write a guest blog …

Here are some highlights from the recent 2013 Social Enterprise Summit (Social Enterprise Alliance) in Minneapolis:

I’ve been wondering lately: is it always a good thing for social enterprises and related organizations to receive preferential treatment, in the form of public or philanthropy subsidies and other forms of preferential treatment?