Lessons From the Social Innovation Fund: A Tested Evaluation Technical Assistance Approach to Strengthening Evaluation Practice and Building a Body of Evidence

Abstract

The Social Innovation Fund (SIF), a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service that received funding from 2010 to 2016, is one of a set of tiered evidence initiatives that was designed and implemented at the federal level during President Obama’s administration. The key objectives of the initiative were to (1) invest in promising interventions that address social and community challenges and grow their impact and (2) invest in evaluation and capacity building in order to support the development and use of rigorous evidence to measure the effectiveness of each funded intervention (i.e., to “move the evidence needle”) and inform decision making. The SIF proved successful in strengthening and sustaining the capacity of its implementing partners to conduct rigorous evaluations when put through a robust impact evaluation of its own at the national level. It has also spurred high-quality local evaluations that are building knowledge and a body of evidence across the supported program models to inform practice. The SIF’s evaluation technical assistance program was critical to its success, and as such, its design and approach holds interesting lessons for the larger field. This article discusses the structure and key features of the SIF as a grant making model, its evaluation requirements, and embedded approach and process for evaluation capacity building and the delivery of technical assistance, the tools and resources that it generated to support its goals, the evidence supporting its success, and how those lessons can inform other organizations and initiatives.