Social Innovation Fund 

National Assessment

A Transformative Program for Bringing Evidence-Based Solutions to the Country’s 

Most Pressing Challenges 

The goal of the Social Innovation Fund (SIF) is to bring evidencebased solutions to the country’s most pressing challenges. The SIF 

seeks to transform the organizations that are funded under the 

program and the larger world of nonprofit grantmakers. 

According to an independent and rigorous study 

commissioned by the Corporation for National and Community 

Service and conducted by ICF International, the answer to the 

question, “Is SIF a transformative program?” is, “Yes.” 

The SIF National Assessment study defined 14 areas of capacity 

and practice across different components of the SIF such as: SIF 

grantees’ adoption of evidence-based grantmaking strategies, 

ability and willingness to build the evidence base for the service models they support, ability to support and scale the 

service models, and use of collaborative approaches to address local community needs. The study found promising 

evidence of improved organizational capacities among the SIF grantees in almost all of these areas. These partner 

organizations changed more and faster compared to other grantmakers and programs while SIF grantees reported that 

the SIF program was instrumental in bringing about these changes. 

Key to the SIF changes are a combination of: 

 Financial investment – federal funds and matching funds 

 Accountability – clear requirements and intensive ongoing monitoring of progress, and 

 Training, technical assistance and other “hands on” support – from the SIF program staff and CNCS researchers 

and their evaluation contractor; peer support among the SIF grantees; and support from the SIF grantees to the 

organizations they fund to carry out the SIF program. 

The SIF National Assessment found that compared to a national sample of grantmaking nonprofits: 

 Evaluation: The SIF grantees reported more growth in three key areas including 1) conducting rigorous evaluations 

of the programs; 2) using evaluation findings to improve programs; and 3) using evaluation findings to demonstrate 

and communicate effectiveness of programs funded by the organization. 

 Support for subgrantees: The SIF grantees reported greater changes in the extent to which the organization 

provided funding to support evaluations and provided their subgrantees with training or technical assistance to 

conduct rigorous evaluation. 

 Scale-up: The SIF grantees reported greater changes in the extent to which the organization selected programs for 

scale-up based on rigorous evaluation that shows them to be effective. 

 Collaboration: SIF grantees participated in more funding alliances and collaborations with other nonprofits in order 

to share knowledge. 

The SIF Program’s Organizational Reach and 

Engagement

 To date, the SIF has partnered with 35 grantmaking 

organizations under its SIF Classic grant program.

 The SIF Classic grantees have partnered with 300-400 

nonprofit implementing organizations.

 More than 178 grantee match partners and 338 

subgrantee match partners have committed resources 

to the interventions supported under the SIF. 

NationalService.gov/Innovation
NationalService.gov/Innovation

Finding What Works, Making It Work for More People 

The Social Innovation Fund (SIF), a program of the Corporation for National 

and Community Service (CNCS), combines public and private resources to 

grow the impact of innovative, community based solutions that have 

compelling evidence of improving the lives of people in low-income 

communities throughout the United States. The SIF was founded on the 

fundamental idea that we can make enormous progress toward overcoming 

significant challenges by finding and growing the most promising of these 

solutions. 

The SIF works with and through existing grantmaking institutions, or 

“intermediaries,” to direct resources to nonprofit organizations and state and 

local government entities, or “subgrantees,” focused on youth development, 

economic opportunity, and healthy futures – helping to build the capacity of 

the social sector and lift-up solutions that can transform lives and communities. 

Social Innovation Fund Programs 

The SIF Classic program awards grants to eligible grantmaking institutions or 

partnerships to select, fund, support, and evaluate community-based 

nonprofits seeking to grow innovative, evidence-based solutions to challenges 

facing low-income communities nationwide. 

The SIF Pay for Success (PFS) program awards eligible nonprofit organizations and state and local governments 

prepared to engage in PFS projects that advance and evaluate new models of funding high-quality, effective social 

interventions to produce measurable outcomes for individuals and communities. 

Social Innovation Fund Grantees 

Social Innovation Fund intermediaries are selected through a rigorous, open competition and are required to match their 

federal grants dollar-for-dollar. With those combined funds, they then take part in all or a part of the following activities: 

 Host open competitions to select organizations and/or government entities implementing or seeking to

implement innovative program models;

 Invest in expanding the capabilities and impact of the organizations and government entities they select;

 Support those organizations through rigorous evaluation of their programs and

 Share data, lessons learned and results.

Learn what 

works 

Reach more 

people 

SIF

Federal 

funding 

Technical 

Assistance 

Intermediaries 

Subgrantees 

Match $ 1:1 

Match $ 1:1