Jane Wales — Co-Founder of the Global Philanthropy Forum, President and CEO of the World Affairs Council of Northern California, Vice President at the Aspen Institute and Chair of the Poverty Alleviation track for the Clinton Global Initiative — writes an op-ed piece in today’s San Francisco Chronicle about how President-Elect Obama can partner with non-profits to solve many of the challenges awaiting him once he takes office, including as she notes “poverty at home; uneven access to health care and quality education; the climate crisis; and the need for post-war reconciliation and reconstruction abroad.”

Ms. Wales goes on to list a number of non-profits and social entrepreneur enterprises that have had a great degree of success in their chosen fields.  As Obama himself noted on election night: “”government can’t solve every problem.”  Wales says:

He will need to tap all available sources of innovation, including from the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors. In the case of the social sector, its most important asset may be its independence, not only from governments but from the snap judgments of markets or electoral politics, influenced by the 24-hour news cycle. In a world of complex problems, the social sector – philanthropy and those it supports – may be the only sector able to take risks, withstand criticism and make long-term investments in the public interest.

…

The incoming administration, strapped for resources, yet charged with large responsibilities, has reached out to the social sector in a variety of ways. Obama has advocated the creation of a Social Investment Fund Network to provide seed capital for nonprofits to test new ideas or bring proven programs to scale. He has supported the Serve America Act and its proposed Commission for Cross-Sector Solutions. And he is considering the creation of Presidential Advisory Board on Non-Profits and a White House Office of Social Innovation and Impact, which would identify and seek to eliminate tax, regulatory and other policy barriers to social innovation.

This renewed focus on the non-profit sector will certainly bring about changes in how we approach fundraising, but it should also increase the attention on non-profit’s efforts which is a good thing for us all.

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