A major national conference on the future of philanthropy on the west coast?  Yes, Jim Ferris and his team at USC’s Center on Philanthropy & Public Policy brought together leaders in the field for note comparing, networking, and strategizing on January 27^th and 28th.

The sun was shining brightly on campus, but inside the rays of hope were few and far between.  Much talk was heard of a “new normal” that has reset the sector to a far lower equilibrium than we’ve enjoyed in recent years.  Much gnashing of teeth, rending of sack cloth and the rest… of course, I’m speaking figuratively.

The sessions attracted top talent, including Sonal Shah, Director of the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, and Diana Aviv, President and CEO of Independent Sector.  In her keynote address, Sonal conveyed a message, in essence, of “I am from the government.  I’m here to partner with you”.  Sonal’s move from Google to Washington gives her the distinction of being the highest-level “social intrapreneur” that I’ve ever known.  As a change agent within government, she recognizes the enormity of her task – and her need for allies and ideas from civil society.

Diana Aviv also found rays of light in her proclamation of a new era of collaboration born of necessity.  In contrast to pre-crisis days, when each organization had to be “unique” and “different”, the sector is now gaining a new sense of pragmatism.  Today, funders and civic organizations are recognizing that leverage, reengineering, revitalizing – and partnership – will be needed to sustain or grow the impact that we aim to achieve.

But the main cause for hope that kept popping up in a range of sessions was the possibility of renewal through social innovation.  Social entrepreneurs were cited by speakers in many sessions, including one helpful suggestion that Kiva was the “gateway drug to social investing”: once you try it you can’t quit!  The well-attended panel on social entrepreneurship gave the audience a chance to reflect on what it takes to build social innovations to scale.  Moderator Jack Knott, Dean of USC’s School of Policy, Planning and Development invited your humble raconteur and two other panelists to discuss the opportunity presented by social entrepreneurs, identify ways that philanthropy can best support scaling of their solutions, and explore how links to public policy and private capital markets could be strengthened.

In light of my philanthropic audience, I emphasized the importance of core operating support in scaling innovation.  Providing core support that is aligned with an organization’s strategy for maximizing impact – rather than project funding that can distract and distort – is probably the biggest thing a foundation can do to help build a scalable institution.  “How big would Microsoft be if Bill Gates had to create different products for each of his investors?” I asked.

Another speaker evoked the collective power – in support of innovation - that would be unleashed if foundations applied 100 percent of their balance sheets toward impact, rather than the more typical 5 percent.  A quite reasonable suggestion, against which you’ll find no argument here.

As a closing note, I encouraged foundations to approach social entrepreneurs with a healthy dose of humility.  Posing the question, “does social innovation originate with foundation officers?”, I encouraged the audience to look beyond deterministic, top-down models of social change and instead think about empowering the innovators.  Well-intentioned as we may be, we’re only investors in innovation – social entrepreneurs have the solutions.