Gathering of Leaders: From Ideas to Action

At the first Gathering in 2005, participants created the action agenda. The action agenda isn't a formal document. Rather, it's a set of ideas identified at the event to help address the most persistent barriers to making widespread change a reality. Ideas are organized into the areas of talent, policy, financial capital, and strategy.

Since the first Gathering, the action agenda has evolved and grown with the Gathering community, and in some cases, the ideas have become full-fledged initiatives.

One example of an idea that became an initiative is the America Forward Coalition. At the 2005 Gathering participants first explored the idea of an action tank for social entrepreneurs. Conversation about this idea advanced during the 2006 Gathering as discussions with policymakers looked at how government and social entrepreneurs could better partner to create change. In 2007, participants worked to design a strategy for engaging in policymaking and informing the national dialogue on social problem solving. Later that year, America Forward was born.

As a non-partisan initiative, America Forward connects social-sector innovators and their partners with policymakers, legislators, and thought leaders to identify ways to combine public and private resources with the effectiveness and impact of America's social entrepreneurs. The coalition now includes more than 70 results-oriented, entrepreneurial nonprofit member organizations that successfully engaged the 2008 presidential campaigns on both sides of the aisle, and continues to garner national news coverage for social entrepreneurship and the initiative.

Other ideas that have translated into action within and beyond the Gathering community include capital markets research, the concept of a social investment fund, search firms specializing in high-growth entrepreneurial nonprofits, human capital development strategies, and social enterprise zones in model cities.