Greater Philadelphia Social Innovation Awards

2027 Greater Philadelphia Awards

VISION

We strive to live in an equitable society, recognizing that we do not all start from the same place and that imbalances must be acknowledged and corrected. To achieve a more just and equitable society, ecosystems need formalized processes to identify authentic changemakers, and then a way to invest in them.

We inspire leaders to dream by tapping into their own creativity, to test and grow their ideas, and to become better versions of themselves.

PURPOSE

We host the Greater Philadelphia Social Innovation Awards as a formalized process to find, recognize, and drive financial capital to authentic changemakers so that they can grow their ideas into innovative practices.

We celebrate and honor our region’s most passionate social innovators, entrepreneurs and changemakers whose work and social impact too often goes unacknowledged, yet whose efforts are what make our communities thrive.

From 2027 the Awards do more than recognize. Finalists join the Social Innovations Institute, a year of leadership development and peer learning alongside other changemakers from across the region. Recognition becomes the beginning of something rather than the end of it.

WHO CAN BE NOMINATED

Priority will be given to individuals and teams representing community-based social sector organizations with annual budgets under $1 million, as well as independent changemakers working under a nonprofit fiscal sponsor or fiduciary. Individuals and teams affiliated with larger organizations may also be considered when the nominated work is community-driven, locally rooted, and within the spirit of innovation.

PUBLIC NOMINATION AND VOTING PROCESS

The 2027 Greater Philadelphia Awards accepts nominations from THE PUBLIC in 12 categories. The public nominations will be grouped by county (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia) and members of the county selection and nomination committee will select 1-2 finalists per category. The six finalists, representing their respective county, will then be included on a slate for PUBLIC VOTING. All nominations, whether or not they move to the finalist stage, will be recognized for their work and impact on their local ecosystems.

WHAT FINALISTS RECEIVE: THE SOCIAL INNOVATIONS INSTITUTE

Finalists join the Social Innovations Institute as part of the 2027 cohort. The Institute runs six three-hour sessions from February through October 2027, and it is free to finalists.

Each session pairs leadership development with a Learning Hub in the finalist’s own field, where leaders working on similar challenges learn directly from one another.

Across the year, participants build seven leadership competencies:

• Accountability Governance

• Transformational Leadership

• Human-Centered Design and Community Validation

• Making Nonprofit Markets Work

• AI-Enabled Leadership and Organizational Capacity

• Systems and Policy Change

• Change Management and Organizational Transformation

What the Hubs surface does not stay in the room. Promising practices become practitioner case studies published in the Social Innovations Journal, and the barriers participants identify become policy briefs presented to county health and human services leadership across the five counties.

Nominating someone is therefore a bigger ask than it used to be. A finalist is committing to six sessions across nine months, so it is worth telling the person you are nominating.

TIMELINE

Nominations Open: November 2nd, 2026

Nominations Close: November 22nd, 2026

Public Voting Opens: December 7th, 2026

Voting Closes: January 10, 2027

In-Person Awards Ceremony: January 28th, 2027: 2:00 – 5:00pm

Social Innovations Institute begins: February 2027

In-Person Awards Ceremony

Information Coming Soon

THE STRATEGY TO CREATE MORE EQUITABLE SOCIETY ECOSYSTEMS

The traditional strategy for ecosystems is to recognize and support innovative and entrepreneurial organizations and ecosystem changemakers by teaming up with a diverse range of passionate people and partners within an ecosystem. These teams combat issues across multiple cause areas with the most effective model possible with the purpose to redefine how these sectors intersect, and help transform and collaborate with the communities they serve with new models never before thought possible.

The Social Innovations Strategy and process is different. Specifically, the social innovation strategy and focus is to create and realize a more just and equitable society, and engage the public in the nomination and voting process. This process creates the conditions for an ecosystem to identify and invest in legitimate changemakers. The Social Innovations Strategy also teams up with a diverse range of passionate people and partners, but also engages the public as a way to identify the legitimate contributors and increase their impact by fostering the development of relationships among investors and actors.

For definition purposes, an ecosystem is a social sector ecosystem is a community (i.e. city, region, state) that include the following fundamental supports, working in tangent with each other, as outlined by Daniel Isenberg, Babson College:

Financial Capital (grants, crowdfunding, venture capital, debt, etc generated from Community Foundations and other organizations)
Culture/community of support (success stories and societal norms)
Market demand (beneficiaries, partners, networks, etc)
Human Capital/Talent
A strong policy and regulatory environment
Supports (legal, accounting, bankers, training and education)

For definition purposes principles translate values into actionable choices, strategies and practices. Principles are a set of recommended guidelines that must be adopted and followed in order to ensure the quality and reliability. Guidelines are recommendations that can be adopted and practiced. Standards are established norms or requirements.

For definition purposes an equitable society is one in which all community residents can participate and as a result prosper. The goals of an equitable society must be to create the environment and platform that allow the participation of all community residents thereby ensuring a pathway for all to reach their full potential. An equitable society creates a path from hope to change.

Finally, for definition purposes the public is defined as anyone who lives in the geographic location of the defined ecosystem.

SOCIAL INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM PRINCIPLES

To be successful, the social innovation strategy needs recognized principles. The below six (6) Social Innovation Ecosystem Principles outline six suggested and important, in our view, elements of a social sector ecosystem working toward a more just and equitable society. Each principle is outlined within multiple phases recognizing that an ecosystem will be in different stages at different times in the development and there is always space for growth and improvement.

Equitable Representation of Government, Private Sector, Foundations, Intermediaries, Academia, Not-for- Profit, Service Recipients, and Community Leadership.
Clearly defined categories that reflect the primary ecosystem social challenges that are documented by verified data and trends.
Engagement of the public in the identification and nomination process of an ecosystem’s most passionate social innovators, entrepreneurs and changemakers.
Engagement of the public in the public voting process where votes are cast on the merit of the innovation and impact.
Engagement of ecosystem investors to listen to community voices and designed solutions to invest in the new and emerging ecosystem’s most passionate social innovators, entrepreneurs and changemakers.
Foster new relationships among funders and an ecosystem’s most passionate social innovators, entrepreneurs and changemakers.

The Social Innovations Institute is how that investment is sustained beyond the moment of recognition, turning a year’s finalists into a standing community of practice across the region.