In February 2007, nearly 150 leaders from the nonprofit, private, and public sectors gathered at Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, New York. Participants explored three of the most significant barriers to creating transformative social change: the difficulty identifying, developing, and retaining exceptional talent; the gap between social entrepreneurs and policymakers at the city, state, and federal levels; and an ineffective capital market for social innovation.

Funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the third annual Gathering featured speakers including former Senator Bill Bradley (New Jersey), David Gergen (Kennedy School of Government), Stephen Goldsmith (Kennedy School of Government), Catherine Reynolds (Reynolds Foundation), Jeffrey Swartz (The Timberland Company), and former Governor Mark Warner, Virginia). Participating social entrepreneurs included Michael Brown (City Year), Dan Cardinali (Communities In Schools), Cheryl Dorsey (Echoing Green), Michelle Nunn (Hands On Network), Earl Martin Phalen (BELL), Paul Schmitz (Public Allies), and Dorothy Stoneman (YouthBuild), to name only a few.

Program highlights included a panel on demystifying politics for social entrepreneurs, and social entrepreneurship for policymakers; an update on the progress of the Action Tank, and the debut of a briefing book—America Forward: Invest, Invest, Involve—designed for candidates and policymakers at all levels of government; a presentation by Tom Sheridan (The Sheridan Group) and Scott Hatch (Capitol Management Initiatives), who together created Bono’s DATA campaign, about leveraging social entrepreneurship for transformative change leading up to the 2008 elections; and a session exploring the idea for a $1 billion social investment fund.

Gathering participants also explored the challenge of human capital management. Social entrepreneurs Jon Schnur (New Leaders for New Schools) and Wendy Kopp (Teach For America) shared their experiences and lessons learned in identifying, recruiting, managing, and retaining talent in a session moderated by Jim Cutler (Monitor Group). Participants also engaged in lively dialogue with Jean Martin (Corporate Leadership Council) who delivered a data rich, solutions-focused presentation on evolving talent management in support of growth. Discussion generated insights about the scope and nature of the talent management challenge, and ideas for how individual organizations and the broader social sector can more effectively and efficiently develop human capital practices in support of growth.