The Academy of Achievement's purpose is to connect graduate students from 40 countries around the world to "leaders, thinkers and pioneers."

Today's meeting in Washington that included Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, South Africa's Desmond Tutu, and Julie Andrews just to name a few, was similar to previous gatherings that have attracted Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Elie Wiesel, and Steven Spielberg. To the organization's credit, there is also an effort to showcase social entrepreneurs of less celebrity but significant achievement. This afternoon I joined a panel moderated by David Gergen which included Wendy Kopp, the founder of Teach For America, Jon Schnur, co-founder of New Leaders for New Schools, Kirsten Lodal, CEO of National Student Partnerships, and Mike Feinberg, co-founder of the KIPP Foundation.

David Gergen asserted that social entrepreneurship was taking on the attributes of a movement, and that it may well be the most exciting such movement since the heyday of civil rights. Each of the panelists described the progress of their organizations, in some cases highlighting dramatic results like the fact that 10% of Washington DC's school principals are now Teach For America alums, as is DC's new superintendent of schools. Wendy Kopp, who views educational inequity as the moral issue of our time, passionately argued that a child's career and quality of life should not be dictated by where he or she is born.

Students in the audience asked excellent questions such as to whom do nonprofits consider themselves accountable, and what lessons about the surge in philanthropic giving in America might be useful or applicable in Europe? Much of the discussion was about how to most appropriately balance the roles and responsibilities between nonprofits and government. The panelists were unanimous in believing that large social problem could not be solved without a public role. Mike Feinberg may have put it best when he explained that the work they were doing building charter KIPP academies was not to take the place of government but to goad it toward improvement. "Just think about how the Postal Service, which was a monopoly, changed after Federal Express came into the picture. Suddenly the Post Office figured out how to do overnight, next day delivery."