C# 4 will have covariant and contravariant template parameters, but until then you have to do something nongeneric like

IList collection = (IList)myObject;

Untested, but maybe something like this will work:

string modelProperty = "Some Property Name";
string value = "Some Value";

var property = entity.GetType().GetProperty(modelProperty);
if (property != null)
{
    Type t = Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(property.PropertyType) ?? property.PropertyType;

    object safeValue = (value == null) ? null : Convert.ChangeType(value, t);

    property.SetValue(entity, safeValue, null);
}