PLY: In the USA it’s concerns over balancing PFS to deliver a proper “win win” while in Australia, new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is reconsidering how to move the nation forward… Interesting, the UK Daily Telegraph ran a story at the weekend noting how many UK charities are only distributing sub-50% of the funds they receive (the situation here remains that the charities may feel they are being mistreated but alas I fear the court of public opinion has already moved on – difficult times for the UK’s NGO sector…).
Avoiding “Pay for Success” Failure
Shar Habibi – Capital & Main
There’s a chance that lawmakers in your city or state have recently floated something called “Pay for Success” as an innovative way to fund public services. Also known as Social Impact Bonds, Pay for Success programs bring the high-risk attitude of venture capital to critical, yet underfunded public services.
This week we, along with our allies, released A Guide for Evaluating Pay for Success Programs and Social Impact Bonds to help advocates better understand these new alternatives to public financing. Now communities can ask tough questions about a Pay for Success programs’ impact on vulnerable individuals and the public.
Though Wall Street investors like Goldman Sachs and Bank of America consider Pay for Success a “win-win,” some of these new programs look better on paper than they do in reality. The first program tried in the U.S.failed to reduce the rate by which adolescents housed on Rikers Island returned to jail. And initial results from an early education program funded by Goldman Sachs in Utah have come under serious question.
But aggressive promotion by Pay for Success advocates, along with enabling policies and funding from the federal government, has created an atmosphere in which these profit-driven alternatives could be adopted without adequate scrutiny and strong public protections.
Australia – Time For A National Agenda For Social Innovation
Rob Koczkar – The Mandarin
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s focus on fostering innovation and enterprise, outlined in his innovation statement this week, is exciting — and needn’t be confined to the business world. This new energy in government presents an incredible opportunity to embrace innovation and agility for social as well as economic policy.
The Centre for Social Impact estimates that $420 billion is spent on social programs in Australia each year across welfare, health and education. It’s time to look seriously at how this can be invested in innovative approaches to solving the social challenges we face — like homelessness, unemployment, mental illness and Indigenous disadvantage.
There are two shifts to the way Australia approaches social policy and funding that would make an immense difference to our ability to innovate and solve these challenges; better access to data on social outcomes, and a greater willingness to fund programs and services based on the social outcomes they achieve.