A wave of cheery Friday optimism on just what SIBs can do for our society…
‘Big Banks’ £Billions Could Cure Over 30,000 Crack Addicts’
Max Salsbury – 24dash
Big banks and other private firms could tackle drug addiction in London and revolutionise public services, a new report has claimed.
With an estimated 62,000 crack addicts in London, GLA Conservative Assembly member James Cleverly’s ‘Capital Investment’ study says that ‘social impact bonds’ (SIBs) by big business should be used to fund under-resourced government programmes – potentially curing 31,000 drug users and saving the taxpayer around £4.7 billion.
According to the report, SIBs encourage charities and social enterprises to come up with innovative ideas to address social problems. The government identifies the cost of the problems, and investors front the cash to solve them. Taxpayers save money, investors are paid on results, and social problems are addressed.
Mr Cleverly said: “There are innovators out there right now with real solutions to society’s problems. These big ideas not only prevent suffering – they proactively address problems early on, saving money in the long run. We need to connect these innovators with the big budgets they require, and this can be done with Social Impact Bonds. These programmes will bring on investors who believe in the best new ideas to help our citizens, and have them front the cash needed.”
Choosing Social Impact Bonds: A Practitioner’s Guide
SF Geneva
Bridges Ventures and Bank of America Merrill Lynch have launched a new report, ‘Choosing Social Impact Bonds: A Practitioner’s Guide’. The report is the first piece of research that has looked globally across the first wave of Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) to capture insights from early movers and reflect on the lessons learnt so far, to provide a set of practical recommendations for the three key parties involved in the sector: commissioners, service providers and investors.
“Around the world, communities are seeking ways to improve the lives of disadvantaged individuals. Given access to a market of appropriate goods and services, many people can lift themselves out of hardship. The growing range of impact driven organisations selling directly to customers is a key part of the solution. 1 These organisations see a market opportunity to create value for disadvantaged customers – and to be rewarded for that value. They respond by harnessing the power of entrepreneurship, supported by growth capital, to come up with new interventions, find better ways of delivering existing ones, or simply scale up what works. Yet there remain many individuals whose circumstances mean that their life chances remain stubbornly poor, with high costs to society.”
Read the full report here.