We hope you all had a wondrous festive season. So, here we are with a veritable ‘marathon’ by our usual standards of SIB news…happy reading and most importantly of all, best wishes to you and yours for a Very Happy, Peaceful and Prosperous New Year!
S.L. County Finding Social Impact Bonding Is Well Worth A Try
Deseret News
In 2013, Salt Lake County launched a “social impact bond” to expand free preschool opportunities for at-risk kids in the Granite School District. The three-year, $7 million bond is being funded entirely by Goldman Sachs and J.B. Pritzker.
In the case of the preschool bond, success is measured by whether or not kids enter special education, which costs $2,600 per year, as opposed to preschool, which only costs $2,000 per year. The county can therefore repay its investors largely out of the savings generated by the program. If it’s not successful, the taxpayers are held harmless and the investors take the loss.
This “Pay for Success” model is an ingenious approach, and it’s one that is catching on nationwide.
How to Use Impact Bonds To Finance Social Good
Robert Milburn – Barron’s
In four short years, social-impact bonds have grown from an obscure experiment in the U.K. to a rising market force in the U.S. and abroad. Insiders say that the business will more than quintuple within a year. Currently in the pipeline: A $7 million bond in Salt Lake City, Utah, aimed at boosting early education; a $17 million instrument to improve pre-kindergarten literacy in Chicago; and a $4 million deal tackling homelessness in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.
‘Pay for Success’ Could Benefit Homeless Families & Cuyahoga Taxpayers: David Crampton
Cleveland.com
In early December, Cuyahoga County, along with FrontLine Service and other partners, announced the launch of the nation’s first county-level Pay for Success project.
“Partnering for Family Success” aims to reduce the time children with homeless caregivers spend in foster care and, in the process, save county tax dollars and demonstrate a more effective way to help vulnerable families.
On Dec. 19, the partners announced that the program will start Jan. 1. The same day, the Cleveland Foundation announced it had approved a $750,000 Program-Related Investment loan to support it, joining the other local and national investors, which are the Reinvestment Fund, the George Gund Foundation, Nonprofit Finance Fund and the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland.