Two good articles today.
A trip to Washington in the style of an old Hollywood movie is themed in the second while the first outlines the initial charity bond listed on LSE this week – a great leap forward for the SIB movement, although it still strikes me there is a great market for a smaller venue to do smaller bonds (a project we continue to work on in our spare time).
Happy reading:
First Charity Bond Listed On LSE: What Next?
Abigail Rotheroe – The Guardian
Golden Lane Housing, the property arm of Mencap, marked a new era in the world of impact bonds on Friday by listing a tradable “retail charity bond” on LSE. It hopes to raise £11m for 30 new houses and will offer 4.375% return over seven years.
The Bond will be open to the average person, rather than just big investors – with a minimum initial subscription amount of £500.
Last week, we also heard about plans to list a retail impact bond on the Asian social stock exchange. While retail bonds might guarantee a financial return unlike social impact bonds (SIBs), the impact bond space is becoming increasingly diverse, interesting and full of potential for socially-minded organisations to create positive change.
Social Impact Bonds Go To Washington
Carrie Sheffield – Forbes
They’ve been percolating at the state and local level, and now a bipartisan group on Capitol Hill hopes to fund social impact bonds (SIBs) with federal dollars. We lack extensive data about whether SIBs work, but in theory they’re the perfect match of seeking the public good while enforcing accountability, the yin and yang of conservative and progressive ethos.
Co-sponsors Reps. Todd Young, R-Ind., and John Delaney, D-Md., recently led seven other members from both parties to introduce H.R. 4885, the Social Impact Bond Act. The bill would enable the Treasury Department to reimburse for social betterment projects only after grantees have achieved targeted outcomes. Projects are typically initially funded by private donors, and the project length would be capped at 10 years.