The Office of Management and Budget should utilize the power of Pay for Success and Social Impact Bonds when it determines how to allocate grant money.
New proposals in the Obama administration’s budget will help promote an innovative method to changing the way government does business and will provide a new approach to financing social programs.
Report
This Frequently Asked Questions guide is intended to address common questions about social impact bonds in plain, straightforward language.
This summer New York City and Massachusetts helped make possible the notion that governments can pay only for successful outcomes in some social programs, by using social impact bonds to finance them.
These federal grants provide enormous benefits to millions but face severe budget cuts in coming years, write Kristina Costa and Timothy Warfield, who suggest focusing on outcomes to demonstrate their effectiveness.
Issue Brief
Jitinder Kohli, Douglas J. Besharov, and Kristina Costa lay out examples of what should—and should not—be included in a SIB agreement.
Jitinder Kohli, Douglas J. Besharov, and Kristina Costa address the essential elements of Social Impact Bond contracts.
Jitinder Kohli, Douglas J. Besharov, and Kristina Costa explain how government should make contractor decisions in a SIB agreement.
Jitinder Kohli, Doug Besharov, and Kristina Costa lay out the facts behind this new way of financing.
Issue Brief
Jitinder Kohli, Douglas J. Besharov, and Kristina Costa answer basic questions about Social Impact Bonds—what they are, where they can be most useful, and how they differ from traditional government contracts.
Social Impact Bonds are an innovative new financing tool for social programs that allow government to focus on approaches that work—without paying a dime for unsuccessful programs, write Jitinder Kohli, Douglas J. Besharov, and Kristina Costa.
Jitinder Kohli and Douglas J. Besharov describe recent progress in Washington, D.C., Massachusetts, and New York City toward adopting pay-for-success bonds.
Report
Jeffrey B. Liebman examines social impact bonds, a promising new financing model to accelerate social innovation and improve government performance.
Jitinder Kohli describes an experimental program working with prisoners in Peterborough, England, that could transform government finance around the world.
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Geoff Mulgan and Jitinder Kohli provide strategies for spotting small successes in the public sector and making them big in this Doing What Works project report.