Social Finance (US non-profit organization)

Social FinanceFile:Social Finance US Logo Smaller.jpg

Founded| 2011
Headquarters| Boston, MA
Leadership| Tracy Palandjian, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Navjeet K. Bal, Managing Director and General Counsel
Jeff Shumway, Managing Director
Board of Directors| Bracebridge H. Young, Jr., Chair
Mariner Investment Group

Edward L. Shapiro, Vice Chair
PAR Capital Management

Sir Ronald Cohen
Big Society Capital, G8 Social Impact Investing Taskforce[1]

Pamela Dippel Choney
Former Wellington Management Company

Karen Dynan
John F. Kennedy School of Government

Doug Henderson
Oak Hill Advisors

Ian Simmons
Blue Haven Initiative

Laurene Sperling
Sperling Family Charitable Foundation

Sandra A. Urie
Cambridge Associates

Nancy Zimmerman
Bracebridge Capital
Website| www.socialfinance.org

Social Finance, Inc. is a nonprofit organization focusing on the emerging field of Pay for Success (a set of financing strategies that includes the Social Impact Bond (SIB)) in the United States. Social Finance provides advisory, social investment, and active performance management services to public- and private-sector partners seeking to drive more resources to social programs that deliver proven results to those in need. The organization has offices in Boston, MA, Austin, TX and San Francisco, CA.

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Core activities
* 3 Project Examples
* 4 References
* 5 Further reading
* 6 External links

## History

In January 2011, David Blood (Generation Investment Management), Sir Ronald Cohen (Global Social Impact Investment Steering Group and The Portland Trust) and Tracy Palandjian founded Social Finance as a sister organization to Social Finance, Ltd., which pioneered the PFS model and launched the first PFS project in 2010. The organization was started in Boston, MA, and added an Austin, TX, office in 2015. Its founding supporters include Omidyar Network, The Pershing Square Foundation, and The Rockefeller Foundation.

Tracy Palandjian has served as Social Finance's CEO since its founding in 2011. She is a leader in the field of impact investing, and currently serves as Vice-Chair of the U.S. National Advisory Board to the Global Impact Investment Steering Group (previously the G8 Taskforce), which aims to catalyze the development of the social impact investment market. She is a frequent speaker and writer on impact investing and social innovation, and has been covered in The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Forbes, and The New York Times, among other media outlets. She is the co-author of Investing for Impact: Case Studies Across Asset Classes, a report that provides a view on the evolution of the impact investing industry.

## Core activities

Social Finance's mission is to mobilize capital to drive social progress. It partners with governments, nonprofits, foundations, impact investors, and financial institutions to create financing solutions to improve social outcomes. Since its founding, the focus of Social Finance's work has been on building the market for Pay for Success, a funding model created to address the challenging dynamic of complex social problems, persistent government funding shortfalls, and cash-strapped nonprofit service providers. Pay for Success sits at the nexus of impact investing and the "funding what works" movement, and has garnered sustained interest among diverse stakeholders. Social Finance's core activities include advisory services, social investment, and active performance management as well as field building and market education. The services are described below.

* Advisory Services: Social Finance partners with governments and foundations to assess promising programs that could benefit from Pay for Success financing.
* Social Investment: Social Finance develops Pay for Success projects that improve social outcomes and generate financial returns. It mobilizes capital to support Pay for Success projects and put capital to work in service of society.
* Active Performance Management: Social Finance works to ensure its projects stay on track and drive positive results for communities in need.
* Field Building and Market Education: Through research, advocacy, and publications, Social Finance supports the development of the Pay for Success market and the broader impact investment movement.

Social Finance US is part of a global network that includes Social Finance UK, Social Finance Israel, Social Finance India and Social Finance Netherlands. The Social Finance Global Network collaborates to advance Pay for Success and similar efforts worldwide.

## Project Examples

Ventura County Project to Support Reentry
In November 2017, the Ventura County Executive Office, Ventura County Probation Agency, Interface Children & Family Services, and Social Finance launched the Ventura County Project to Support Reentry, the nation's 20th Pay for Success project. The project provides a customized reentry program for 400 men and women on formal probation, with the goals of reducing recidivism, improving public safety, and promoting family stability and economic opportunity.[2] Social Finance raised $2.6 million in capital to fund the project and will continue to provide active performance management and investor relations through the project end in 2021.

Massachusetts Pathways to Economic Advancement Pay for Success Project
Social Finance, with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Jewish Vocational Service (JVS), launched the Massachusetts Pathways to Economic Advancement Project in June 2017. The project will increase access to workforce development services, including vocational training, English language classes, job search assistance, and college-transitioning programming for approximately 2,000 adults over three years, helping limited-English speakers in Greater Boston make successful transitions to employment, higher wage jobs, and higher education.[3] Social Finance is project intermediary.

Oklahoma Women in Recovery Pay for Success Project
The State of Oklahoma and Tulsa-based Family & Children's Services entered into a Pay for Success contract aimed at reducing Oklahoma's nation-leading female incarceration rate. The project expands the services of the Women in Recovery prison diversion program, admitting up to 125 non-violent female offenders into the program annually for up to five years.[4] Social Finance served as project advisor.

New York State
In December 2013, Social Finance and its partners launched a Pay for Success project in New York with the goals of increasing employment, reducing re-incarceration, and improving public safety. The project will expand the Center for Employment Opportunities, a comprehensive employment intervention, to a target of 2,000 formerly incarcerated individuals over a period of 5.5 years. The $13.5 million financing was syndicated to individual investors via a wealth management platform (Bank of America Merrill Lynch), the first Pay for Success project to take this approach. Social Finance will continue to provide active performance management and investor relations through the end of the project in 2018.[5]

National Partnership with Nurse-Family Partnership
Social Finance and Nurse-Family Partnership's National Service Office work together to expand Nurse-Family Partnership's home visiting services for low income, first-time mothers. Currently, the two organizations are developing and exploring Pay for Success projects in multiple jurisdictions throughout the United States.

Philadelphia
Working with the office of Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, Social Finance explored the feasibility of improving recidivism and child welfare outcomes through a Pay for Success transaction. The final report was made publicly available.

## References

1. ↑ Press Release: Global Social Impact Investment Task Force Appoints Members of U.S. National Advisory Board
2. ↑ "Project launched to reduce recidivism, improve public safety, and promote family stability" (in en-gb). http://www.vcnewschannel.com/news/228-project-launched-to-reduce-recidivism-improve-public-safety-and-promote-family-stability.
3. ↑ Massachusetts Department of Administration and Finance (2017-06-16). "Mass.gov" (in en). Baker-Polito Administration Launches Workforce Development Pay for Success Project. http://www.mass.gov/anf/press-releases/fy2017/workforce-development-pay-for-success-project-launched.html.
4. ↑ "OK.gov". Gov. Fallin Announces Oklahoma's First-ever Pay for Success Contract Addressing Female Incarceration. 2017-04-11. http://services.ok.gov/triton/modules/newsroom/newsroom_article.php?id=223&article_id=31079.
5. ↑ Cuomo Announces $12 Million Federal Grant for 'Pay for Success'

## Further reading

* "A New Public Finance Tool to Help the Most Vulnerable", TIME, February 16, 2016
* "Response to the Pay-Off of Pay for Success", Stanford Social Innovation Review, Fall 2015
* "What Are Social-Impact Bonds?", New York Times, February 8, 2011
* "Pay for Success: A New Results-Oriented Federal Commitment for Underserved Americans", The White House Blog, January 24, 2012
* "Pay For Success: Investing in What Works", Annual Report, January 2012, The White House and Nonprofit Finance Fund
* "Private Risk, Public Benefit: Are Social Impact Bonds the Way of the Future?", Forbes, October 15, 2013
* "Everything You Need to Know About Social Impact Bonds", US News and World Report, November 5, 2013
* "Social Finance: A Primer", Center for American Progress, November 5, 2013

## External links

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