case study: the social benefit bonds pilot at unitingcare burnside
DESCRIPTION
Claerwen Little, Director, UnitingCare Children, Young People and Families delivered this presentation at the 2013 Social Finance Forum in Sydney/Australia. The two-day event reviewed the benefits of social service bonds, government opportunity and policy that supports the social finance market, the investor appetite for social impact bonds, calculating risk, measuring outcomes, as well as numerous case studies and international expertise. In 2013 Informa will host the inaugural Social Finance Summit in the UK. The event will be held on the 12th and 13th November at the Hilton London West End. For more information on the outstanding speaker line-up, please visit www.socialfinancesummit.comTRANSCRIPT
Developing Australia’s first Social
Benefit Bond: the UnitingCare
Burnside experience
Presentation to the 2nd Annual Social Finance Forum
8 August 2013
Claerwen Little, Director
UnitingCare Children, Young People and Families
Coming together is a beginning;
keeping together is progress;
working together is success.
Henry Ford
About UnitingCare Burnside
• 102 years old - part of the UnitingCare Children,
Young People and Families service group
• One of the largest providers of support services to
vulnerable children and families in NSW including
intensive family services and OOHC
• Sophisticated management, finance, innovation
and research skills
• No previous experience in the social finance world
The Newpin motivation
• SBB will fund the continuation and expansion of
Burnside’s Newpin program
• Evidence-based family restoration and
preservation model
• Breaking intergenerational cycles of abuse and
neglect
• Key points of difference with other crisis
interventions
The joint development phase (JDP)
• 12 months as opposed to the anticipated 6
• ‘Known unknowns’ → information gaps
established in the tender process
• Development phase provided critical access to
unpublished data
• Not all ‘unknowns’ were readily ‘knowable’
JDP – the tricky bits
• Key FACS dataset not suited to (or designed for)
comparative outcomes analysis
• To derive a counterfactual both SBBs will require
the construction of a live control group
• Significant administrative impost for all parties
• Australia does cost-benefit analysis on social
programs poorly
JDP – the investor perspective
• SBBs only useful if they raise funds → must
understand how investors think through risks v
rewards in an unfamiliar domain (OOHC) and new
finance instrument (SBBs)
• Burnside’s partnership with Social Ventures
Australia (SVA) built our understanding
• JDP – negotiates how risk is apportioned between
parties.
What did we take to market?
The $7 million Newpin SBB is expected to:
• Allow expansion from 4 to 10 centres
• Work with over 700 families approximately 55%
have at least 1 child under 5 years in OOHC
• Restore over 400 children to their families and to
prevent 60 children entering care
• Provide investor returns of 10-12% pa
• Generate long-term government savings of $95m
Meeting investors
A genuine partnership
• Genuine collaboration with government was ‘the’
key to the success of the SBB pilot process
• All parties demonstrated professionalism,
commitment, openness and trust
• This way of working will improve practice quality
regardless of the funding and financial
arrangements
• Data should not be a one-way flow
Measurement matters
• Once you’ve worked out which programs might be
compatible with SBBs or other forms of social
finance you need to ask:
• Do our data systems enable measurement of:
• Outcomes
• The counterfactual
• Direct and indirect savings?
• If not, what system change is required?
Building capacity
• What possibilities are opened up by the social
finance domain?
• How do we learn to think through these
possibilities ?
• There is no such thing as a ‘Classic SBB Model’
• Think outside the box and create tailored solutions
• Establish efficient means to test the ground
Supporting innovation
• A track record made Newpin’s SBB life easier
• What are the options for innovation seed funding
to:
• ‘Road test’ effectiveness
• Assess risks and returns for investors?
The SBB process - benefits to Burnside
• The SBB process has strengthened Newpin
practice and management
• Even before a single SBB dollar was raised the
SBB process offered us benefits in terms of:
• Discipline
• Learning to use information
• Practice quality and communication
• New strategic initiatives in performance
improvement and innovation space
The full circle
Coming together is a beginning;
keeping together is progress;
working together is success.
Henry Ford
Questions or comments?
Contact details:
Claerwen Little
CEO
UnitingCare Children, Young People and Families
T: (02) 9768 6866