Question

Can Social Impact Bonds be an effective tool for spurring private investment in solving pressing social problems?

Why are we asking?
In a Social Impact Bond, private investors fund the intervention through a nonprofit contractor and the government pays the contractor only if the program meets its goals. This could potentially provide an important new source of funding for social programs that ties funding to effectiveness of the program. MDRC is working to explore the effectiveness of this new funding model.

Working Toward a Solution

Project

Social Impact Bond Project at Rikers Island

MDRC participated in the nation’s first Social Impact Bond, an innovative way to fund promising new programs at no cost to taxpayers.

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Report

Financing Promising Evidence-Based Programs

A social impact bond (SIB) is an innovative way to fund promising new programs at no cost to taxpayers. This report describes the first operational SIB in the U.S., explaining how an intervention for youth incarcerated at Rikers Island was developed, how the unique financing mechanism was arranged, and how the program was adapted and implemented at full scale.

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Background Resources