Senior Associate Sithara Kodali has been featured in an interview with the Fletcher Social Investment Group, a student-run organization based at the Fletcher School of Tufts University. In the podcast, Sithara provides an overview of Pay for Success, its cross-sector mechanics, and its promises for government and underserved communities. LISTEN HERE

On February 29th, Co-President and Co-Founder Caroline Whistler joined a panel at the Brookings Institute’s event, “The Global Potential and Limitations of Social Impact Bonds”. Featuring international leaders in Pay for Success and early childhood development, Caroline Whistler presented the Cuyahoga County Partnering for Family Success Program as an example of how the cross-sector model can better deliver services for children in need. https://youtu.be/n2nhieOOkEM?t=5h2m33s

By Emily Fabiaschi and Will Toaspern Pay for Success (PFS) is driven by the conviction that investing in preventative programs is a better use of public resources than paying for remedial services down the road. No services are more preventative than those provided at the beginning of a child’s life. When multiple domains of impact are incorporated into a PFS project, the unique, multi-faceted nature of home visiting becomes a distinctive strength.   Governments across the United States are currently preparing prenatal and early childhood PFS projects. Last week, South …

Third Sector’s Pay for Success projects in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Santa Clara County, California, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts were featured in Stateline, a daily report on state policy from the Pew Charitable Trusts. Co-founder and Co-President Caroline Whistler is quoted, The bonds are meant to foster creative solutions to entrenched social problems, with an emphasis on tracking results along the way. As such, they are a good fit for projects that address homelessness, said Caroline Whistler, who co-founded Third Sector Capital Partners, a financing group that has worked on …

By Celeste Richie and Katherine Shamraj Rigorous evaluation is a cornerstone of Third Sector’s approach to Pay for Success (PFS). The success of a PFS project hinges on quality evaluation methods to determine whether an intervention achieves desired outcomes. In our engagements, we advocate for the most rigorous method appropriate–including well designed Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) and high quality Quasi Experimental Designs (QEDs) studies–for a given intervention. Third Sector’s insistence on rigor is a differentiator. Only four PFS programs launched in the US to date have used RCTs; three of …

By Nadia Ahmed and Will Toaspern Last week, Third Sector engaged with some of the country’s most forward thinking leaders at the Salt Lake County Innovation Summit in Salt Lake City, Utah. We connected with over 400 attendees who share our commitment to innovative solutions to society’s toughest problems. Pay for Success (PFS) was at the center of the conversation, including a panel entitled “Pay for Success 2.0” moderated by Third Sector Co-Founder and Co-President, Caroline Whistler. To a standing-room only crowd, Caroline facilitated a discussion between the industry’s leading …

In Cuyahoga County, Ohio the nation’s first county-level Pay for Success (PFS) project is helping policymakers and government leaders measurably improve the lives of its vulnerable families. Over the 5-year duration of the PFS project known as the Cuyahoga Partnering for Family Success Program, community leaders in Cuyahoga County are using Pay for Success to improve services for vulnerable families. Read the Full Report Here

Pay for Success (PFS) is often spoken about in terms of finance. Many within the PFS field describe the cross-sector contracting model as a new, innovative way to finance social services for vulnerable people. While funders are important to PFS for several reasons, the model is not, at its core, a financial tool. Rather, PFS is an opportunity to improve government accountability and transparency by changing the way government contracts for social services. Procurement is, admittedly, a wonky term. Many Americans are unaware that local and state governments routinely contract …

By John Grossman and Kevin Tan. Pay for Success (PFS) holds promise. By diverting resources to programs that are measurably successful, the PFS model could move the needle on many seemingly intractable social problems. In the United States, however, PFS is still a niche concept. In the three years since the first PFS contract was signed in New York, only seven more PFS projects have been launched in the United States. This is reason for reflection. Observers and practitioners in the field alike should think deeply about why the national …

Third Sector Capital Partners, Inc. has been featured in a webinar series exploring Pay for Success and its potential. Hosted by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, CEO and Co-Founder George Overholser answered questions about the model, and how its addressing the most pressing issues for vulnerable communities around the United States. George spoke on a virtual panel discussion that included the James Irvine Foundation, Living Cities, and the Urban Institute. Their discussion has been published in three parts: Pay for Success Financing: Overview “What is pay for success, who uses it, …

Caroline Whistler, Co-Founder and Co-President of Third Sector Capital Partners, Inc., has been named as one of the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s 40 under 40. The list features young nonprofit and philanthropic leaders who are driving forward innovative solutions to pressing problems. The financing portion of such deals has gotten the lion’s share of attention…but Ms. Whistler says the real potential for transformation is in persuading governments to tie funding to results for people in need: “It allows government to step back and say, ‘Wait, what do we really want to …

By Brian Beachkofski and Marcia Chong In the Pay for Success (PFS) model, governments, funders, and nonprofits work together to construct projects that measurably serve our most vulnerable populations. Within this cross-sector mix of stakeholders, local service providers play a critical role. Bringing local expertise to the table, these on-the-ground organizations are responsible for delivering services, and achieving the outcomes agreed to in the PFS contract. FrontLine Services is one such organization. Third Sector worked closely with the community nonprofit to explore how Pay for Success could scale its continuum …

Pay for Performance (P4P) contracting can be a powerful tool to align limited resources with results. The innovative contracting model has been leveraged across the country to address our most pressing social problems. Third Sector’s first Social Innovation Fund (SIF) Competition is empowering nine governments and organizations to explore the impact of performance-based contracting across issue areas, from homelessness to maternal health, from criminal justice to education. In 2016, Third Sector is building off this work by launching a second round SIF competition. This competition is dedicated to only one …

Third Sector Capital Partners, Inc. (Third Sector), a nonprofit advisory services firm that is leading the development of Pay for Success projects across the U.S., has launched a national competition to support government projects in the area of youth workforce development. The competition is being funded by a grant from the Social Innovation Fund (SIF), a key White House initiative and program of the Corporation for National and Community Service. “This competition will allow new jurisdictions around the country to explore the viability of PFS in the area of youth …

Associate John Perovich and Analyst Jake Moy have been featured in Rooflines, the blog of Shelterforce, a publication of the National Housing Institute. Their piece, “Paying for Success in Permanent Supportive Housing” explores how the innovative contracting model can construct effective housing solutions for chronically homeless individuals. “Interest in the PFS model is growing. A total of $8.6 million of federal funding has recently been designated for PSH programs leveraging the PFS model. For jurisdictions considering a bid for these funds, the project in Santa Clara County offers several insights …

Pay for Success (PFS) projects call for an ongoing dialogue with multiple community stakeholders. Two PFS feasibility studies, supported through grants from the the Corporation for National and Community Service’s Social Innovation Fund, are underway in Washington State: Department of Early Learning and Thrive Washington study, and Health Care Authority study. To begin this dialogue in Washington, Third Sector worked with partners to host an educational convening for interested stakeholders to learn more about PFS. The November 18th event included panels with experts involved in the launched PFS projects in …

John Grossman, Co-President at Third Sector Capital Partners, Inc., was featured in a Government Executive by Patrick Lester, entitled, “Does Pay for Success Work? Define ‘Success'” “We shouldn’t make the perfect the enemy of the good,” agreed John Grossman, co-president at Third Sector Capital Partners. “The goal is continuous improvement. Success comes in changing the way government and the social sector do business.” Read the full article here.

We opened up our San Francisco office in late October to host an exciting conversation about how Pay for Success (PFS) is impacting our most at-risk populations across the country. The event, “Scaling Social Impact: Pay for Success & Social Impact Bonds”, was co-hosted with the Net Impact San Francisco Professional Chapter. Net Impact is a global community of professional leaders and students creating positive social and environmental change in the workplace and the world. Third Sector has been committed to furthering Net Impact’s mission by participating in chapter and …

Constructing Pay for Success contracts is an inherently cross-sector practice. Each of our projects brings together government, nonprofit, and private stakeholders to address our most pressing social issues. In a sense, the Pay for Success (PFS) model itself is an acknowledgement that no one organization can create effective and sustainable change on their own, without reaching across sector boundaries. The multi-party nature of our work brought us to SOCAP15, a national conference of social impact entrepreneurs and organizations that share our cross-sector approach. At SOCAP15, Third Sector participated in two …

Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) has announced two of our partners, Santa Clara County and Hillside Family of Agencies, have been selected as grant recipients through the federal Social Innovation Fund (SIF) Pay for Success initiative. Santa Clara County has been awarded the SIF grant to launch a Pay for Success project serving individuals with acute mental illness. The selected service provider, Telecare Corporation, will focus on clients who have frequent stays in psychiatric emergency care, and ensure these patients are stabilized in less restrictive, community-based environments. The SIF grant supports …