This is the second in a series of blog posts that explore Third Sector’s progress in evaluating and redesigning our recruitment practices with a diversity, equity, and inclusion lens.

Central to Third Sector’s role in the social services ecosystem is our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Before formally committing to using a diversity, equity, and inclusion lens to critically examine our culture, norms, and client-facing approaches, we had long recognized the importance of, and worked towards building, a more diverse team. In 2018, we wrote about our blind recruitment

This February, the Empowering Families Learning Community convened in Utah’s Wasatch Valley for the cohort’s sixth and final in-person meeting. The Empowering Families Learning Community participated in Sorenson Impact’s annual conference, The Winter Innovation Summit. In addition to participating in the broader conference, Third Sector also hosted a series of breakout sessions that reflected on the impressive work the Learning Community has accomplished to date. During these breakout sessions, Empowering Families sites heard from inspiring guest speakers who are implementing equity-driven and outcomes-oriented contracting strategies across their government agencies, and

With the recent release of the Social Impact Partnerships to Pay for Results Act (SIPPRA) notice of funding availability, communities across the country are exploring opportunities to apply for the first-ever dedicated federal funding supporting outcomes contracting. While SIPPRA requires projects to focus on verifiable metrics across 21 priority issue areas, the particular metrics are quite flexible – and the 21st issue area gives communities considerable room for innovation. As a result, policy makers, agency leaders and community organizations are wrestling with which metrics to include in their applications for

In late 2016, Third Sector and Stanford’s Center for Poverty and Inequality (Stanford) were awarded a Social Innovation Fund (SIF) grant under the Administrative Data Pilot (ADP) category.  After a rigorous competition, three sub-grantees were chosen to receive two years of technical assistance from Third Sector and Stanford to develop administrative data infrastructure and outcomes contracting processes, culminating in September 2019. This blog post illuminates how these three projects are using quantitative and qualitative data to improve outcomes for participants in social service programs.

“Not everything that can be counted counts,

Last year a bipartisan congressional effort resulted in a new $100 million fund available to states and local governments seeking funding for exceptional social service programs. The Social Impact Partnerships to Pay for Results Act (SIPPRA) gives governments a new opportunity to take advantage of federal funding to pay for proven outcomes.

Third Sector CEO Caroline Whistler spoke at the Workforce Frontiers Symposium in San Diego about our work with the San Diego Workforce Partnership and how result driven pay-for-performance approaches can actually improve people’s lives.

Caroline talks about the need to embrace accountability but develop flexible and innovative approaches to human-centered on-the-ground funding. She demonstrates that a different way of funding the system is possible and aligning resources with measurable results will effectively help communities in need. Watch her full speech below.