NFF Awards $650,000 to Cross-Sector Partnerships Tackling Persistent Social Issues

NEW YORK, January 10, 2017 — Nonprofit Finance Fund, a grantee of the Social Innovation Fund's Pay for Success program, is awarding federal funding to three projects taking innovative approaches to persistent social challenges. Grantees include cross-sector Pay for Success partnerships addressing asthma, homelessness, and early childhood care.

Pay for Success approaches drive resources toward programs that provide measurable results to the people who need them most. Strong service providers deliver high-quality programs designed to improve lives and prevent future problems. Mission-driven investors cover the upfront costs of delivering these programs. If the predetermined goals are achieved, investors are repaid with a return.

"The need for critical services is increasing in communities across the country," said Antony Bugg-Levine, CEO of Nonprofit Finance Fund. "Pay for Success projects reach people who need help now, and just as importantly, model new, cross-sector approaches to tackling persistent social challenges."

Since 2014, Nonprofit Finance Fund has awarded $3.4 million in grants through funding from the Corporation for National and Community Service's Social Innovation Fund (SIF). NFF's funds and implementation expertise help promising projects move from the design phase to launch. Recipients of this fourth round of grants from NFF's current SIF allocation include:

• Green & Healthy Homes Initiative, with its partners the University of Utah Health Plans and Salt Lake County Office of Regional Development, has designed a project that aims to improve the health of people with asthma in low-income areas along Utah’s Wasatch Front. The project goes beyond medication-only interventions to also address patient education, monitoring, and environmental factors. Upon launch, it will be the first Pay for Success project that includes an insurance company, rather than government, as an end-payor.
• Institute for Child Success, in partnership with the City of Spartanburg, South Carolina, and the Mary Black Foundation, located in Spartanburg, has developed a project designed to improve the well-being of all young children living in Spartanburg. It will offer a comprehensive continuum of services, including home visits, parent education and support, and significant investments in community organizations providing early care and education.
• The Salt Lake County Pay for Success Initiative includes two simultaneous projects in the areas of homelessness and criminal justice reform. Through the effort, more than 500 of the County's most vulnerable residents will receive highly targeted services never before available to them. The Road Home will provide persistently homeless people with housing assistance and supportive services. First Step House will work to reduce the cycle of arrest and re-arrest for people who need services to secure employment, achieve self-sufficiency, and re-integrate into their communities. This award continues the support that was provided to the projects through NFF’s first round of SIF-sponsored grants.

“We have been thrilled with our Social Innovation Fund award to Nonprofit Finance Fund focused on forming innovative public-private partnership models that combine nonprofit expertise, private funding, and independent evaluation to transform how government leaders respond to long-term social problems," said Lois Nembhard, acting director of the Social Innovation Fund at CNCS.

NFF is accepting applications from local or state governments or service providers requesting funds for transaction structuring support to launch Pay for Success projects. Proposals will be accepted on a rolling basis, as funds are available, through February 1. Letters of Intent are strongly recommended at least two weeks prior to submission.

For more information about Pay for Success, and the Social Innovation Fund, please visit: www.payforsuccess.org. For an overview and comparative analysis of the 10 Pay for Success projects that have launched to date in the United States, see NFF's recent report: Pay for Success: The First Generation.