News and Insights

At Third Sector, our five core values of Rigor, Respect, Resourcefulness, Results, and Reflection drive how we conduct ourselves with clients, partners, and each other. As part of our values, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) have always been central to our work. What is more, we simply could not successfully direct public resources in more [...]

What would it take to redesign programs with whole families at the center?” The Future Services Institute, an initiative of the Public and Nonprofit Leadership Center at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, posed this question at the onset of the recent Redesign for Whole Families Summit.  Throughout the two-day conference, government [...]

The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) recently released an Outcomes-Oriented ESE Toolkit to support counties statewide in strengthening their Expanded Subsidized Employment (ESE) programs. Third Sector was engaged by CDSS and the California Welfare Directors Association (CWDA), to provide technical assistance and help advance an approach that focuses on outcomes and continuous improvement in the ESE program. The resulting toolkit guides counties in moving programming, contracting, and data practices towards an outcomes orientation.

As part of their California Work Opportunities and Responsibilities to Kids (CalWORKs) block grant, 52 counties in

This course will provide an introduction to social and environmental impact analysis – that is, how to understand through reporting about it that has been produced by others.

As discussed in our first blog, the Pay for Success (PFS) field is evolving from initial Social Impact Bond-style projects launched by governments and supported by third-party (i.e., non-government) funding to agency and multi-agency engagements that shift the practice of how existing public funding streams are deployed for specific social programs. Across these projects, traditional cost-reimbursement service contracts are being amended or replaced to align funding, policy, data, and services together to the ultimate goal of achieving outcomes for our nation’s most vulnerable populations.

Are you interested in developing systems to improve data-driven decision-making? Do you want to learn more about contracting for positive outcomes? Have you thought about writing outcomes into contracts, but don’t know where to start? Third Sector now offers a workshop-style six-week engagement for state, county, and local government agencies who want to learn about [...]