Innovative Data Sharing Practices Shaping the Social Sector

Data and evaluation play a critical role in our work at Third Sector, enabling rigorous outcomes-oriented contracting. More broadly throughout the social sector, well-designed approaches can inform the implementation of policy and programs. The National Association of Welfare Research Statistics (NAWRS) 2017 Workshop highlighted communities across the country where innovative data sharing practices and evaluation methodologies are directly shaping human services and workforce programming.

Integrated data systems to understand cross-system risk factors: Allegheny County is a leader in the development and use of integrated data systems. The Allegheny County Department of

The following post originally appeared on America Forward’s Blog as a guest post. 

Less than 10 years ago, the phrase Pay for Success was virtually unknown in most circles—particularly government circles. Though a seemingly simple concept, an approach to contracting for services where payments from governments (or other end-payers interested in supporting the achievement of measurable outcomes related to public programs) are linked to positive outcomes that have been measured and evaluated—Pay for Success is being tested, applied, and replicated at a rapid pace.

Contributing to the interest and uptake of Pay

Thanks to innovations in outcomes-focused contracting “because that’s the way we’ve always done it” is no longer an acceptable reason to continue to operate social programs the same way every year hoping for better results. By linking payments to measurable social outcomes, Pay for Success (PFS) contracting has made data and results integral aspects of any social service. Through multi-year randomized control trials (RCTs), which test the outcomes of a PFS project, social service providers and government funders can finally quantify the impact that their programs are making in the

A few weeks ago, the World Bank launched the Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility” (PEF).[1] It is an exciting example of social financing supporting outcomes at scale. Here’s how it works. It has raised $425m via bonds and swaps. If no pandemic occurs, investors will be repaid their principal in full, plus a return. If a pandemic occurs, then investor principal will be instead used to quickly respond to the crisis. In short, the PEF functions as a kind of insurance that kicks in in the event of a bad outcome.

Third

This article originally appeared on the Living Cities’ blog as a part of their new series which celebrates the five year anniversary of their first PFS project, and shares reflections from them and their partners on new directions in PFS. For updates, follow their Pay for Success Newsletter.

Nearly one in every seven youth and young adults across the United States are neither employed nor in school. Nationwide, this amounts to approximately six million disconnected or “opportunity youth” who face barriers to employment, including limited community resources, low-performing schools, and inadequate assistance from

For the past five months, I’ve been helping Third Sector research the nascent field of social impact accounting – the practice of measuring and quantifying the social impact of organizations and investments.  Third Sector was interested in exploring the demand for social impact accounting among investors and philanthropic organizations, as well as investigating opportunities to apply the lessons the firm has learned from its Pay for Success work more broadly.

While generalized social impact accounting principles are accepted and widely used today, they are a relatively recent development: The Financial Accounting