At the Council on Foundation’s Annual Conference in Chicago in April 2013, Dunham Fund Board member, Ryan Maley, along with Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and Rockefeller Foundation President, Judith Rodin, announced support of the implementation of an Illinois Social Impact Bond Program.

According to Governor Quinn, the program provides the state with ways to “scale and sustain programs with proven track records”. Social impact bonds are innovative financing mechanisms for social programs in which government agencies pay for real, measurable social outcomes only after those results have been achieved. The state signs a “pay for success” contract with a service provider to implement and monitor a particular social service program identified as critical to the state’s well-being. The state social impact bonds are issued and the investors provide the upfront costs of the program and receive an investment reimbursement and reasonable return when the program outcomes have been achieved.

The Dunham Fund provided a $276,308 grant to Kennedy School at Harvard University to bring a fellow from its Social Impact Bond Technical Assistance Lab to Springfield to identify the most critical social needs in the state that would respond well to this sort of investment. Although the Dunham Fund usually limits grants to the Aurora area, this state-wide program can provide local not-for-profits additional funding resources, as well as help other services expand their programs into the Dunham Fund service area.

To learn more information about Illinois Social Impact Bonds, click to to view a video or click here to explore the RFI document from the State of Illinois.