Investor Return On Social Benefit Bond
19 August 2014 at 9:44 am
Australia’s first social benefit bond will deliver a return of 7.5 per cent to investors this year, a certification by auditor Deloitte has shown.
The Newpin Bond, a pilot program designed to test the effectiveness of social benefit bonds in the Australian context, is focussed on out-of-home care for children.
The Bond is a performance contract between the NSW Government and provider, UnitingCare Burnside. It was given the tick of approval by the NSW Government in February this year.
NSW Treasurer Andrew Constance said that the first year results of the Bond were “encouraging”.
The Newpin program attempts to return children to their families from out-of-home care, or prevent them from initially entering care by funding an intensive 12 to 18 month course for mothers and fathers.
Director of UnitingCare Children, Young People and Families, Claerwen Little, said the Bond has improved the quality of the organisation’s work.
“We now work with a much higher share of families who have at least one child in care but we support them to systematically work through their own trauma and rebuild the bonds between parents and children,” Little said.
“The Newpin ‘Restoration’ model, which has developed as a result of the Social Benefit Bond, means that an increasing number of New South Wales children will be able to grow up with their birth families, within a safe and nurturing home.”
Little said that the program has implemented strong outcome targets and performance measures guiding returns to investors.
Not for Profit organisation, Social Ventures Australia, raised the $7 million required for the Bond in July last year.
Social Ventures Australia Executive Director Ian Learmonth said that it was “encouraging” to see the Bond deliver an attractive return in its first year.
“Tying funding to specific and measurable outcome targets has seen a new rigour embedded in the way this program is run and its ability to demonstrate the impact it’s having in the community,” Learmonth said.
“This is an exciting forward step for all of us concerned with large scale, meaningful social change.”
