Latitude in a nutshell

Latitude Network is a strategy and social impact consultancy that helps social organisations to improve performance and scale evidence-based solutions to complex social problems. It does this through building data and performance systems and capability, and developing outcomes-based funding and investment opportunities for high impact social programs that can be proven to deliver outcomes.

The Latitude Network performance methodology works for any social issue and has been applied across mental health, homelessness, education, drug and alcohol, child protection as well as in local government, community sport and infrastructure. It was developed out of work with novel social financing models including outcomes contracts (social impact bonds) and draws on UK and US models.

The Latitude approach is useful for organisations confronting the challenge of growing their social service and expanding funding. A strong case for funding can be developed by focusing on the data and developing integrated financial models and avoided cost calculations that show value and cost savings to governments. The growth strategy needs to consider the role of philanthropic and impact investment, user pays and licensing models, and evidence-based approaches to demonstrating value. New approaches to funding on the basis of outcomes are another powerful tool to expand funding, by sharing risk between governments, investors and philanthropists and the social organisation itself, they can reduce barriers to funding and provide higher levels of accountability.

The problem with the current system

If you speak to anyone in the social, human and health services areas they will tell you that we just can't seem to get the best ideas to the people who truly need them, at the time they need them. Many people in our community seem to constantly cycle through hard times rather than climb out of them. Many social problems are entrenched - they are simply not responding to the current services and activities that governments and social organisations are delivering. For example, intergenerational inequalities such as unemployment and low income persist in the same postcodes and same families and have done so for more than 30 years. Despite the millions of dollars of services and good intentions, many social problems appear intractable.

Our view is that the way social services are funded is flawed. It has these characteristics - 

• Low incentives or funding for capturing and using data for better decisions and push for high performance;
• Not easy to fund ‘prevention’ rather than treatment;
• Funding outputs has meant a low level of accountability for the results that matter - i.e. the desired shift in outcomes for those experiencing the social problems;
• A budget and political cycle that incentivises siloed, short-term funding as well as incentivises funding ‘widgets’;
• Funding is not efficiently allocated to the most effective and cost effective solutions because there is low funding for producing good data on what works for specific groups - leading to misallocation and lower social impact per dollar spent;
• Without funding based on outcomes, social organisations can only react to government funding tenders - making it difficult to have a clear strategy and focus;
• Ongoing and long-running debate about the proportion of money spent as ‘overheads’ in NFPs. There is a strong narrative that suggests ‘admin costs’ should be as low as possible - which undermines an ‘investment’ narrative.

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The need

We need an outcomes-based social service system that addresses these flaws so that our system invests in real solutions to these long-term social and health challenges. Latitude Network’s vision for this is threefold:

1. Social organisations and social businesses that are equipped to tackle the challenges
   1. Data. We need more organisations collecting the right data.
   2. Performance. Once data is collected we need organisational systems and capacity to use data to inform service improvements
   3. Innovation and continuous improvement. Being aware of its performance should then spur an organisation to organise around performance improvement - identifying ways to adapt existing - and building new - services.
   4. Capabilities and leadership. These structural and operational changes require robust mission-focused leadership
2. New outcomes-based funding approaches and commissioning models that incentivise solutions 
   1. Incentives to deliver results and outcomes. Funding contracts need to be structured so that service-delivery organisations have formal incentives to deliver long-term positive outcomes.
   2. Accountability for delivery of results. Service-delivery organisations have to have formal ’skin-in-the-game’
   3. Risk sharing with governments and impact investors. New funding relationships can be generated between service-delivery organisations 
   4. Proactive approaches to funding for high quality programs compared with current reactive / tender based funding
   5. Better use of data to allocate resources. Governments can support organisations to use data to inform better performance by sharing data more frequently and more quickly
   6. Outcomes partnerships with funders (e.g. government) that share performance data across multiple service providers
3. Leveraging activity in other sectors / parts of economy to by refocusing them on delivering measurable social outcomes
   1. Infrastructure - social or community infrastructure can now be built under a social outcomes framework using Latitude Network’s Outcomes Based Infrastructure methodology
   2. Philanthropic granting - philanthropy can play a more active role in impact investing and funding the system supports and intermediaries needed to build capability and identify best in class solutions to social problems.
   3. Sporting and cultural activities. Structured community sports and activities (eg cricket and football) have enormous reach into communities. We can do more to structure the delivery of community benefit through these activities
   4. Corporate and Social procurement (‘Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR’). There is enormous potential for widespread corporate social responsibility activity to be coordinated and aligned behind the delivery of tangible, real long-term positive community outcomes
   5. Impact Investing. Largely focused currently on later-stage investing, the impact investing eco-system needs to be built out with structured investment pathways for early-stage, high-impact potential programs and innovations.

We welcome comment and engagement on these issues. We work with clients across all of these dimensions to help build an effective and outcomes-oriented social service system.

Our collective experience means we understand

Baptcare
Melbourne City Mission
Wellways
Cricket Victoria
​Brimbank City Council Mornington Peninsula Shire Logan City Council 
Port Philip Housing Association
Sacred Heart Mission
Seek Volunteering
Good Shepherd Australia

Department of Health and Human Services (Vic)
BaptistCare SA
Junction Housing
​Red Cross
World Vision Australia
Uniting Care
​SECL
​Reach
​Save the Children
​Jewish Care

Bupa
​COTA Australia
ACOSS
Brotherhood of St Laurence
Benetas
YMCA (NSW)
​​Care Choice
Churches of Christ
​City of Whitehorse
Mind Australia
​Beyond Blue
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