journey to social inclusion: sacred heart mission, st kilda

The challenge 
How does a social or health service provider demonstrate to their funders that they can, with early intervention, achieve not only measurable improvements for the people they work with, but also long-term cost savings? And how does that organisation navigate the political and policy environment - convincing key parties, like Government, to contract to co-design and deliver a long-term, sustainable program focused on delivering real outcomes? Complex issues often fail to respond to traditional social service approaches, so many funders are looking for a new approach that incentivises outcomes. 

This is the question that Sacred Heart Mission set out to answer recently as a way of scaling-up their successful ‘Journey to Social Inclusion’ program which supports people experiencing homelessness.

What does one of these ‘outcomes-focused’ agreements look like? What is the right approach to take - what are the key considerations? Who are the key parties? What are the pieces of the outcomes puzzle and how do we get them to fit?

​The approach 
Social impact bonds, as one method for governments to commission for outcomes, hold the promise of a new way of doing things that is more focused and uses financially accountability to drive improvements. Latitude’s approach is based on understanding the full ‘value’ of solutions. Outcomes-based commissioning is a team sport and so it is necessary to understand what each prospective party wants to achieve (what they value), what they can contribute and, therefore, how much risk (and return) should be ascribed to each party. 

Once determining the most fundamental point - understanding the value you are bringing to your clients - our approach is to support your organisation to build a convincing case about the service and financial benefits of your services and solutions, and pitch that solution to key funders (governments, in particular).

The outcome With our support as key strategic and project manager, the Mission was successful in its application to join with the Victorian Government (Depts of Treasury & Finance and Health & Human Services) to negotiate one of Victoria’s first Social Impact Bonds in late 2017. These negotiations began in May 2017 and are ongoing. Sign up to our newsletter to stay in touch with the project as it progresses.

Russ Wood of Latitude Network has worked with the Mission throughout this process.