Developing Australia’s first Social

Benefit Bond: the UnitingCare

Burnside experience

Presentation to the 2nd Annual Social Finance Forum

8 August 2013

Claerwen Little, Director

UnitingCare Children, Young People and Families

Coming together is a beginning;

keeping together is progress;

working together is success.

Henry Ford

About UnitingCare Burnside

• 102 years old - part of the UnitingCare Children,

Young People and Families service group

• One of the largest providers of support services to

vulnerable children and families in NSW including

intensive family services and OOHC

• Sophisticated management, finance, innovation

and research skills

• No previous experience in the social finance world

The Newpin motivation

• SBB will fund the continuation and expansion of

Burnside’s Newpin program

• Evidence-based family restoration and

preservation model

• Breaking intergenerational cycles of abuse and

neglect

• Key points of difference with other crisis

interventions

The joint development phase (JDP)

• 12 months as opposed to the anticipated 6

• ‘Known unknowns’ → information gaps

established in the tender process

• Development phase provided critical access to

unpublished data

• Not all ‘unknowns’ were readily ‘knowable’

JDP – the tricky bits

• Key FACS dataset not suited to (or designed for)

comparative outcomes analysis

• To derive a counterfactual both SBBs will require

the construction of a live control group

• Significant administrative impost for all parties

• Australia does cost-benefit analysis on social

programs poorly

JDP – the investor perspective

• SBBs only useful if they raise funds → must

understand how investors think through risks v

rewards in an unfamiliar domain (OOHC) and new

finance instrument (SBBs)

• Burnside’s partnership with Social Ventures

Australia (SVA) built our understanding

• JDP – negotiates how risk is apportioned between

parties.

What did we take to market?

The $7 million Newpin SBB is expected to:

• Allow expansion from 4 to 10 centres

• Work with over 700 families approximately 55%

have at least 1 child under 5 years in OOHC

• Restore over 400 children to their families and to

prevent 60 children entering care

• Provide investor returns of 10-12% pa

• Generate long-term government savings of $95m

Meeting investors

A genuine partnership

• Genuine collaboration with government was ‘the’

key to the success of the SBB pilot process

• All parties demonstrated professionalism,

commitment, openness and trust

• This way of working will improve practice quality

regardless of the funding and financial

arrangements

• Data should not be a one-way flow

Measurement matters

• Once you’ve worked out which programs might be

compatible with SBBs or other forms of social

finance you need to ask:

• Do our data systems enable measurement of:

• Outcomes

• The counterfactual

• Direct and indirect savings?

• If not, what system change is required?

Building capacity

• What possibilities are opened up by the social

finance domain?

• How do we learn to think through these

possibilities ?

• There is no such thing as a ‘Classic SBB Model’

• Think outside the box and create tailored solutions

• Establish efficient means to test the ground

Supporting innovation

• A track record made Newpin’s SBB life easier

• What are the options for innovation seed funding

to:

• ‘Road test’ effectiveness

• Assess risks and returns for investors?

The SBB process - benefits to Burnside

• The SBB process has strengthened Newpin

practice and management

• Even before a single SBB dollar was raised the

SBB process offered us benefits in terms of:

• Discipline

• Learning to use information

• Practice quality and communication

• New strategic initiatives in performance

improvement and innovation space

The full circle

Coming together is a beginning;

keeping together is progress;

working together is success.

Henry Ford

Questions or comments?

Contact details:

Claerwen Little

CEO

UnitingCare Children, Young People and Families

T: (02) 9768 6866

E: clittle@unitingcarenswact.org.au