12/19/2014 in Featured Grants

Foundation Joins Cuyahoga County in Launching Pay for Success Project

Cuyahoga County is launching the nation’s first county-level Pay for Success (PFS) project in partnership with FrontLine Service, a comprehensive continuum of care service provider for homeless individuals in Ohio.

The Partnering for Family Success Program will deliver intensive 12-15 month treatment to more than 400 parents, caregivers and children over five years to reduce the length of stay in out-of-home foster care placement for children whose families are homeless.

Pay for Success is an innovative funding model that drives government resources toward social programs that prove effective at providing results to the people who need them most. PFS expands available, upfront funding for nonprofit service providers and tracks the effectiveness of programs over time to ensure funding is directed to programs that succeed in measurably improving the lives of those most in need. PFS enables governments to draw in greater resources to tackle social problems by tapping private investments for the up-front costs of the programs.

The George Gund Foundation has joined The Reinvestment Fund, The Nonprofit Finance Fund, the Cleveland Foundation and the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland in jointly providing $4 million in upfront funding for the Cuyahoga County model with the ultimate goal of receiving both a financial and social return. Funds will be repaid if project goals are reached, and a small return on the investments will be paid if the program exceeds the target outcomes.

“Pay for Success represents a new way of doing business for government, social service providers and philanthropy,” said Marcia Egbert, Gund senior program officer who was instrumental in creating the partnership. “Ultimately, we believe this model harnesses the power of “big data” to improve government effectiveness but, most importantly, to improve the lives of some of our most fragile families in Cuyahoga County.”

Additional information is available at http://www.thirdsectorcap.org/our-work/cuyahoga-county-pfs/