Social impact investment provides the government with opportunities to deliver better outcomes for the community while opening up new sources of funding. It also encourages collaboration between government, the community sector and private investors.
To do this the government has released its 2016 Statement of Opportunities, which outlines priority policy areas with strong potential for social impact investment.
The three key policy areas are:
• establishing an Aboriginal Centre for Excellence in Western Sydney
• increasing access to early childhood education
• increasing permanency for children in out-of-home care, particularly through open adoption.
Social benefit bonds
Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian said the NSW Government was keen to build on the momentum it had built through its first two social benefit bonds.
NSW created Australia’s first social benefit bonds in 2013 – the Newpin bond and the Benevolent Society bond. Both bonds support vulnerable families by successfully reuniting them and supporting them to stay together.
In its first two years, the Newpin bond has successfully restored 66 children in out-of-home care to their families and supported another 35 families to prevent their children from entering care. The Newpin bond has also delivered an 8.9 percent return to investors in 2015.
The second bond, The Benevolent Society bond, is well underway and its results will be measured at the end of its five-year term.
Policy updates
A series of market sounding events will be held in the coming months for interested parties to get more information on the government’s priority policy areas outlined in the statement.
Feedback from these market soundings will inform how government proceeds with formal requests for social impact investment proposals that will be announced later this year.
