Online training opportunity: Outcomes-based funding
Social Finance Leadership Development Academy — Module 4: Performance-Based Contracting: A Brief History
Social Finance is hosting a series of training sessions on outcomes-based funding. These offerings, collectively called The Social Finance Leadership Development Academy: The Theory, Practice, and Future of Outcomes-Based Financing, are designed for public-sector leaders looking to link contractor payment to performance and pay for results rather than service delivery.
This training is part of a larger research and education effort focused on the value of prevention and how it can drive better health and social outcomes. And it’s unfolding over eight weekly online modules lasting 30–60 minutes.
Module 4: Performance-Based Contracting: A Brief History
Jake Segal, our vice president of advisory services, is the host of this training series centered on outcomes-based funding. It’s a simple notion: Instead of purchasing services from vendors and hoping that they’ll work, governments should pay for positive program results. But while this idea is straightforward conceptually, putting it into practice isn’t always so simple.
During our introductory session, we talked about the foundational concepts of outcomes-based funding. In our second session, we discussed problems in social program measurement and evaluation, and the idea that there’s true uncertainty when it comes to knowing which interventions work. And last week, we touched on how to think about costs and benefits when making policy decisions.
These modules covered a lot of the basics. But in the fourth session, we dive deeper and get closer to the heart of why we’re here by exploring what it actually means to base contracts in performance without breaking everything. Here, Jake talks about contingent payments, trade offs in performance-based contract design, and, critically, how to avoid misadventures of the past.
You can watch a recording of Module 4: Performance-Based Contracting: A Brief History below or sign into our public Webex portal using the password SocialFinance2020.
Are you interested in viewing and participating in the remaining sessions in real time? Sign up here. Have any questions or comments about The Social Finance Leadership Development Academy? Connect with Jake Segal or John Pion today.
Upcoming modules and provisional schedule
Module 5: How to do Pay for Success right. Unpacking Pay for Success; and, doing Pay for Success well. (Feb. 12, 2–3 p.m., Eastern time)
Module 6: Enabling legislation for outcomes-based contracting. How legislation at the state and federal levels can accelerate outcomes-based contracting. (Feb. 20, 3–3:45 p.m., Eastern time)
Module 7: The secret sauce: performance management. The secret sauce of outcomes-based contracts: using data and good governance to get better results. (Feb. 25, 3–3:45 p.m., Eastern time)
Module 8: Looking to the future: Contracting around uncertainty. Using new contracting tools in concert to build a thriving market for social innovation. (March 4, 2:30–3:30 p.m., Eastern time)
Related posts
Module 1: Foundational Concepts
Module 2: (Re)Introduction to Problems in Measurement
Module 3: What We Mean When We Talk About Cost Savings
Module 4: Performance-Based Contracting: A Brief History
Module 5: How to Do Pay for Success Right
Module 6: Legislation to Enable Innovative Outcomes-Based Contracting
Module 7: The Secret Sauce: Active Performance Management
Module 8: Looking to the Future: Contracting Around Uncertainty
