At MaRS we've been working on social impact bonds, or social finance models, for a few years now. I think what fascinates me the most is that this conversation about this tool has created a conversation about new forms of partnerships. So we get a range of different types of people asking questions, from very small organizations to very large organizations to rural areas to urban areas. I think we're less focused on the actual tool and the financial mechanism to make this work and more interested in the multi-sectoral partnerships that are working together to achieve those very rural outcomes that you're talking about.
So in your community—I grew up in a very small community—you may have an employer who has an affiliation to youth at risk and you may have this employer who's willing to mobilize some resources for the benefit of a non-profit or an organization. So you have this strategic partnership that is now forged to improve the outcomes in that community, and yes, they might have thought about this through the lens of a social impact bond. Did it create a social impact bond? Well probably not, but maybe down the road.
I think this tool has created this mindset change in a lot of people's heads to think through how they can align interests—it might be an investor, a non-profit organization, or a corporate entity—and just appeal to that in a more advanced way.