| Notes |
Dear Reader,
I had the opportunity to hear Dr. Clay Christensen from the Harvard Business School a few years ago discussing his upcoming book The Innovator’s Prescription. The book describes Christensen’s theory of Disruptive Innovation as it applies to health care. As communities across the country are faced with ongoing government funding reductions, increased social needs, and the long-term effects of the recession, it is clear we need to develop new solutions to ongoing challenges.
That is why two years ago The Health Trust brought Dr. Christiansen from Harvard to Silicon Valley to speak about the application of Disruptive Innovation (DI) theory to the nonprofit sector. It is also why we followed that event by funding DI projects in the health equity field. One of the resulting grants was made to Catholic Charities to explore Pay for Success (PFS) and Social Innovation Financing (SIF) in Santa Clara County. Third Sector Capital Partners, which prepared the case study that follows, was engaged for consulting support to work with the County government and the local nonprofit community to identify potential areas where these concepts could be applied.
We have been very pleased with the receptivity of the County to this project and the progress to date, thanks in no small part to the strong support from the Board of Supervisors and the dynamic leadership of COO Gary Graves from the County Executive’s office.
Thisreportisintendedtodescribeourprocessandprogress-to-date. Wewanttosupportcontinuedgrowth in this field, and I believe that reflecting on our lessons learned is essential to the successful completion of this project, and can inform other efforts underway across the nation.
Interest and buy-in from philanthropic and commercial funders is essential to a Pay for Success initiative, so we at The Health Trust invited a group of experts to speak to potential investors about the Santa Clara County project and the growth of PFS and SIF. Kimberlee Cornett, Director of Social Investment Practice at the Kresge Foundation, is our keynote speaker, and Gary Graves from the County, George Overholser from Third Sector, Greg Avis from Summit Partners and Ian Galloway from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco will all share their unique perspectives and experiences.
We are grateful to the several foundations in the Silicon Valley that have already supported this innovative project, in particular the Sobrato Family Foundation and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. We also recognize the dedicated leadership to the issue that Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County and their Step Up Silicon Valley initiative has provided.
I look forward to the day when we solve challenging issues facing vulnerable communities in Silicon Valley and across the country through the use of innovative approaches and outcomes-based accountability. I hope this case study can provide some context and lessons learned on one such effort here in Santa Clara County.
Kind regards,
Frederick J. Ferrer, M.S.
CEO, The Health Trust |