Understanding outcomes funds: A guide for practitioners, governments and donors

Outcomes funds are becoming an increasingly prominent approach within the ecosystem of social outcomes contracting and impact bond development. They have been widely touted as the solution to taking outcomes-based contracts, like impact bonds, to scale.

Building on a previous version of the Government Outcomes Lab’s introduction to outcomes funds and the recent addition of information about live outcomes funds to our INDIGO database, this guide describes how outcomes funds have been used to date and suggests some key questions for those considering or designing new outcomes funds.

The guide is structured across four main sections:

1. Definition of outcomes funds and an overview of key stages in a typical outcomes fund development process
2. The global landscape of outcomes funds as at November 2021
3. A schematic for understanding outcomes fund design choices (based on GO Lab analysis)
4. Types of outcomes fund and practical considerations for those considering an outcomes fund