Outcomes-based financing: Impact bonds and outcomes funds

Since 2014, Brookings has tracked the development of the global impact bond and outcomes funds markets across all sectors, providing updates on the characteristics of contracted deals, as well as analyzing the potential and limitations of these outcome-based financing tools. A particular focus of Brookings impact bonds and outcomes funds research is on education and early childhood development in low- and middle-income countries. We are particularly interested in the potential for innovative technology solutions to support data-informed decisionmaking and performance management. Thus far, the research has shown that impact bonds and outcomes funds have the potential to help address a wide range of social challenges in high-, middle-, and low-income countries. Some challenges remain in their design and implementation, and rigorous evidence is still lacking about the effectiveness of outcomes-based financing compared to traditional financing mechanisms.

For the latest data on impact bonds, see our monthly snapshot.

Development Financing Social and development impact bonds by the numbers

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Elyse Painter

June 30, 2025

Research and Reports

Cover image: Primary school students in a learning session, Delhi. Image credit: British Asian Trust.

Global Education From evidence to scale: Lessons learned from the Quality Education India Development Impact Bond

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Sarah Osborne, Aditi Shankar

November 14, 2022

Education Digital tools for real-time data collection in education

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Sarah Osborne, Muskan Aggarwal

November 2, 2022

DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA- Students return to classrooms, amid the easing of quarantine and the gradual opening of the country in Durban, South Africa on June 8, 2020. Since March 19, the beginning of strict confinement decreed by the president Cyril Ramaphosa to combat the covid-19 pandemic, South African schools had been closed. By virtue of a relaxation, this Monday (8) the secondary classes were officially resumed throughout the territory. (NO RESALE)

Global Economy & Development How have impact bond-funded projects in low- and middle-income countries fared in COVID-19?

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Sarah Osborne, Emily Crane

December 22, 2021

Global Economy & Development Can impact bonds help to cure ‘social long COVID’?

Emily Gustafsson-Wright

May 11, 2021

Recife, Brazil.- Children attend schools in Recife, Brazil on September 15, 2020. This Tuesday (15) the world reached 29,610,479 infections and 935,898 deaths from Covid-19, however, the World Organization of Health (WHO), reiterated to the countries that keeping schools closed should be the last resort.

U.S. Government & Politics Harnessing private capital and tying funding to results to build back better

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Sarah Osborne

February 17, 2021

Emerging Markets & Developing Economies Do the benefits outweigh the costs of impact bonds?

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Sarah Osborne

September 30, 2020

Development Financing Do impact bonds affect the ecosystem of social services delivery and financing?

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Sarah Osborne, Meg Massey

September 23, 2020

Are impact bonds delivering on outcomes?

Development Financing Are impact bonds delivering outcomes and paying out returns?

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Meg Massey, Sarah Osborne

September 16, 2020

Emerging Markets & Developing Economies Are impact bonds reaching the intended populations?

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Sarah Osborne

September 9, 2020

Emerging Markets & Developing Economies What is the size and scope of the impact bonds market?

Emily Gustafsson-Wright

September 2, 2020

Global Economy & Development Measuring the success of impact bonds

September 2, 2020

Corona Virus Homes Testing and Cellular Access to free educational platforms in townships, Masiphumelele, near Fish Hoek in the Cape Peninsula, near Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa, RSA on April 17, 2020. Photo by Jacques Marais/RealTime Images/ABACAPRESS.COMNo Use South Africa.

Global Education What happens in an outcome-based financing model when a major crisis hits?

Emily Gustafsson-Wright

May 29, 2020

Global Education Paying for education outcomes at scale in India

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Izzy Boggild-Jones

November 6, 2019

India The promise of impact investing in India

Shamika Ravi, Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Prerna Sharma, Izzy Boggild-Jones

July 1, 2019

Development Financing Impact bonds in developing countries: Early learnings from the field

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Izzy Boggild-Jones, Dean Segell, Justice Durland

September 18, 2017

Students in the Mexican state of Chihuahua

Development Financing Impact bonds in Mexico: Opportunities and challenges

Christine Zülow, José Luis Chicoma, Emily Gustafsson-Wright

August 14, 2017

Colourful handprints decorate window of childcare facility

Early Childhood Education Ensuring effective outcome-based financing in early childhood development

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Sophie Gardiner, Katie Smith

January 18, 2017

Global Education Using impact bonds to achieve early childhood development outcomes in low- and middle-income countries

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Sophie Gardiner

February 16, 2016

Global Education Upfront capital commitments in social impact bonds

November 30, 2015

Development Financing The potential and limitations of impact bonds: Lessons from the first five years of experience worldwide

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Sophie Gardiner, Vidya Putcha

July 9, 2015

Blog posts

Development Financing Transforming the future of global health

Elyse Painter, Emily Gustafsson-Wright

June 14, 2024

Global Economy & Development A review of outcomes-based financing in 2023

Elyse Painter, Emily Gustafsson-Wright

January 5, 2024

Global Education A review of outcomes-based financing in 2022 and beyond

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Elyse Painter

January 9, 2023

Children wearing masks sit in a classroom at a school in Mumbai August 10, 2009. Masks were distributed by Shiv Sena, the Hindu hardline party, at the school to as a preventive measure against the H1N1 influenza outbreak in western India. REUTERS/Punit Paranjpe (INDIA HEALTH SOCIETY POLITICS EDUCATION)

Development Financing A review of the global impact bonds market in 2021 and what to expect in 2022

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Sarah Osborne

January 6, 2022

Education Getting both costs and effectiveness right to improve decisionmaking in education

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Dayoung Lee

December 23, 2021

preschool children gather around a table.

Education Redefining pre-K success during COVID through outcomes-based financing

Simone Gross

December 10, 2021

Education Paying for education and labor market outcomes in a changed world: Reflections from GSG Summit 2021

Emily Gustafsson-Wright

November 5, 2021

An Indian school girl reads her book inside her class at a government-run school in village Kurana on the outskirts of the Indian central city of Bhopal in this picture taken on August 24, 2004. Although India has some of the best engineering and medical schools in the world and also one of the largest pools of scientists, nearly 40 percent of Indians are still illiterate. Picture taken on August 24, 2004. TO ACCOMPANY FEATURE INDIA-EDUCATION REUTERS/Raj Patidar AH/CP

Global Economy & Development Mainstreaming the outcomes mindset of results-based financing

Avnish Gungadurdoss

August 19, 2021

Global Economy & Development Partnerships for public purpose: The new PPPs for fighting the biggest crises of our time

H.E. Amel Karboul, Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Max McCabe

May 27, 2021

Education How can real-time performance data lead to better education outcomes?

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Sarah Osborne, Aarushi Sharma

May 6, 2021

Development Financing What a year: A review of the global impact bonds market in 2020

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Sarah Osborne

January 7, 2021

Global Education The world’s largest education impact bond delivers on results midway through the program

Sarah Osborne, Emily Gustafsson-Wright

December 17, 2020

Schoolgirls eat their free mid-day meal, distributed by a government-run primary school, in New Delhi July 5, 2013. In an incident on July 16, 2013, twenty-five Indian children from a school in Mashrakh village in the district of Chapra died and dozens needed hospital treatment after apparently being poisoned by a school meal, provided under the Mid-Day Meal Scheme, sparking violent protests and angry allegations of blame. Neither the children nor the school pictured in this photograph were involved in Tuesday's poisoning incident. ATTENTION EDITORS - Neither the children nor the school pictured in this photograph were involved in Tuesday's poisoning incident. Picture taken July 5, 2013. REUTERS/Mansi Thapliyal (INDIA - Tags: FOOD EDUCATION SOCIETY)

Global Education Education in the time of COVID-19: Reflections from the Charcha 2020 Forum

Emily Gustafsson-Wright

May 26, 2020

Teacher Reginald Sikhwari poses for a picture with his class of grade 11 students at Sekano-Ntoane school in Soweto, South Africa, September 17, 2015. Nearly three years after Taliban gunmen shot Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, the teenage activist last week urged world leaders gathered in New York to help millions more children go to school. World Teachers' Day falls on 5 October, a Unesco initiative highlighting the work of educators struggling to teach children amid intimidation in Pakistan, conflict in Syria or poverty in Vietnam. Even so, there have been some improvements: the number of children not attending primary school has plummeted to an estimated 57 million worldwide in 2015, the U.N. says, down from 100 million 15 years ago. Reuters photographers have documented learning around the world, from well-resourced schools to pupils crammed into corridors in the Philippines, on boats in Brazil or in crowded classrooms in Burundi. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko PICTURE 39 OF 47 FOR WIDER IMAGE STORY "SCHOOLS AROUND THE WORLD"SEARCH "EDUCATORS SCHOOLS" FOR ALL IMAGES

Global Education Rethinking the critical role of data to improve teaching and learning

Reinier Terwindt, Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Jenny Perlman Robinson

January 30, 2020

Girls attend a class at "Shishu Bhavan", a home for orphans run by the Global Missionaries of Charity order of nuns, in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata September 4, 2007. REUTERS/Jayanta Shaw (INDIA) - GM1DWBSTPEAA

Global Education The global impact bond market in 2019: A year in review

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Izzy Boggild-Jones, Onyeka Nwabunnia

January 6, 2020

School children attend class at Waterstone College, a private school managed by Curro in the south of Johannesburg July 22, 2015. South African private education group Advtech rejected a takeover offer from its bigger rival Curro Holdings, saying on Tuesday the proposal contained "unacceptable pre-conditions". Advtech's shares fell more than 7 percent shortly after the announcement that it had rejected Curro's bid, but pared losses to close down 2.93 percent at 11.60 rand. The shares are up about 30 percent so far this year. Curro's stock shed 0.83 percent to close on 11.70 rand. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko - GF10000166738

Global Education From Colombia to Cameroon: The gradual growth of impact bonds in developing countries

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Izzy Boggild-Jones, Onyeka Nwabunnia

November 21, 2019

Children attend their first class immediately after they got registered at the school in Hazema North Raqqa, Syria August 21, 2017. Picture taken August 21, 2017. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra - RC14C09853B0

Development Financing 4 types of data necessary for outcome-based financing

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Izzy Boggild-Jones

September 20, 2019

Khanyo Mchunu, 13, posing for a photograph in front of her house in Embo, South Africa, November 30, 2016. REUTERS/Rogan Ward SEARCH "CHRISTMAS WISHES" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. - RC13B192B6E0

Global Education First social impact bond in South Africa shows promise for addressing youth unemployment

Izzy Boggild-Jones, Emily Gustafsson-Wright

July 12, 2019

A woman selects coffee beans at a farm in the San Martin region, July 4, 2016. REUTERS/Janine Costa - S1AETNSGOKAA

Global Economy & Development It takes more than 2 to tango: Impact bonds in Latin America and the Caribbean

Emily Gustafsson-Wright

February 15, 2019

Students count with their fingers as a teacher teaches the 2013 curriculum inside a classroom at Cempaka Putih district in Jakarta, October 15, 2014. Indonesia plans to discontinue early next year the widely criticised school curriculum that emphasises moral and religious education, a minister said on Monday. Picture taken October 15, 2014. REUTERS/Beawiharta (INDONESIA - Tags: EDUCATION POLITICS) - GM1EAC81NGB01

Global Education A global snapshot: Impact bonds in 2018

Izzy Boggild-Jones, Emily Gustafsson-Wright

January 2, 2019

Schoolgirls make their way to their school through a vegetable field early morning in New Delhi December 11, 2013. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (INDIA - Tags: SOCIETY EDUCATION) - GM1E9CB169K01

Global Education A landmark month for impact bonds in education

Izzy Boggild-Jones, Emily Gustafsson-Wright

September 25, 2018

Refugee schoolchildren attend a lesson in a classroom on the first day of the new school

Development Financing Are impact bonds and outcome funds a solution to the global learning crisis?

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Izzy Boggild-Jones

June 18, 2018

Schoolgirls queue up to receive money from authorities at a government school in Mumbai April 25, 2008. Girls attending state-run schools in India's financial capital of Mumbai are ending the school year a little richer than they began it. For each day a girl showed up in classes, city authorities are paying her 1 rupee -- about 2 U.S. cents. Boys continue to take nothing home besides their homework. Picture taken April 25, 2008 REUTERS/Punit Paranjpe (INDIA)Also see: GF2E46U0SUZ01 - GM1E44S1ESO01

Global Education World’s first development impact bond for education shows successful achievement of outcomes in its final year

Izzy Boggild-Jones, Emily Gustafsson-Wright

July 13, 2018

Development Financing From Davos: Is paying for results with blended finance ready to take off?

Emily Gustafsson-Wright

February 1, 2018

Development Financing Paying for social outcomes: A review of the global impact bond market in 2017

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Izzy Boggild-Jones

January 17, 2018

Global Education Rallying behind maternal and newborn health: A new impact bond launches in India

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Izzy Boggild-Jones

November 29, 2017

Children attend an afternoon lesson in Jaipur

Global Education Two years in: How’s the world’s first development impact bond for education doing?

Izzy Boggild-Jones, Emily Gustafsson-Wright

July 13, 2017

Photo: The colors of the Colombian flag are reflected in a canal next to the convention center in Cartagena, Colombia. [Reuters/Jaime Saldarriaga]

Emerging Markets & Developing Economies Colombia leads the developing world in signing the first social impact bond contracts

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Izzy Boggild-Jones

March 31, 2017

Global Education 5 highlights from impact bond activity in developing countries in 2016 (and a look to 2017)

Emily Gustafsson-Wright

January 13, 2017

Development Financing Variations on the impact bond concept: Remittances as a funding source for impact bonds in low- and middle-income countries

David Coleman

September 27, 2016

Global Education Educate Girls development impact bond could be win-win for investors and students

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Sophie Gardiner

July 18, 2016

Development Financing What role do impact bonds have in the achievement of the Global Goals?

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Sophie Gardiner

July 13, 2016

Development Financing Paying for success in education: Comparing opportunities in the United States and globally

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Sophie Gardiner

June 24, 2016

Technology & Information The Netherlands leads again in social innovation with announcement of fifth social impact bond

Emily Gustafsson-Wright

June 9, 2016

Cities & Communities The market makers: Local innovation and federal evolution for impact investing

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Alaina J. Harkness

April 28, 2016

Global Education South Africa is the first middle-income country to fund impact bonds for early childhood development

Sophie Gardiner, Emily Gustafsson-Wright

April 6, 2016

Global Education The future of impact bonds globally: Reflections from a recent Brookings event

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Tamar Manuelyan Atinc, Sophie Gardiner

March 24, 2016

Global Education Perspectives on Impact Bonds: Working around legal barriers to impact bonds in Kenya to facilitate non-state investment and results-based financing of non-state ECD providers

Humphrey Wattanga

December 21, 2015

Global Education Can impact bonds improve service delivery?

Tamar Manuelyan Atinc, Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Sophie Gardiner

April 28, 2015

Global Education From Colombia to Cameroon: The gradual growth of impact bonds in developing countries

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Izzy Boggild-Jones, Onyeka Nwabunnia

November 21, 2019

Global Education Identifying Education Outcomes for Social Impact Bonds for Early Childhood

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Megan Golden, Sam Aigner-Treworgy

February 13, 2015

Global Education Reflections on Universal Children’s Day: How the U.S. is Paving the Way by Thinking Outside the Box

Emily Gustafsson-Wright

November 20, 2014

Global Education Invest Early, Invest for Impact: Social and Development Impact Bonds for Early Childhood Development in Developing Countries

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Vidya Putcha, Tamar Manuelyan Atinc

October 6, 2014

Global Education Social Impact Bonds for Early Childhood Development: Making “Dollars and Sense” in Developing Countries

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Tamar Manuelyan Atinc

April 2, 2014

Multimedia

A view of an empty classroom at a school, as Lebanon's education system is in limbo with multiple challenges, in Beirut, Lebanon, June 8, 2020. Picture taken June 8, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

Education Can impact bonds help solve the global education crisis?

Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Jaime Saavedra, Fred Dews

June 26, 2020

Media and events

Past Event

June 18

2024

Development Financing Outcomes-based financing: Possibility and promise in global health

Online only

Tuesday, 9:00 am - 10:15 am EDT

Past Event

September 20

2022

Global Education The future of outcomes-based financing: Transforming results for children

Yale Club, New York New York

Tuesday, 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm EDT

Past Event

April 26

2022

Development Financing Breaking the cycle of poverty through innovative finance

Brookings Institution, Washington DC

Tuesday, 10:00 am - 11:30 am EDT

Past Event

October 15

2020

Global Education Scaling quality education in India: Year 2 results of the Quality Education India Development Impact Bond and beyond

Online only

Thursday, 8:00 am - 9:30 am EDT

Past Event

May 07

2020

Global Education Mitigating the impacts of COVID-19 on the delivery of education programs in India

Online only

Thursday, 7:30 am - 9:00 am EDT

Past Event

November 06

2019

Global Education Webinar: Paying for education outcomes at scale in India

Webinar only, DC

Wednesday, 8:00 am - 9:30 am EST

Past Event

July 13

2018

Development Financing What can we learn from the results of the world’s first development impact bond in education?

Brookings Institution, Washington DC

Friday, 10:30 am - 12:00 pm EDT

Past Event

December 12

2017

Global Education Webinar: Impact bonds for health

Online only

Tuesday, 10:00 am - 11:30 am EST

Past Event

September 18

2017

Global Education Impact bonds in developing countries

Citi Executive Conference Center, New York New York

Monday, 8:30 am - 11:30 am EDT

Students walk in line towards a dining hall for lunch at a primary school for children of migrant workers in Aksu

Global Education The use of impact bonds around the world

Emily Gustafsson-Wright

August 3, 2017

Past Event

November 10

2016

Global Education Opportunities and challenges for social impact bonds in Mexico

Sheraton Maria Isabel Hotel, Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City

Thursday, 8:00 am - 12:00 pm CST

Past Event

July 05

2016

Global Education Online webinar: Year-one results of the world’s first development impact bond for education

Live Webcast

Tuesday, 10:00 am - 11:00 am EDT

Past Event

February 29

2016

Global Education The global potential and limitations of impact bonds

Brookings Institution, Washington DC

Monday, 9:30 am - 3:30 pm EST

Past Event

June 29

2017

Global Education Webinar: Year-two results of the world’s first development impact bond for education

Online only

Thursday, 10:00 am - 11:15 am EDT

Past Event

July 05

2016

Global Education Online webinar: Year-one results of the world’s first development impact bond for education

Live Webcast

Tuesday, 10:00 am - 11:00 am EDT