HopeHouse OKC awarded Pay for Success funding using innovative model
OKLAHOMA CITY —A nonprofit dedicated to helping mothers and their children break the cycles of poverty and homelessness, HopeHouse OKC, was recently awarded a third Pay for Success (PFS) contract for funding to help them continue to operate their successful programs in Oklahoma County.
HopeHouse OKC walks alongside mothers and their children who are experiencing homelessness providing safe housing, meaningful relationships, and individualized support that leads to long term stability. Through a holistic approach, families are equipped with the tools, resources, and encouragement they need to build healthy futures and create lasting change for generations to come.
An individualized action plan is developed with every family, providing personalized support as they work toward their goals. Whether pursuing education, gaining meaningful employment, improving financial stability, securing reliable transportation, resolving legal barriers, or strengthening their family's overall well-being, each step is designed to help families move toward lasting independence and generational change.
Brandy Romine, Executive Director of HopeHouse OKC, said, "At HopeHouse OKC, we believe lasting transformation happens through community. Every family we serve has unique strengths, dreams, and challenges, and we get the joy and privilege of walking alongside them as they rewrite their story and build futures filled with hope. We are grateful for partners who believe in investing in people and creating pathways that help families thrive in our community."
An upfront loan from the Oklahoma Impact Investing Collaborative (the Collaborative), a nonprofit intermediary pooling philanthropic capital from multiple foundations, provides initial funding to help support program operations for HopeHouse OKC, and a third-party repays the loan if HopeHouse achieves pre-defined outcomes, including but not limited to job placement, job retention, and educational goals.
“We would not have introduced HopeHouse to our donor without deep confidence in its ability to change lives,” said Jana Moring, executive director of the Communities Foundation of Oklahoma. “HopeHouse pairs extraordinary care for families with the discipline to measure whether its work is creating lasting change. We are equally grateful to our anonymous donor who was willing to think differently about how philanthropic capital can be used and to trust a new model.”
Pay for Success has grown significantly over the past decade in the United States, and the foundations and philanthropists investing in the Collaborative have made Oklahoma a national leader. This list includes the Advance Legacy Fund, Arnall Family Foundation, Lori and Jeff Blumenthal, Inasmuch Foundation, McLaughlin Family Foundation, MetaFund, Potts Family Foundation, and an unnamed Oklahoma City-based family foundation. The new partnership with CFO creates even more pathways for aligning goals and incentives across multiple sources of uses of funds, all while focused on shared goals.
“For CFO, this partnership represents an important expansion of what a community foundation can do. We have spent more than 30 years helping donors build, invest and grant charitable resources across Oklahoma. Pay for Success gives us another tool. It allows philanthropic capital to support ambitious work with clearly defined outcomes, rigorous evaluation and payment tied to results. We are grateful to Ed Long and the Oklahoma Impact Investing Collaborative for bringing the expertise to make that possible, and we hope this first partnership encourages other donors to imagine new ways their charitable capital can help solve difficult problems across our state,” Moring added.
More information about HopeHouse OKC and its programs is available by visiting: https://www.hopehouseokc.com/.
About Oklahoma Impact Investing Collaborative
HopeHouse OKC was launched in the summer of 2011 as a non-profit 501(c)3. They serve families experiencing homelessness and are committed to providing safe, nurturing housing communities and support to families experiencing homelessness as they break free from the bonds of poverty and become self-sustaining contributors to society. HopeHouse walks alongside those in poverty to help them achieve their dreams and goals and seek a holistic transition to healthy living that includes the physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness of each person.
Communities Foundation of Oklahoma (CFO) is a statewide nonprofit committed to supporting Oklahoma communities by meeting the needs of charitable organizations and donors. Supporting the philanthropic needs of Oklahoma’s communities was the motivation for Tom McCasland, Jr. to create CFO in 1992. In 1999, Oklahoma banker Gene Rainbolt joined McCasland in expanding CFO’s original concept to provide philanthropic and investment services to communities across Oklahoma. The members of CFO’s governing board of trustees and advisory board of governors hold decades of business, government, nonprofit, and volunteer experience. For more information, please visit www.cfok.org.