Pioneered by Social Finance: The World's first Social Impact Bond (SIB)

Urban Farm DB summary

A project page published on 15 February 2017 and updated 21 May 2026. In 2010 Social Finance structured the world's first Social Impact Bond, raising £5 million to cut reoffending among short-sentenced prisoners leaving Peterborough prison. It covered two cohorts of 1,000, 2,000 people in all, against a pre-intervention reoffending rate of 60 per cent among short-sentenced prisoners. The result was a 9 per cent reduction against a 7.5 per cent target, and investors were paid a return of 3 per cent a year; by 2025 the model had spread to 320 SIBs in 35 countries raising over $861 million.

Only numbers and their conditions are stored, as structured data — never the source's own sentences. Metric and condition names stay in English, as coded.

• 9 %↓ Decrease

  reoffending reduction(peterborough sib)

  Socialn = 2,000Control: against a 7.5 per cent payment target

  region

  United Kingdom

  year

  2017

  method

  two cohorts of 1,000 short-sentenced offenders leaving Peterborough prison

• 5 million_gbp

  capital raised(peterborough sib)

  Economics

  region

  United Kingdom

  year

  2010

  method

  capital raised for the world's first social impact bond

• 3 %_per_year

  investor return(peterborough sib)

  Economics

  region

  United Kingdom

  year

  2017

  method

  annual return paid to investors

• 320 deals↑ Increase

  global deal count(social impact bonds)

  EconomicsControl: one deal in 2010

  region

  Global

  year

  2025

  method

  social impact bonds across 35 countries, raising over $861 million

Direction of conclusions

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• Policy and governanceSupportsWith caveats