![Headshot of Nadine Abraham beside text: "Philanthropy Isn’t Broken—but How We Fund Might Be" from The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Social Finance section.](https://socialfinance.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/14-1000x673.png")
Public Sector Solutions
Key Takeaway
A New Jersey foundation tried paying grantees for results instead of programs, unleashing both greater creativity and improved outcomes.
In this op-ed for the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Nadine Abraham makes the case for outcomes-based funding as a more effective alternative to traditional grant making — giving nonprofits unrestricted, flexible capital upfront while tying additional payments to real results. Drawing on Social Finance’s partnership with a New Jersey foundation to increase earned income tax credit uptake, Abraham shows how the approach unlocked grantee creativity, improved outcomes, and deepened funder-grantee trust in ways traditional grants rarely achieve.
Related Insight
![Children play basketball and run in a schoolyard in front of a blue building with solar panels on the roof under a clear sky.](https://socialfinance.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Solar_Panels_for_School-1000x563.jpg")
Social Finance Impact First Fund 2025 Annual Report
This report includes an overview of the Fund's impact objectives and strategy, profiles of our portfolio investments and their 2025 impact highlights, and an update on Social Finance's field-building activities.