How can Social Impact Bonds Help Veterans Return to Work?

Veterans CARE, a Pay for Success project aiming to improve employment outcomes for US veterans with PTSD, shows how finance with purpose is now a reality.

Up to 20 percent of US veterans who have returned from recent tours of duty are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). They face significant obstacles as they adjust to life at home, with research showing how PTSD interferes with a sufferer’s ability to thrive in the workforce, and can have a negative impact on opportunities for sustained employment and income.

This is where social finance comes in: impact investors have raised $5.1 million to fund the Veterans Coordinated Approach to Recovery and Employment (Veterans CARE) programme, a pioneering “Pay for Success” project that aims to improve employment outcomes for veterans suffering from PTSD. Made possible by a partnership between the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), a few states in the northeastern United States and the non-profit organisation Social Finance, the investment will provide project development and active performance management.

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The project will serve 480 veterans over three years in New York City, Boston, Brockton (MA) and central and western Massachusetts. It will measure four outcomes for participating veterans: sustained competitive employment, participant earnings, job satisfaction, and fidelity to the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model. Investors receive a return based on the project’s success against these outcomes.

BNP Paribas has a proven track record of investing in Pay for Success projects to drive social change across the Americas.

Bob Hawley, CEO, BNP Paribas CIB Americas


This investment underlines the continued growth of BNP Paribas’ social impact bond transaction portfolio, with an expanding footprint in the US and France. It also builds upon the bank’s credit facility for Connecticut’s first Pay for Success project in 2016, launched by the Connecticut Department of Children and Families.

“BNP Paribas has a proven track record of investing in Pay for Success projects to drive social change across the Americas,” explains Bob Hawley, CEO, BNP Paribas CIB Americas. “Through the Veterans CARE project, we are determined to help improve employment possibilities for US Veterans living with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.”

The Veterans CARE project is putting veterans with PTSD on the path to finding and retaining successful job opportunities in the northeastern US – underlining how the public, private and social sectors can come together to drive positive investment.