The Impact Genome Project®, a public-private research initiative, announces the Sentinel Outcomes Initiative, a multi-year effort to track and quantify the unmet critical human needs of all Americans, spanning financial health, social capital, food security, housing, employment, and education.  The Sentinel Outcomes Initiative is supported by leading corporate and private philanthropies.

What makes this effort unique is the use of precision science for social impact. Using novel measurement techniques pioneered by the Impact Genome Project®, the Sentinel Outcomes Initiative will quantify: the unmet social needs of Americans; the precise determinants of those needs; the cost of addressing those needs; the gaps in access; and the number of nonprofits serving those needs. These data are designed to be actionable for those directing resources to meet social needs. Using the findings from the Impact Genome Project®, policymakers, health insurers, philanthropies, and nonprofit providers will be able to understand with precision how to address unmet social needs, identify the most effective interventions and the charities that meet those needs.

“Our country is investing trillions of dollars in social service programs without the ability to truly quantify the precise needs of underserved populations, the exact resources required to solve them, and how to most efficiently allocate those resources,” says Jason Saul, Impact Genome Project® CEO. “The Impact Genome® heralds the advent of a new frontier in precision social science, where we no longer have to guess what works – we now know. The Impact Genome® is to social impact what precision medicine is to healthcare: an approach that uses more granular, precise data to make more accurate diagnoses and treatments.”

The Sentinel Outcomes Initiative will consist of a series of events, briefings, white papers and funder consortia for each social determinant area over the next twelve months. Specific outputs from the Sentinel Outcome Initiative include the following elements:

  1. State of Need Report, based on findings from annual surveys conducting in partnership NORC at the University of Chicago and The Associated Press (AP)
  2. The Cost of Solving, calculated using the Impact Genome®’s Price of Impact Index (POI) which tracks cost per outcome benchmarks
  3. Current Effort & Spend, an analysis of the access to services and total nonprofit expenditures for each social determinant outcome
  4. Nonprofit Intelligence, key outcomes data on registered U.S. charities that target specific social determinants

“This approach has the potential to revolutionize social spending,” adds Saul.  “By knowing the exact scope of the problem, the benchmark cost of solving the problem, and the gaps in delivering what’s needed to solve the problem, we should be able to significantly increase impact at a drastically lower cost.”

The Sentinel Outcomes Initiative launches in April with a focus on Financial Health. A new outcome will be featured every two months throughout 2021. For details and advanced registration, visit: www.impactgenomeevents.com.

About The Impact Genome Project®
The Impact Genome Project® (IGP) is a public-private research initiative to standardize the way social outcomes are measured, reported, and benchmarked. The IGP enables grant makers and policymakers to use precision data to solve social determinants more efficiently and effectively.

About The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research

In a world increasingly defined by the pace of change, citizens, policymakers and business leaders alike need ever more timely and reliable information upon which to base their decisions. The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research taps into the power of social science research and the highest-quality journalism to bring key information to people across the nation and throughout the world.

  • The Associated Press (AP) is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting. Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate, unbiased news in all formats and the essential provider of the technology and services vital to the news business. More than half the world’s population sees AP journalism every day.
  • NORC at the University of Chicago is an objective and non-partisan research institution that delivers reliable data and rigorous analysis to guide critical programmatic, business, and policy decisions. Since 1941, NORC has conducted groundbreaking studies, created and applied innovative methods and tools, and advanced principles of scientific integrity and collaboration. Today, government, corporate, and nonprofit clients around the world partner with NORC to transform increasingly complex information into useful knowledge.

By pairing the research rigor of NORC at the University of Chicago with the journalistic independence and global media reach of The Associated Press, The AP-NORC Center gathers, analyzes, and disseminates data with unmatched speed, precision, and clarity. We inform public policy debates as they are taking place and contribute to the informed electorate every democracy needs to function properly. For more information: www.apnorc.org.

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