CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR SYSTEMIC SOCIAL IMPACT

Melinda Edwards, Jenny Onyx, Simon Darcy & Hazel Maxwell UTS &

Vanessa Brown & Shauna Sherker SLSA

Context• Social Impact Reports

– SLS cited as exemplars, but ‘spill-over’ not accounted (Productivity Commission 2010)

– PWC report 2009/10 value $3.6 B (Coastal drowning and injury prevention)

• Broad well-being– Onyx & Bullen 2000 social capital scale– BUT what else?

An Iconic Partner – A Snapshot

• 2008/09 150 318 active national membership– 57% males and 43% females

• Volunteering national trend decline – SLSA steady increase

• Matthews Value Matrix (2006) three levels: personal, SLS and community

• NEED DISCOVERED: Diversity and socially inclusive values

Social Capital Theory

• “The core idea of social capital theory is that social networks have value” Robert Putnam (2001) Bowling Alone

• Social Capital refers to– connections among individuals (bonding).– interaction that enables people to build

communities, to commit themselves to each other, and to knit the social fabric (bridging)

Figure 1: Modelling social impact

Belonging

Personal Development

Human Capital

Bridging Social Capital

Bonding Social Capital

Citizenship Values

Community Contribution

Bonding Social Capital

The Incident – The Response

Study Aims and OutcomesAims Outcomes

Identify activities contributing towards SLSA’s social benefit

Indicators of social contribution of SLSA in the Australian community

Determine SLSA’s indicators of social contributionDevelop SLSA-specific tool(s) to measure those indicators

Survey tools for measuring social contribution

Apply those tools within SLSA Analysis of data and report

Research Design

• SLSA Management Information Systems– Corporate documents– Database– Staff knowledge

• Focus groups with “toes in the sand” members (this presentation)

• Online questionnaire – all members

NSWQualitative

analysis

Survey Tool Design

QLD Qualitative analysis

VIC Qualitative analysis

SAQualitative

analysis

Urban Branch Club Focus

group

Regional Branch Club focus group

Regional Branch Club focus

group

Urban Branch Club Focus

group

Urban Club Focus group

Regional Club focus group

Urban Club Focus group

Regional Level Focus Group

Internal External

Process/Activities

Skills

‘Emotion’/ values

Volunteer

Social Leveller Public

EducationNetworks

Club Contribution

Belonging

Personal Development

Train others

Community Service

Leverage Skills

Feel Good

Social Values/Citizen

Diversity

Economic Contribution

Cultural Symbolism

Physical Club Hub

Club Programs

Local Organisational Connectivity

Health & Fitness

Key Nvivo Nodes• a family orientated and supportive organizational culture

(engagement of whole family over life-span) • the personal development of members which flow on to the wider

community (eg social values)• generic skill development among members of direct applicability to

wider community (eg leadership skills)• public education programs for the wider community (e.g. water

safety)• mutual assistance with other organisations (eg emergency)

assistance, facilities available for wider community (eg community meetings)

• formal programs for disadvantaged groups (eg indigenous, migrants).

Belonging “So you're hanging out with your mates on the beach and you're part of an extended big family… Then you go down on the beach and you're all on the beach like a big family, big community”

“if you are having a hard time like on a weekend, you know you go to the club and there’s always someone there to have a talk to and go for a swim with”

A socially inclusive organisation

“It’s a real equaliser. It doesn't matter who you are or what you do, you can be involved with the club”

“The fact that you can go to any club in Australia really and be accepted for what you are. Whether you are a bricklayer, a politician or a doctor, it doesn’t make any difference”

Social and Citizenship Values

“The greatest thing we put back into the community is community minded people”

“I keep being amazed at the willingness of any member of any age in the club that's just willing to contribute in any way or just be involved in something as big as surf lifesaving…They're always seen as people that are contributing

Community Service

‘There was a call recently when all the floods in Brisbane. We all got emails, any clubby who has got experience in boat skills, et cetera, rubber ducky and radio skills, you know could volunteer to help in the flood situation in Brisbane’

Public Education

“Primarily the role of it is to get out there and educate them… it's about, getting that education out so that when they do come to the beach, they have some sort of understanding of what's going on

Personal Development

“They learn skills that can be used for the rest of their lives”

“Learning those life skills in a fun way and sometimes probably not even aware they are learning life skills like Nippers”

‘People come on board the committee and then become confident in their own ability to go out and go onto other committees”

Leveraging skills

“You join life saving to get skills for life. It’s kind of got a double meaning where you get skills to save lives and you get skills for your own life

“There is a lot of people … actually get full time employment as a result of the skills they learn through life saving…”

Connections with local organisations

“All the community groups do networking together at some stage, so you do get the respect from those groups because they realize how important the surf club is to the community in the smaller communities. Then the Lions Club might come in and sponsor or they might have an award that they have that they will ask if the club's got someone who they'd like to nominate for an award, or we've got a certain amount of money that we'd like to donate to your club or something like that”

Physical hub for the community

“Our club's got a café on it. You know we've got a function area outside. Glenelg's got a function area upstairs that has three or four nights a week available for the community to come in and use that”

“We've given local clubs the benefit of coming into the club on a particular night and using the venue to fundraise”

Volunteering “When you go for a job, it looks better because they see that you're giving something back to the greater community, to the public. So you're not so selfish, you're thinking of other people, because you're helping other people and you give up your free time”

“When you come to the surf club you are surf club member and you are there to do services for the club and for the public. I think that’s really important and part of the volunteering situation”

“All I do now in terms of active involvement is patrolling…I think it is the fact that you're doing something for the community and the satisfaction you get out of that”

Bonding

• Friendship through leisure/sport activity (recreation and competition)

• Individuals belonging to a larger purpose• Club as extended family (analogy)• Family • Intergenerational – nippers to veterans• Social leveller – budgie smugglers/swimsuits• Club as refuge• Geographic bonding

Bridging

Diversity • Disability• Indigenous• Refugee• Remote communities• Multicultural/ethnicity• Religious - Muslim

• (exclusivity)

Other • Other sporting groups• Other community groups• Schools

• Local business• Major business• Sponsorship

The Survey Tool• http://utsbusiness.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_djqlvwgh2OCD4EY

• 76 scale items• Demographics including diversity items• 1 open ended question• Rolled out to the 100,000 strong membership over November &

December 2011

FactorsAo : Organisational Activity

Bo : Welcoming Organisation

Ci : Belonging

Do : Organisational social and citizenship values

Ei : Individual social and citizenship values

Go : Connected with other organisations

Hi : Individuals networks

Ii : Skills

Jo : Organisation contribute to others

Ki : Individuals contribute to others

Discussion: several patterns

• First, organisation is having an enormous, but complex social impact on its members and on the wider community.

• Personal belonging important for the individual, leading to other personal outcomes, notably individual level skills and networks and a wider contribution to society.

• Factors divide into organisational factors on the one hand and individual factors on the other

A message for other organisations??

• It seems that “charity begins at home”, that is that a strong welcoming culture within the organisation is the essential precursor to wider social impact, both for the individual and for the organisation itself.