Trudi Wright November 2012 Growing social capital an SROI
calculation of the impact of VCS activities funded by grant aid in
Kirklees Slide 2 Background Kirklees hosted an 18 month project
exploring how community capacity building activities (CCB) can
support service transformation and market development with the
introduction of personal budgets Significance of social capital and
CCB in helping people achieve improved outcomes in health and
wellbeing and that it is more cost efficient Still need to improve
how we evidence the impact / outcome of investment in the VCS
National interest (DH and TLAP) in evaluating outcomes and
implications for the prevention agenda Slide 3 Problems with
measurement Financial measurement: limited measurement of value We
allocate resources only to the things we can measure Stakeholders
are left out of the equation So the challenge is to find an
alternative that measures in a wider, more meaningful way Social
Return on Investment = Value of benefits Investment Slide 4 How can
SROI help us? An adjusted form of cost-benefit-analysis to help us
understand value for money (looks forward or back) Outcomes based
evaluation: Measures things that matter not just those that are
easy to count Values things that cant be traded (self-esteem,
independence, trust and belonging) Helps bring social and
environmental value onto the balance sheet the triple bottom line
USP is that it looks at changes, benefits and outcomes from the
perspective of the beneficiaries not just the funder / commissioner
Slide 5 Stages of SROI Engage stakeholders to identify outcomes
Data collection: Numbers to match the words and change thats
created (the outcomes) Deadweight, attribution, displacement
Benefit period and drop off Model and calculate Valuation of
non-traded outcomes Report 7 guiding principles to ensure a robust
and consistent outcome but there are still dubious SROI reports out
there be cautious! Slide 6 3 x Kirklees case studies Different
activities same scale organisations 3 wouldnt evidence a
hypothesis, but would highlight common features and emerging
patterns Stakeholder engagement to build an impact map and theory
of change Rich tapestry of outcomes captured through focus groups
and interviews Common characteristics emerging across the 3
different organisations Similarities in outcomes to go forward in
SROI Emerging importance of social capital in contributing to
peoples wellbeing Slide 7 Slide 8 Slide 9 Evidencing the outcomes -
what contributes to wellbeing? Slide 10 Slide 11 European Social
Survey Slide 12 Conclusions and lessons learned Data collection
stage then financial modelling SROI ratios: TNC 1:1.99 DDC 1:1.94
Meltham S&CG 1:2.75 Many interim and longer term outcomes are
under the radar or not routinely captured by traditional monitoring
or evaluation (by organisations and funders) Notwithstanding the
financial valuingwork there are many benefits from looking to
improve how we gather this wealth of outcomes information ..and how
it helps inform future investment decisions SROI isnt the solution
for all but the more we do it the more powerful it will prove Slide
13 Benefits for commissioners / funders More insight into the
impact of social capital activities helps shift investment into
preventative services Reducing peoples dependency on high cost /
high value services People more independent and inter-dependent
when they build their own social networks, i.e. less reliance on
the state Helps identify the financial value of the wider outcomes
generated by this type of work (for others, not just service users)
Theres a good business case: its VFM Importance of co-production
and an asset based approach to developing health and wellbeing
outcomes in each organisations Theory of Change Slide 14 Benefits
for VCOs and groups By understanding the wider value theyre
generating from their services / activities, it builds a strong
business case for securing future investment If more can tell their
story and evidence / articulate their own Theory of Change, they
might: Develop new services or income streams that grow social
capital Build an outcomes based business model Put in place more
systematic ways of gathering this evidence with their vols and
service users Slide 15 Where are we now in Kirklees? Recent budget
pressures along with the new legislation has pushed this back up
the agenda We need to evaluate SV and balance against other VFM
considerations As supply reduces, price (or the value of goods and
services) increases i.e. when theres less money available to fund
public services, the more important it is to capture and measure
the full value of our investments So we need to move beyond a
narrow definition of VFM or cost benefit analysis Without taking SV
into account in the way we buy and appraise services we are costing
up much of this added value at zero We now need to turn the talking
into action Slide 16 Progress along a number of fronts Building on
the SROI work to inform a shared ABCD approach to measuring
outcomes across the council Recognised NAWB framework as a very
useful way to explain the wider impact of a range of different
services, i.e. the social value of our investments Many tools and
techniques of SROI apply to SV So were encouraging services to
develop their own theory of change and Impact Maps to inform annual
service planning Where SV is directly relevant or proportionate to
their service, SV to be incorporated in procurement Developing
tools to compare and contrast different submissions Slide 17 SROI
in practice A first step could be for charities to specify and
measure their desired outcomes (which deliver value to society,
rather than just outputs) This will require our best creative
thinking and force us to really look at what we set out to achieve
and what we actually achieve. We will have to build new skills and
ask ourselves new questions but the rewards will be enormous.
Measuring Social Value; the gap between policy and practice, Demos
2010 A first step could be for charities to specify and measure
their desired outcomes (which deliver value to society, rather than
just outputs) This will require our best creative thinking and
force us to really look at what we set out to achieve and what we
actually achieve. We will have to build new skills and ask
ourselves new questions but the rewards will be enormous. Measuring
Social Value; the gap between policy and practice, Demos 2010 Slide
18 For more information Trudi Wright, Project Manager, Kirklees
Council [email protected] (07980 911 654)
[email protected] www.nef-consulting.co.uk/sroi
www.thesroinetwork.org
