Measuring Impact Through Social Return On Investment (SROI)

Social Return On Investment(SROI)

SROI is a framework to structure thinking and understanding and provide away of representing value created by an organisation, policy or activity (its a story not a number)

Measuring Impact through SROI • Involve stakeholders• Understand what changes• Value the things that matter• Only include what is material• Do not over-claim• Be transparent• Verify the result

Impact maps examples /templates can be found at:www.thesroinetwork.org

Benefits of SROI

• A consistent clear approach to understanding and reporting value-resulting in better organisations with better strategies better systems and clear lines of accountability

• More able to attract resources required to achieve the organisational mission

Stakeholder Involvement

• SROI gives a voice to stakeholders who are excluded from the market place

• Offers opportunities to express opinions on more equal terms

• SROI includes stakeholders' in decisions about allocating resources

SROI Ambitions

• Measuring soft and hard outcomes• To develop consistency (while keeping flexibility)• For use by organisations, commissioners and

funders Challenges• Methodological and contextual• General and inherent to social impact

measurements

Reality Check

• Is this really all my value?• Has anyone else contributed to the

achievement of these outcomes (Attribution) • Attribution –what part of the outcome can be

attributed to your activities and what part to others

• Deadweight –how much of the outcome would have happened any way

Selling Added Value

• SROI –Impact Map • Impact mapping helps to tell the story of what

you do• Demonstrates the impact of the activity • It measure the value of what you do• Presents value in quantifiable and financial

terms

The Process

• Develop a forecast of outcomes with indicators as a result of outputs

• Develop your impact map• Revise the impact map after a year with actual

data and report impact• Impact from projects can support funding

applications, influence commissioners of services, improve relationships with stakeholders and support partnership working

Impact Map

stakeholder input output outcome Client (example)

Support Workers

Time and effort £0.00

Time and effort £0.00

470 supported placements

188clients provided with a work placement or supported employment

•Increased confidence• Improved coping skills for mental health issues• Increased fitness• Improved people skills• Improved relationshipswith family and friends

•Increased workload•Improved communication with clients•Improved relationship with clients

Government Noinput£0.00

78 people movinginto employment

•Reduced benefit cost• Increased Income Tax

Impact Map

In addition the impact map should include :

• Description of the activity Indicator • Source Quantity• Duration Financial Proxy• Value Source • Attribution% Displacement%• Deadweight % Drop off %• Impact Calculating the Social Return

Explanation of terms and examples of mapping SROI can be found at:

http://www.forthsector.org.uk/documents/SROI%20Forecast%20Forth%20Sector%20Final.pdf

Calculating Impact

• Financial proxy multiplied by the quantity of the outcome gives you a total value.

• From this total you deduct any percentages for deadweight or attribution.

• Repeat this for each outcome (to arrive at the impact for each)

• Add up the total (to arrive at the overall impact of the outcomes you have included)

Closing the gap A consortium led by Forth Sector and including: The

Office of the Third Sector (0TS),The Scottish Office, New Economics Foundation (NEF),New Philanthropy Capital(NPC), Charity Evaluation Services (CES),Social Audit Network (SAN) have signed up to a project to develop, promote and support the use of a standard form for measuring social return on investment (SROI) is now near completion. Full report will be available at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/15300/SROI

Resources

• http://www.thesroinetwork.org/• http://sroi.london.edu/resources.html• http://www.forthsector.org.uk/documents/SROI

%20Forecast%20Forth%20Sector%20Final.pdf• www.neweconomics.org• www.philanthropycapital.org• www.proveandimprove.org• www.thesroinetwork.org

For further information please contact sandie.foster@rncb.ac.uk 01432 376314