Social Value UK

Document Type: Non-Assured Social Value Report

  • The Social Value of Explorer Cluband Young Rangers

    The Social Value of Explorer Cluband Young Rangers

    Explorer Club and Young Rangers have significantly increased the environmental awareness and responsibility of participants. Young people are more resilient, and families are stronger. When this impact is extended to households who have barriers to accessing activities like these, the value is increased. The average value per person for lottery funded cohorts is higher than for core funded cohorts (24% higher on average). And specifically, in lower income households represented in the 2020/21 cohort, respondents valued their outcomes more than others.

    1.1 Background

    The North York Moors National Park Authority’s (NYMNPA) Outdoor Learning Team works with educational providers, families and young people within and outside of the National Park.

    1.2 Scope

    The analysis evaluated two of the Team’s activities:

    • Explorer Club is for families to engage in environmental play and conservation tasks in the National Park. Children are usually aged between 4-11 and take part for 6 months.
    • Young Rangers is a monthly club for young people aged 11-17 who are interested in learning about the work of the ranger service and how they too can practically help look after the National Park.

    This report brings together five evaluations of these two projects. The evaluations took place from 2019 to 2023 with 2 distinct groups of cohorts, according to funding streams:

    • Core funded cohorts: Two pilot projects were undertaken to engage with young people and families in helping them to understand and care for the National Park. These core funded projects have continued.
    • Lottery funded cohorts: A grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) has enabled families and young people, for whom there are barriers to engaging with the National Park, to participate in the projects.

    The aims were to:

    1. Evaluate the social value of the lottery funded cohorts; and
    2. Contrast the results with core funded cohorts.

    All five evaluations, therefore, followed the same method to enable comparisons. This report does not recommend any actions. It is simply an account of the social value. Business planning, strategic and management processes should conclude what actions should be taken now the value of stakeholders’ outcomes are known, the most important outcomes revealed and contrasts observed.

  • NETpositive Futures and the Social Value Engine – Social Value Project 2020

    NETpositive Futures and the Social Value Engine – Social Value Project 2020

    “In early 2020 NETpositive Futures and the Social Value Engine joined forces to help an elite group of public sector procurement leaders explore practical ways to consider and measure social value. With an ambition to learn from peers and critically explore emerging practice, this group embarked on a programme of team and collective activity. A commitment to communicate their learning with the wider sector was about to be realised when Covid-19 became the priority.”

  • Social Impact Report of Grapevine Dreams Project (Manicaland and Bulawayo Zimbabwe)

    Social Impact Report of Grapevine Dreams Project (Manicaland and Bulawayo Zimbabwe)

    GRAPEVINE aims to reach out to the girls through two-week camps in which information sharing, life skills and confidence building activities are shared using approaches more accessible to visual learners. With skills gained and new connections made, girls will be able to create a network among themselves and other girls in their various communities; equipped to spread accurate HIV and life skills information like a grapevine.

    This report and analysis are based on the results from a 26-month project in which 179 adolescent deaf girls and young women (ADGYW), took part in training in HIV and health; Business skills; Personal Development; sewing and dressmaking skills; hairdressing; baking and independent living. Families were involved –parents extended family members and spouses in meetings and on graduation day. 60 adolescent deaf boys and young men (ADBYM) took part in similar activities for a shorter time, with the aim to share information on health and HIV and to foster more respect for women.

  • Study on the Social Value of Youth Organisations

    Study on the Social Value of Youth Organisations

    The European Youth Forum is the platform for youth organisations in Europe. The European Youth Forum is committed to advocate towards the recognition of the values and contribution of youth organisations to the wellbeing of our society and they commissioned this study to collect evidence on the value youth organisations bring to the social development of young individuals, communities and societies through youth work and youth participation.

  • West Princes Street Gardens Impact Assessment

    West Princes Street Gardens Impact Assessment

    The brief for this work was to describe the expected impact of the proposed investment, from private sources and for public benefit, into the rejuvenation of a unique and special place, the West Princes Street Gardens, and its principal public building, the Ross Bandstand, situated right in the centre of the City of Edinburgh.

    The Ross Development Trust is proposing to raise £25m to fund an ambitious programme of renovation for the Gardens. This investment will transform the Gardens as a destination within Edinburgh, while securing the tranquillity of its green landscape and its intricate heritage and preserving them as a “common good”, accessible to all.

    This investment will create economic and social benefits in a number of ways. This report estimates that the investment could generate around £13m Gross Value Added during construction for Scotland and £9m for Edinburgh’s City Region (“ECR”), together with 131 Scottish and 93 ECR jobs. During operation, the plans for the Gardens could create around £5m GVA for Scotland and £4.3m for ECR, and up to 65 direct and indirect jobs.

    But these figures are just the economic by-product of a Project that is fundamentally civic in nature. The Gardens are part of the city’s identity, of its brand. Nor is it just a preservation project, important as it is that the Gardens and its structures, bequeathed by previous generations, are preserved for those yet to come. This is about what significance – what “value” they have for the city, taking “value” in its broadest sense. We have estimated, for illustrative purposes, that the impact of investment on the City’s brand could be around £7m in GVA terms.

    This is a good time to be thinking about the future of the Gardens. They occupy a very visible space in Edinburgh’s global “shop window”. Key elements of the Gardens are in serious need of investment. Edinburgh, meanwhile, is trying to shape its future through a City Region deal and at the same time asking its citizens what kind of a city they want in 2050.

    No doubt much will change in the coming decades, but it is impossible to visualise the city centre without the West Princes Street Gardens.

    The question that follows is how is these Gardens can best be enjoyed to the full by Edinburgh’s citizens and its visitors. The Gardens started life as the exclusive preserve of a few, until a far-sighted local authority assumed responsibility and turned them into a public park – a “common good”. Today they remain freely accessible and enjoyed by many, but they are below par in a number of ways, as financial pressures force difficult choices for the Council.

    We need to ask what the Gardens say about Edinburgh to the outside world. Edinburgh is a city in the international spotlight, which gives it access to opportunity on a scale that is disproportionate to its size – and with that opportunity come corresponding responsibilities to continue to excel in what it can offer tourists and business visitors.

    Some of the answers lie with the project that is the subject of this work. The Ross Development Trust has been formed as a new charity, with its sole purpose to rejuvenate the West Princes Street Gardens by levering in major new capital investment, to secure the legacy and build on it for generations to come.

    Trying to put a value on the West Princes Street Gardens and its assets is far from easy. Equally, it is undeniable that there is a value, but described in many different ways. It might be helpful to think about it in terms of the relationship between value and meaning; if there is meaning, there is value and vice versa.

    It is not the purpose of this report to assess the feasibility of the proposals. An early feasibility study was commissioned from Jura Consultants by the Trust in November 2015 and the financial and operational feasibility of the Project is subject to ongoing development as the proposals evolve.

    This report describes why the Project is important, how it can make a difference and ways in which we can assess this.

  • What are the health, social and economic benefits of providing public housing and support to formerly homeless people?

    What are the health, social and economic benefits of providing public housing and support to formerly homeless people?

    This report addresses the question of whether health service use and health service costs fall as a consequence of supported entry to public housing for formerly homeless people and those at risk of homelessness. It also examines the health and social outcomes of formerly homeless and at-risk of homelessness tenants.

    An important benefit of the present study compared with previous Australian studies is the use of linked housing and health administrative data. The large sample size increases confidence in the findings presented because a larger number of clients and experiences are able to be investigated and the rigour of statistical analysis is improved.

    The study links Western Australian person-level health service system records with person-level public housing tenancy records and tracks the health service use patterns of 983 NPAH and 2,400 priority housing (homelessness) tenants before entry into housing and following entry into housing. On the basis of the linked health and housing data in Western Australia, our study finds that the provision of public housing for NPAH program participants as well as those entering public housing through priority housing (homelessness) was associated with reduced health service use (both in the proportion using services as well as frequency/duration of use) in the year following entry into public housing as compared with the year prior to entry.

    In particular, significant reductions were evident, pre- and post-entry into public housing, in the proportion of NPAH program and priority housing (homelessness) tenants accessing an Emergency Department (ED), an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), or psychiatric service or mental health provider, staying overnight in a hospital, or having a prescription for opioid dependence. There was no significant change for hospital in the home (HITH) services. Reductions in the frequency of visits to an ED or ICU, the duration of time spent in hospital, in psychiatric care or with a mental health service provider and the mean number of prescriptions for opioid dependence were also observed, with only an increase, post-entry into public housing in average days per person/per year utilising HITH services.

    This study also provides an estimate of the potential economic impact of the change in health service use associated with provision of public housing and NPAH program support for homeless people and those at risk of homelessness. The overall decrease in frequency and duration of health service use, comparing the year prior to and the year following entry into a public housing tenancy, results in a combined potential health system cost saving in Western Australia of $16.4 million per year or $4,846 per person per year. If priority homeless clients are excluded; the change per person with NPAH support is nearly triple this at $13,273 per person per year. The large cost offset is primarily related to reduced health service use among clients of the NPAH Mental Health program, where potential health savings amount to $84,135 per person per year. Across all NPAH programs, the change in stays in hospital ($3,114 per person per year) and in psychiatric care ($1,558 per person per year) account for the vast majority of potential health cost savings.

    The average cost of providing support under the NPAH programs examined is estimated as $6,462 per person per year (2009–12). This is less than half the potential health cost offsets associated with the NPAH programs ($13,273 per person per year (2012–13)). In particular, the large estimated health cost offset associated with the NPAH Mental Health program ($84,135 per person per year) suggests a large potential positive impact on government budgets is associated with this program. Cost savings of the kind identified in the present study are presently not identified in government budgets. The estimated cost savings simply accrue to the health service system and result in more needs being met in the health care system than would otherwise be the case. In short, more resources are freed up in the health system to meet health needs because of a successful housing and homelessness program.

  • 50 Lives 50 Homes Final Evaluation

    50 Lives 50 Homes Final Evaluation

    The aim of the 50 Lives 50 Homes project (hereafter referred to as 50 Lives) is to house and provide support to 50 of Perth’s most vulnerable homeless people.

    This research report constitutes the first of three reports for the evaluation of the 50 Lives. 50 Lives is a cross-sectoral collaborative project between a range of Perth-based agencies, including Ruah Community Services (which provides backbone support to the project) and, 27 other partner organisations to date, including, homelessness support services, community mental health services and government housing and health services.

    The aims of this evaluation are to determine: 1) how effective and efficient the 50 Lives approach is in providing sustainable housing and wellbeing outcomes for the most vulnerable rough sleepers; 2) the impact of the 50 Lives project on client health, mental health, wellbeing, housing and justice outcomes; 3) the economic and social impact of the 50 Lives project; 4) the extent to which the 50 Lives collaboration enables improved service efficiencies and new innovative ways of working to improve client outcomes and addressing homelessness, and; 5) the main challenges and barriers to the 50 Lives project in efficiently and effectively providing sustainable housing outcomes for the most vulnerable rough sleepers.

    The primary focus of this first evaluation report is to provide baseline data pertaining to objects 1 and 4. The evaluation of the 50 Lives project is being conducted by The Centre for Social Impact University of Western Australia (CSI UWA) with collaborators from Royal Perth Hospital (RPH), Homeless Healthcare (HHC) and the UWA School of Population and Global Health.

    This evaluation has been designed as a longitudinal study and has utilised various sources and collection methods to measure the impact of the 50 Lives project. This includes data from the Vulnerability Index – Service Prioritisation Decision Assistance Tool (VI-SPDAT); client satisfaction surveys; de-identified administrative data from RPH and HHC; data from the Ruah After Hours Support Service (AHSS); in-depth interviews with 50 Lives clients and case studies on the working groups. The VI-SPDAT will be re-administered with the 50 Lives clients in early 2018, enabling comparative analysis and measuring changes in outcomes over time.

    Overall the evaluation takes a realistic evaluation approach and recognises that there are a range of factors that influence the extent to which positive outcomes are attained for a client and this will be monitored over the course of the evaluation.

  • Value Creation by Taitamariki Programme

    Value Creation by Taitamariki Programme

  • United Way Annual Impact Report 2016

    United Way Annual Impact Report 2016

    “United Way of Calgary and Area partners with agencies, donors, workplaces, government, academic community, and volunteers to work towards the visionof a city that is great for all – one where people have access to opportunities, kids complete school and are successful adults, and communities are connected and actively creating solutions to problems like domestic violence.”

  • Social and Sustainable Capital: Impact Report 2017

    Social and Sustainable Capital: Impact Report 2017

    “SASC was founded in 2012. Our mission is to help social sector organisations deliver scalable and sustainable solutions to social issues across the UK. Since 2012 we have raised two funds: the £20 million Community Investment Fund and the £30 million Third Sector Loan Fund. We have made twelve investments with a total value of £8 million. This funding has gone into inspiring, high-potential charities and social enterprises. It will help them go on growing and achieving greater impact. SASC is a social enterprise itself, with 51 per cent of our profits going to the Social Investment Business Foundation; we are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.”

  • From Local Lives to Lasting Legacies: Raleigh International’s long-term effect on in-country volunteers

    From Local Lives to Lasting Legacies: Raleigh International’s long-term effect on in-country volunteers

    “Raleigh International’s (‘Raleigh’) mission is to create lasting change through youth. The organisational vision is of a world where the global community works together to build a sustainable future. The Expedition programme, which has been running for 30 years, is one of two major volunteering programmes run by Raleigh designed to create lasting positive change in rural communities through the structured activities and actions of youth volunteers and their influence on local communities. The work brings together a diverse group of volunteers aged 17 to 25 from various cultural and socio-economic backgrounds around the world. They work together as a team for 10 weeks delivering projects in developing countries, focusing on environmental, community and leadership themes.

    During the last decade, there has been an increased level of attention paid to evidence of the positive effects of volunteering on development work. Researchers have found that volunteering provides a platform for exchanging knowledge, technical skills and cross-cultural experience in developing communities. This pilot study collects together evidence of the benefits of volunteering by evaluating Raleigh International’s Expeditions programme through both a quantitative and a social Cost-Benefit (SCBA) analysis.”