United Way of Taiwan (UWT) was founded in 1992, and 2018 marks the 27th anniversary of UWT. Our main services include subsidizing plans of Taiwan’s medium and small social welfare organizations, gathering and distributing supplies (supplies transfer station), collaboration with corporations, and volunteer services. UWT combines its operating mechanisms with NGOs to effectively gather social resources, raise funds, and reasonably distribute the resources and funds to social welfare organizations in need. UWT prevents citizens from being disturbed by repeat requests for donations, and let social welfare organizations focus on providing services. We also use a relatively strict review process to strengthen the social work methods of Taiwan’s social welfare organizations.
This study adopts the SROI methodology to review the social impact of UWT in 2017 from the perspective of stakeholders. Based on interviews and questionnaire surveys, we found that the social welfare organizations we subsidized (hereinafter referred to as “Organizations received subsidies for projects”) achieved better operational stability, improved their service quality, increase in external resources. Organizations receiving supplies (hereinafter referred to as “Organizations received supplies”) also improved their service quality and saved organization costs on human and material resources. Social workers in organizations received subsidies for projects increased enthusiasm for work. Individual donors gain sense of satisfaction and joy, and also increase their understanding of charity and social issues. Corporations collaborating with UWT (hereinafter referred to as “Collaborating corporations”) improve their corporates’ brand image and more engaged and committed staff through co-organized activities. In the process of reviewing projects, Censoring Committee Members gain a sense of achievement, improve their research ability, and improve their consulting and teaching skills. Audit Committee Members improve their professional skills, raise awareness of social care, and increase experiences and understanding of charity through budget audits. General volunteers gain sense of satisfaction and joy and learn to cherish what they have from providing volunteer services.
After dividing the outcomes by inputs above, we discovered that UWT created the equivalent of NT$4.60 in social value for stakeholders for every NT$1 invested during 2017. The sensitivity analysis placed the result between 3.62 and 5.24. We discussed the result and the stakeholder feedback received during the research process with UWT, in order to optimize the way UWT reviews proposals and its fundraising strategies. We hope that through the assessment of SROI, we can better allocate and manage the resources and maximize the social impact of non-profit organizations (NPOs) in Taiwan.
