Social Value UK

Tag: impact management

  • Social value is about changes to people’s lives, so we need to ask ‘have we made as much value as we can with the resources available?’

    Social value is about changes to people’s lives, so we need to ask ‘have we made as much value as we can with the resources available?’

    Measuring social value is important – but what we do with that information is even more important. Join our Maximising Value training course in Manchester on 25 May.

    So, as well as asking yourself the question of how to measure social value, we also need to be asking, why are measuring social value?

    The answer to this question is often that we need to prove or demonstrate our impacts to others such as investors or funders – this is and will remain important. But if this is the only reason why we are measuring, we are missing real opportunities for maximising value from measuring the results of our work.

    When we talk about social value, we are talking about how important changes are to people’s lives. And when we have this focus, the question we should be asking is not just ‘how much value has been created?’ We need to be asking ‘how we can make even more value?’

    Remember, this is about changes to people’s lives – so we need to ask if we have made as much value as we can with the resources we have available?

    Social Value UK (SVUK) have been working with leading organisations in the UK and around the world, and we recognise that this approach has helped organisations to identify opportunities to improve the value they create.

    By involving stakeholders to understand the value of changes to their lives – and without increasing the money required, organisations have made changes to their work and targeted their efforts to change the lives of people even more effectively than before.

    Using social value evidence does not replace the expertise and knowledge of people within an organisation, but it does help to provide more information to inform the decisions they take.

    Social Value UK (SVUK) can help you with this way of thinking – we have a one day practical course on Maximising Social Value that will take you through the steps required to design, collect, and analyse data.

    Designed for data analysts and decision makers this is an interactive course that will help you to identify insights to help maximise the changes you help create in people’s lives.

    —–

    Maximising Value training course details:

    £175 + VAT
    25 May, 9.30am – 4.30pm.
    Friends Meeting House, 6 Mount St, Manchester, M2 5NS
    Book online: https://sv-test.wp-support.team/social-value-training/maximising-social-value-training/

    • Are you a Social Impact manager, Finance Director, Senior Manager, or Commissioner?
    • Do you work in an organisation looking at how social value evidence can help you to make decisions?

    Social Value UK can provide you with the practical skills to maximise the value you deliver through your work.

    Our expert trainer Dr Adam Richards will facilitate practical, hands on training.

    Have any questions? Email us. info@sv-test.wp-support.team

  • Impact Management: A chance to put the reindeer before the sleigh?

    Impact Management: A chance to put the reindeer before the sleigh?

    This is a blog by Social Value UK’s Operations Manager, Ben Carpenter.

    They will look back on 2017 and they will say “Ah, the year of ‘impact management” – well, maybe, or maybe it will only be me that says that (to an empty room)! In all seriousness, it has been a real privilege this year to lead Social Value UK’s role in the Impact Management Project; an ambitious social sector collaboration funded by Access Foundation aiming to help organisations get better at impact management. Why? So that they can create more social impact and help diversify their income (so says the theory of change!).

    There has been a clear journey for the impact management revellers this year and as cheesy as that sounds let me tear you away from your yule time festivities to talk you through it!

    What’s the point of all this measurement?

    We began the year running ‘roadshow’ events – rolling in to town and talking about the new ‘term’ on the block; “forget impact measurement, that’s so 2016 – it’s all about impact management now, don’t you know?” Cue, frantic discussions about the differences between measurement and management; “don’t you need to measure in order to manage?”, “Do we really need a new science?” and “Haven’t we all got enough to be doing?”  Yes, no and yes.

    Putting our healthy scepticism to one side, this was an important phase: conversations began to move beyond measurement. Rather than worrying too much about the how, we were addressing the why and challenging ourselves; “why do we measure that if we don’t do anything with the data?”. The conversations dared to consider “what if we had no funder to report to? – would we still collect data?”. Thankfully the answers were largely yes! In data terms we might no longer have the cart before the horse (or the sleigh before the reindeers?). We talked passionately about accountability, and how being accountable to your beneficiaries means relentlessly innovating to create the most impact you can (with the resources you have). I wrote a blog that wondered if impact management is a ‘state of mind’. It was a great time to be alive.

    Yeah, yeah but how do we do it?

    Heady stuff indeed. But once we sobered up we still had some of the old questions; “how do we do impact management?” and “what does it look like?”. Together with Social Enterprise UK we ran co-design workshops that drilled into the detail a bit more. New Philanthropy Capital led an exercise to distil this feedback and turn it into a structure. Impact management does require a specific type of organisational ‘culture’ but it also requires ‘data’ and some ‘planning/systems’. These are the three building blocks of the programme and they’ve proved to be useful areas for organisations to consider as they grapple with impact management.

    We continued to hold ‘co-design workshops’ and develop a cohort of organisations across six regions of England. These sessions were passionate and productive. Discussions around ‘data’ led to the identification of five types of data and whilst this may seem like a relatively simple categorisation of ‘data’ it’s provided many eureka moments so far. At SVUK we believe the value of outcomes is an extremely important and powerful subset of the outcome data set. If you are lucky enough to have more than one present under the tree this year, will you be considering the relative importance (or value) of each?

    When discussing ‘data’ we’ve forced the questions; “why do you collect this data”? or “what decisions can you make with this data (or information)? We made a rule: “Imagine you have no funder – you only collected information to help you improve your services and make changes”.

    Are we already doing impact management?

    The organisations we have worked with have all been at the beginning of their thinking about impact management. Whilst many are small, all of them enter this subject with an air of trepidation – as you might approach a long overdue check-up with the dentist. However, it’s been great to turn this trepidation into an optimism and even a confidence about impact management. It might not be so painful after all… Turns out we’re kind of doing it already?

    I firmly believe that all of the organisations we have engaged with are continuously making changes to their services. “It’s just what we do” is the common response. Of course, it is, these are people who care, who want to provide a good service so they are already in the habit of continuous improvement. In our most recent round of events we’ve been collecting examples of these changes and then asking what data (or information) they’ve used before making that change. This is impact management and maybe we’re already doing it? I wrote a blog about this too and suggested that all we need to do is recognise it, do more of it, in a systematic way and use more data to support these decisions.

    What does the future hold?

    There is still lots to do. Whilst it turns out organisations are (sometimes) good at collecting:

    1. user data
    2. engagement data
    3. feedback data and are using this to make changes

    They are not so good at the other types of data:

    1. outcomes data
    2. impact data.

    We can help organisations with this; NPC are creating some online resources and we have established a network of peer learning groups.

    But you cannot keep the white elephant, in our case the ‘funder’, out of the room for long. Despite our best efforts to imagine a world where funders don’t dictate data requirements, it never lasts. Unfortunately, in the real world, it is far too common to hear that organisations are prioritising data that their funder wants before considering what data would be useful for them.

    I do not want to have a go at funders (they deserve a good Christmas too) – after all, their demands are motivated by accountability. So, rather than get angry with funders this Christmas, let’s turn this into a positive. The organisations that are successful are the ones that set the data agenda with their funders. Organisations that can show they are in control of their data will soon earn the respect and trust of a funder.

    My wish for 2018 is that organisations prioritise the data they need to improve their programmes. That means creating a system that works for them. A system that collects all types of data and tracks how it informs decision making. The system needs to be proportionate and by that I mean the data collected is good enough for the decision it informs. An organisation that can do this has put the data sleigh firmly in place and the reindeers are dashing merrily through the snow, and I didn’t even mention the man with the white beard.

    Equally, we have more reasons to be cheerful;

    • SVUK have published an incredibly useful and timely guide called Maximise your Impact, which you can download here
    • SVUK have been involved in developing Impact Management from an investors perspective taking shape in the form of this project
    • This blog is also posted on the Impact Management Project blog

     

  • Arabic Translation of Guide to SROI

    Arabic Translation of Guide to SROI

    The Arabic translation of the Social Return on Investment (SROI) Guide is up! Completed as a partnership between Social Value International and Sustainable Square, the translation aims to serve as a guiding reference for Arab practitioners to further promote the concept of calculating social value within the region.

    “It’s fantastic that The Guide to SROI is now available in Arabic. We have seen increased interest in this area over the last couple of years and this will really help people engage. I would especially like to thank Eric and his team for all their work getting this out.”
    Jeremy Nicholls, CEO, Social Value

    “Based on our interactions with organizations in the Middle East over the last 3 years, we have seen increasing appetite for having tools that can help monitor, evaluate and
    measure the impact of their contributions to the society. Producing the Arabic version of the SROI guideline will help spreading the practice amongst Arabic speakers, players that
    are designing and managing programs in developing communities.”
    Monaem Ben Lellahom, Global Founding Partner, Sustainable Square.

    Organisations within the region are continuing to shift from the Ad-hoc approach towards CSR practices to strategic design of programs to optimise value. However, the region still has room to grow in the monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the programs and in sharing resources in order to grow the social sector. Considering social impact and understanding what really changes in an initiative, is still a new technical approach for organisations to formally embrace. With the newly translated text, we look forward to seeing more Arab practitioners integrating SROI into their monitoring and evaluations, developing localised case practices relevant to the region, and promote the concepts of social investment and social value.

     

    Download Guide in Arabic

     

    Press Contacts

    Fatima Alattar
    falattar@sustainablesquare.com

  • Behind Closed Doors become organisational members!

    Behind Closed Doors become organisational members!

    Behind Closed Doors (BCD) have joined Social Value UK as organisational members.  BCD supports people affected by domestic violence and abuse to enable them to live safely, free from fear and harm, make informed choices and manage their own lives. BCD staff and volunteers support people to identify their experiences and problems, develop and implement their own plans, develop life skills, and build stronger familial and support networks.

    BCD systematically monitor all of their work to learn how to improve the support they offer, using data and stakeholder feedback to identify gaps in services and develop new projects. Monitoring, recording and evaluating the impact of their services was embedded from the outset. Collating evidence of change, both statistical and narrative, has demonstrated the positive effect of their interventions but it is only recently that they have considered what ‘value’ these changes reflect. Tudor Trust funded them to research and produce their first Social Return on Investment Report for 2015-16 in January 2017. This report highlighted a £7.32 return on every £1.00 invested and perhaps more importantly, provided an exciting opportunity to really explore exactly what they do, how they do it and what it is about their services that clients and colleagues need and value. We have recently produced an in-depth case study on the social value work by BCD, you can download it and learn more here.

    By joining Social Value UK, BCD hope to share and gain knowledge and learning. They also hope to collaborate with other like-minded organisations and gain the confidence to reflect on their own internal value and belief system.

     

    “Elvis Presley once said ‘Values are like fingerprints. Nobody’s are the same, but you leave them all over everything you do.’ Joining Social Value UK is an exciting opportunity to be part of a network which recognises value, not just pounds; people, not just numbers; change, not just snapshots in time and legacy, not just impact.”

    Louise, Director, Behind Closed Doors

     

    Behind Closed Doors

    Louise Tyne, Director, Behind Closed Doors

    E: louise@behind-closed-doors.org.uk                      T: 0113 391 1918

    Social Value UK

    Christina Berry-Moorcroft, Membership and Communications Coordinator, Social Value UK

    E: christina.moorcroft@sv-test.wp-support.team                       T: 0151 703 9229

    About Behind Closed Doors

    Behind Closed Doors works with both women and men throughout the Leeds district whose lives have been, or are affected by domestic abuse and violence. Behind Closed Doors has a dedicated and professional team who will aim to assist anyone who is, or has, suffered from domestic abuse.

    About Social Value UK

    Social Value UK is the national network for anyone interested in social value and social impact. We work with our members to increase the accounting, measuring and maximising of social value from the perspective of those affected by an organisation’s activities, through our Social Value Principles. We believe in a world where a broader definition of value will change decision making and ultimately decrease inequality and environmental degradation. To achieve our mission, Social Value UK provides training and assurance services, as well as hosting regular meetings and events, creating new tools and resources, and running campaigns. Through supporting and working with our members, and as a National Member Network of Social Value International, we are creating an international movement for change.

  • Impact Wizard: magic for your impact assessment

    Impact Wizard: magic for your impact assessment

    At last: an accessible toolkit that guides you step by step to assess your social impact. This hands-on tool considers your available time and what you and your stakeholders really want to know about your impact. www.impactwizard.eu

    Curbing poverty. Increasing resilience. Fostering environment-friendly behaviour.

    For social entrepreneurs, making a social impact is their main drive. Are you working for a better world? Do you find it difficult to explain how your project contributes to societal change? Impact Wizard is a brand new online tool that helps you to do just that.

    Impact Wizard helps you reflect on, assess and increase your impact. Challenging assignments bring you new insights and a clear view on your social impact.   

    The tool combines knowledge, data and experiences of a two year action research, coordinated by the Social Innovation Factory. Although it offers a large selection of impact indicators and assessment methods, it helps you to focus and choose an approach that’s relevant for you. The icing on the cake? Impact Wizard puts you on track to communicate and to increase your impact.

    Do not expect a complex handbook. Impact Wizard is a flexible and hands-on tool. It considers your actual evaluation questions and your available time.

    Impact Wizard can be used by everyone. Create your account for free on www.impactwizard.eu and explore the tool for a week. A licence key (90€ excl. VAT) gives you access for a year. Try it out now!

    Feel free to introduce this tool in your network. If you’d like a licence key or more information on special offers for umbrella organisations, please contact info@impactnetwerk.be

     

     

  • Is your workplace a fair place to work?

    Is your workplace a fair place to work?

    THE fairplace Award® COMES TO  SOCIAL VALUE UK

    What effect does the management of your workplace have on you, your colleagues and on all the other people in the building–including  contractors’ staff you may never see? What positive contribution does your workplace make to the local community and the planet? What does your workplace say about your company’s values and ethics?  So is your workplace a fair place to work?

    Newest Social Value UK organisational member the Ethical Property Foundation is a registered UK charity dedicated to promoting its vision that buildings should be managed for the benefit of people and planet, not just profit.The Foundation’s  accreditation the fairplace Award® has been developed in partnership with the property industry, civil society and CSR profession. It is a rigorous transformational process which evidences an organisation’s commitment to people in the workplace, the community outside its front doors and the environment, in a single comprehensive measure of excellence. Each Award lasts 3 years, assessed by top property professionals and providing recommendations for improvement.

    The fairplace Award® is also a great business improvement tool, because it  brings together colleagues from across the business, gathering evidence and sharing ideas. Current award-holders include the workplaces of RICS, Sodexo, RBS, EMCOR UK and leading aid charity CAFOD.

    “ It’s a tranformatonal process, Fairplace is the opposite of a box ticking exercise – to gain the award you need to look carefully at actual on the ground practices, not just policies. We have all learned a lot at RBS. We’d recommend any business to go for fairplace.”
    Mike Lynch, Sustainable Workplaces department at RBS

    Now for the good news. The Ethical Property Foundation is offering a 25% reduction on fairplace Award® licence fees to all current Social Value UK member and associates who apply for their work place before 1 July 2018.   

    The Ethical Property Foundation is delighted to be part of Social Value UK and wants to hear from you –  kindred spirits who already understand the power and potential of social value for your business. The fairplace process helps you capture how you create this in your workplace – and indeed by encouraging your suppliers to apply for fairplace too, you can ensure they are also offering their people a fair place to work. More good news is that all fairplace income is ploughed back into the Foundation’s charitable work: supplying free property education and advice to local small voluntary groups. To date the Ethical Property Foundation has supported 3500+ organisations and is currently sole referral partner to the Charity Commission for land & property advice.

    So, put your workplace ethics to the test and apply for your fairplace Award® today!  For more information contact mail@ethicalproperty.org.uk. Full details on the website www.fairplaceaward.com

     

    Press Contacts

    Ethical Property Foundation

    mail@ethicalproperty.org.u

    Social Value UK

    Christina Berry-Moorcroft, Membership and Communications Coordinator, Social Value UK

    E: christina.moorcroft@sv-test.wp-support.team                       T: 0151 703 9229

    About Ethical Property Foundation

    The Foundation works specifically to empower charities and community groups to make the most of the property they occupy and manage, and to improve the environmental and social performance of the commercial property sector. The Foundation is part of the wider Ethical Property Family which includes the Ethical Property Company and Ethical Property Europe. The Ethical Property family is committed to making the best use of property for society and the environment. We work to define what Ethical Property means, to demonstrate it in action and inspire others to put it into practice.

    About Social Value UK

    Social Value UK is the national network for anyone interested in social value and social impact. We work with our members to increase the accounting, measuring and maximising of social value from the perspective of those affected by an organisation’s activities, through our Social Value Principles. We believe in a world where a broader definition of value will change decision making and ultimately decrease inequality and environmental degradation. To achieve our mission, Social Value UK provides training and assurance services, as well as hosting regular meetings and events, creating new tools and resources, and running campaigns. Through supporting and working with our members, and as a National Member Network of Social Value International, we are creating an international movement for change.

  • Social Value Videos

    Social Value Videos

    Social value is the quantification of the relative importance that people place on the changes they experience in their lives. Some, but not all of this value is captured in market prices. It is important to consider and measure this social value from the perspective of those affected by an organisation’s work. Examples of social value might be the value we experience from increasing our confidence, or from living next to a community park. These things are important to us, but are not commonly expressed or measured in the same way that financial value is. At Social Value UK, we believe that social value has a huge potential to help us change the way we understand the world around us, and make decisions about where to invest resources. By changing the way we account for value, we believe that we will end up with a world with more equality and a more sustainable environment.

    Recently we have began sharing interesting and inspiring talks and presentations that relate to the Principles of Social Value, and our mission to improve equality and reduce environmental degradation. These videos span interests, sectors and topics but they’re all under 20 minutes and should be added to your “to watch” list. We have been sharing these videos on Twitter using the hashtag #socvalvid and will continue to do so in the weeks to come, so keep an eye out each Monday and Friday! Please search the hashtag for an enjoyable and informative afternoon distraction and share your own finds using #socvalvid.

    We have included a talk to get you started below, let us know your thoughts in the comments.

    You might not expect the chief operating officer of a major global corporation to look too far beyond either the balance sheet or the bottom line. But Harish Manwani, COO of Unilever, makes a passionate argument that doing so to include value, purpose and sustainability in top-level decision-making is not just savvy, it’s the only way to run a 21st century business responsibly.

  • Boo Coaching & Consulting Join SVUK

    Boo Coaching & Consulting Join SVUK

    Boo Coaching and Consulting have joined Social Value UK as organisational members. Boo Coaching & Consulting Limited is a world class organisation providing internationally recognised executive coaching and learning solutions. Founded in 2012, with a vision to deliver enjoyable and professional programmes, Boo has developed a reputation for delivering solutions tailored to its customers needs whilst living its values. With a wealth of expertise, Boo provides challenging, enjoyable and transformational development for learners on subjects including strengths based approaches, building confidence, leadership development, wellbeing, coaching and mentoring skills.

    Boo produced their first Impact Report in January 2017 based on available information about their Social Impact in 2016. After receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback from those who participate in their coaching programmes and from their 1:1 coaching clients, they were able to gain an understanding of the kind of impact they have. As a growing business based in Bolton, they wanted to extend this positive impact further in to their local community. The report reflects the connections they have made within the local business and voluntary sector community, as well as some of the fundraising work they have done to support Cardiac Smart, their charity of the year.

    By joining Social Value UK Boo hope to gain technical support in conducting SROI analysis, to learn from other members, and to be part of a network of like minded, values based organisations.

    Boo’s vision is to inspire great leaders to become amazing. By taking a holistic approach to leadership which is strengths based and has a major focus on wellbeing, they feel they generate social value through their core business. North West Ambulance Service are one of Boo’s long standing customers and they are about to conduct an SROI analysis of their impact on this particular organisation. This will help them to be clearer about measuring their social value and will be a platform for extending this measurement to all of their work. In doing so they hope to create culture change and maximise their social value.

    By joining Social Value UK Boo hope to gain technical support in conducting SROI analysis, to learn from other members, and to be part of a network of like minded, values based organisations. Karen Smith of Boo said “We are really pleased to become a member of Social Value UK. We are looking forward to accessing the support that is available and are excited to network with other businesses who like us, are driven by their values.”

     

    Press Contacts

    Boo Coaching and Consulting

    hello@boo-consulting.com
    Social Value UK

    Christina Berry-Moorcroft, Membership and Communications Coordinator, Social Value UK

    E: christina.moorcroft@sv-test.wp-support.team                       T: 0151 703 9229

    About Boo Coaching and Consulting
    Boo Coaching & Consulting Limited is a world class organisation providing internationally recognised executive coaching and learning solutions. Founded in 2012, with a vision to deliver enjoyable and professional programmes, Boo has developed a reputation for delivering solutions tailored to its customers needs whilst living its values. With a wealth of expertise, Boo provides challenging, enjoyable and transformational development for learners on subjects including strengths based approaches, building confidence, leadership development, wellbeing, coaching and mentoring skills.

    About Social Value UK

    Social Value UK is the national network for anyone interested in social value and social impact. We work with our members to increase the accounting, measuring and maximising of social value from the perspective of those affected by an organisation’s activities, through our Social Value Principles. We believe in a world where a broader definition of value will change decision making and ultimately decrease inequality and environmental degradation. To achieve our mission, Social Value UK provides training and assurance services, as well as hosting regular meetings and events, creating new tools and resources, and running campaigns. Through supporting and working with our members, and as a National Member Network of Social Value International, we are creating an international movement for change.

  • £500,000 awarded as part of Impact Management Programme

    £500,000 awarded as part of Impact Management Programme

    The Impact Management Programme announces the first grantees of its Impact for Growth strand. Eleven charities and social enterprises will receive grants totalling almost £500,000 to improve their impact management systems and processes. Grantees will work with an approved provider who will support the project and help embed impact management into the organisation. This pilot grant round will be followed by approximately 30 more grants to be distributed from January 2018.

    The Impact Management Project (ran by a cohort of organisations, including Social Value UK) announces today the eleven organisations, based across England and delivering a number of different services, that will receive almost £500,000 in grant funding through the Impact for Growth strand. This supports charities and social enterprises that are seeking to raise investments or contracts to improve their ability to quantify, report on, increase and ‘get paid for’ their impact.

    The first grantees and the providers they are working with (in parentheses) are:

    • Mencap Liverpool (Eastside Primetimers)
    • YMCA North Tyneside (Helmepark)
    • Empire Fighting Chance (Good Economy Partnership)
    • Chiltern Rangers CIC (Eastside Primetimers)
    • Speakers Trust Ltd (CAN Invest)
    • Action West London (Aleron)
    • London Irish Centre (Aleron)
    • Noise Solution Ltd (Measuring + Managing the Good: Volunteering Matters, Coalition for Efficiency and DataKind UK)
    • Dementia Care (ATQ Consultants)
    • Murray Hall Community Trust (Cogent Ventures)
    • Legacy School Sport CIC (Pulse Regeneration)

    77 organisations who attended the pre-application impact management training were eligible to apply for a grant at this pilot stage and 30 submitted applications. This was shortlisted to 20 by our grant administration partner Social Investment Business and then the final decisions were made by our Investment & Commissioning Panel, chaired by Rob Abercrombie.

    “We were impressed with the range of applications we received and appreciate the engagement we have had from both the social organisations and the support providers they are working with. It was clear from the applications that charities and social enterprises are operating in a tough environment, so it is more important than ever to support organisations to achieve a positive impact and access the funding they need to do this effectively. We are excited to see how these funded projects develop and what it tells us about the link between improved impact management and securing an investment or contract. Our grantees will be encouraged to share their experiences and we will publish our learning for the benefit of the whole sector too.”
    Rob Abercrombie, Director of Research & Consulting at NPC 

    This pilot grant round will be followed by approximately 30 more grants to be distributed from January 2018. To apply, eligible charities and social enterprises must first attend a free one day impact management training session. These session will be held September to November 2017 and full details will be available on the programme website soon. We are also currently recruiting further providers to be involved and the deadline for provider applications is midday 30 June 2017.

     

  • Impact Reports – Must Haves!

    Impact Reports – Must Haves!

    Ten things you should be looking for when reading an impact report.  A blog by Christina Berry-Moorcroft, Social Value UK Communications and Membership Coordinator.

    Here at Social Value UK we are incredibly proud of our Reports Database, at last count it had nearly 700 reports relating to social value in there for you to peruse and learn from. The reports database is made up of SROI reports, assured and non-assured, social impact reports and cost benefit analysis reports. So whatever sector you work in, whatever level of riguer you’re working at and whatever you need examples of, you can find it in one place. But, what if you’re not sure what you’re looking for, or at? We know that many people like to read impact reports before setting off on their own, so to make the process easier we’ve compiled a handy list of ten things you should be looking for. We hope it helps!

     

    What is it for?
    What is the report you are reading for? Who’s the intended audience? What are they hoping to communicate and/or achieve with this report? If this is immediately clear, then great, keep this in mind throughout the rest of the report. If it isn’t, then this may not be the end of the transparency issues…

    What has and has not been included?
    Have the authors been completely transparent about what has and hasn’t been included? Have they also explained how they came to their decisions about what was and was not material? At this point, it’s also wise to check that the report uses enough data, that it’s representative and that the authors have considered all possible biases. If a report isn’t inclusive of all of these things then there’s a fear the authors of the report are over-claiming, meaning they may be claiming the value of activities they were not a part of creating.

    Is this an output or outcome?

    What’s an outcome? What’s an output? What’s the difference? This can all too often be confused when people start measuring their impact but it’s vital that we aren’t claiming outputs as outcomes if we are to avoid over claiming. An output is a way of describing the activity in relation to each stakeholder’s inputs in quantitative terms, for example the staff who work on the project or the hours a volunteer put into the project. Outcomes are the changes resulting from an activity. The main types of change from the perspective of stakeholders are unintended (unexpected) and intended (expected), but more on that later. For now, ask yourself, has the report you’re reading made clear the difference between outputs and outcomes? We have produced some supplementary guidance on well-defined outcomes that will help.

    Who decides what?
    The Principles of Social Value provide the basic building blocks for anyone who wants to make decisions that take this wider definition of value into account, in order to increase equality, improve wellbeing and increase environmental sustainability. The first principle is the underpinning for all of the following six, and one that you must not forget when reading or writing an impact report! Principle One is Involve Stakeholders and we define stakeholders as people, organisations or entities that experience change, whether positive or negative, as a result of the activity that is being analysed. Were stakeholders involved? And importantly, were they involved in identifying and valuing outcomes? No two outcomes are equal to stakeholders, have the authors shown how they decided which outcomes were more valuable?

    What about stakeholder segmentation?
    Unless the only people impacted by your activities are the exact same in every way: age, gender, socio-economic status, health, relationship status, family set-up, and so on, and that’s highly unlikely, then not including stakeholder segmentation is a massive flaw. Segmentation is the process of looking at different groups of stakeholders, based on anything that makes them different from another group of stakeholders. Each type of stakeholder will have different outcomes, and indeed different valuations for those outcomes, and if the report you are reading hasn’t taken that into account then they could be over-claiming!

    Is it all positive impacts?
    The report you’re reading may be full of positive impacts, in fact we hope it is, we fully believe that measuring and maximising social value will lead to a more equal, more just and more sustainable planet for us all. However, every project, despite how great it’s theory of change is, will have negative impacts, it’s unavoidable. So has the report you’re looking at made allowances for that? Have they asked stakeholders what those were? Have they put measures in place to reduce these? Are they improving their work next time based on this? These are all questions you should be looking for the answers to when reading an impact report.

    And what about the change we didn’t mean to cause?
    Much like with point four, another key thing to look out for is whether the report lists the unintended outcomes of the project. If a report just states the intended outcomes, then they have only looked at, and asked stakeholders about the project objectives. This doesn’t give a full overview of the project, could be neglecting significant impact and is stunting future project improvement based on impact data. Examples of intended outcomes could be increased confidence, a secure job or reduced isolation, whereas as an unintended outcome could be that attendees on a course suffer a reduction in self worth for not doing as well as their classmates. That’s not to say that unintended outcomes are always negative, organisations often create lots of social value that they aren’t accounting for, listing unintended outcomes makes sure this isn’t happening and allows for project design based on all of the information.

    How much of this change can they claim?
    So the authors of the report have considered all of the outcomes, based on the opinions of their segmented stakeholders, they’ve looked at intended and unintended outcomes and considered both positive and negative change, that’s all right? Well, not quite. In order to not overclaim (Principle 5) and be transparent  (Principle 6) then the authors should have also calculated the likelihood of what would have happened to the stakeholders anyway, without their action and what other actors (organisations, people, interventions) may have played a part in the change experienced by a stakeholder. We call this considering the counterfactual and attribution. If 100% of a change is claimed it’s not only not true, it’s a little foolish and means the author is over-claiming, which means their project isn’t as successful as they claim it is, which means they are missing valuable opportunities to make it better!

    Is this important?
    Have the authors of this report demonstrated that they undertook a process of determining what information and evidence must be included in the accounts to give a true and fair picture? Some information is important is material and some is not, has this been considered? Enough information should be included so that stakeholders can draw reasonable conclusions about impact. On top of this, has the information been ranked with relative importance, and importantly, were stakeholders consulted on this?

    Can I trust this logic?
    One thing to consistently consider with impact reports is transparency (Principle 6), authors of impact reports should demonstrate the basis on which the analysis may be considered accurate and honest, and show that it will be reported to and discussed with stakeholders. Have they? And finally, but crucially, have they sought independent assurance of their impact data, assumptions and reports? Verifying the result (Principle 7) is crucial, and shows a mark of quality. You can search our Reports Database for only assured reports, to ensure you are reading reports that have met the standards we require, and find information on the assurance and accreditation services we offer on our website.


    For further information on conducting social value measurement please see     ‘The Guide to SROI’ and supplementary guidance. We offer a range of support services, including mentoring, that can support you further.

    What are your top tips for reading, or writing impact reports? Do you have advice for other community members? We would love to hear your thoughts!

  • Capturing All Voices in Impact Assessment

    Capturing All Voices in Impact Assessment

    This is a guest blog by member Clare Hammond on her social value work with The Yard Scotland. Clare works for Rocket Science UK Ltd. Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

    We have been working with The Yard Scotland and their community since June 2016. The Yard provides safe play spaces and respite for young people with disabilities and their families. During our time with The Yard, we conducted a Social Return on Investment and Cost Benefit Analysis to be able to evidence and quantify the impact their service has on families and how much they save other service providers such as the Local Authority.

    For Rocket Science, the voice of the service user should be present, loud and clear, and the central driving force for any impact analysis. Social researchers the world around can talk to you about sampling sizes, interview techniques, and running a great focus group to get that voice. However, social impact research gets slightly more complicated when service users are less able to engage with the more traditional research processes.

    Engaging extensively with The Yard’s young people and families as part of this research has been very important to both Rocket Science and The Yard Scotland. To do this we have had to use less conventional methods of social research – and we have learnt a few things along the way: We’ve learnt a few things along the way about how to approach impact analysis using less conventional methods:

    • Co-design with The Yard of all research activities was vital. As consultants, we brought expertise in evaluation disciplines, analytical processes and robustness. However, it’s The Yard that knows its client group inside and out. Bringing together this expertise was vitally important, particularly in designing and delivering the research activities with their young adventurers.
    • Abandoning the traditional – for the young adventurers we knew we couldn’t use traditional research techniques. Instead we embraced what made The Yard so great – play! We kept it simple– we had two questions we needed answering. Then we developed a range of play activities that young people could engage with…ever conducted an interview on a go-kart? It’s exhilarating.
    • Understanding the impact of the service on families was much harder than we expected. Parents and families of these young adventurers are so used to constantly being the advocate for their child. They are some of the most selfless people we have engaged with. For our research – getting parents to think about themselves was difficult. We overcame this in two ways:
    1. We needed to make it clear to parents that this was a space for them to talk about themselves as well as their children. Using colourful post-it notes we put all messages relating to their children on one wall, and messages relating to themselves as individuals on another wall. As expected, the wall of messages about their children filled up fast, while their own wall remained largely empty. We then set them the challenge of filling their wall to be as colourful as the wall about their children. Highlighting their selflessness visually, and colourfully proved to be very effective.
    2. Once again, we embraced The Yard’s motto – fun! We needed to convert outcomes such as friendship and relaxation into monetary values. We chose to use Choice Modelling – which, I promise, is as dull as it sounds if done with no humour. So with fun, laughter and a joke or two we had groups of parents and carers giving us their honest views of what was important to them as individuals as well as their family.

    Our time with The Yard has been rewarding, enlightening and a lot of fun. There aren’t many researchers that get to say they got to play with paints, bikes and swings for work! The Yard are now armed with robust evidence of their impact to use with the policy makers and funders. With this information, they intend to influence the design of services and expand their services further across Scotland.

    For more information on Social Value, and the Social Value Principles see here.