Workshop at ‘Journey into the Unknown’Exeter, June 23rd 2010

Measuring Social ValueDonald RitchieStrategy and Impact AdvisorNational Council for Voluntary Organisations

Workshop outline

Discussing value

Introducing value and full value

Introducing SROI (one way to plan, improve and communicate value)

Q&A

Exercise

So, what is ‘value’ … ?

So, what is ‘value’ … ?• Work in pairs with

someone you don’t know• Discuss what ‘value’

means in our sector• Summarise the value of

your own organisation

Value = the sum of all the specific impacts and experiences created by your organisation or project

Full Value

• A broader way of thinking

• Gives a fuller ‘palette’ of your value … to paint more varied pictures for different audiences

• Unlike traditional outcomes approaches, it includes:

– beneficiaries and other stakeholders

– impact and experience

The Full Value Approach

Beneficiaries Who is affected Others

Exp

erie

nce

Val

ue T

ype

I

mp

act

PrimaryImpacts

SecondaryImpacts

PrimaryExperiences

SecondaryExperiences

For more on Full Value…

What you can ‘do’ with ValueAim for it

What you can ‘do’ with ValueAim for itCreate it

What you can ‘do’ with ValueAim for itCreate itImprove it

What you can ‘do’ with ValueAim for itCreate itImprove itCommunicate it

What you can ‘do’ with ValueAim for itCreate itImprove itCommunicate itLive and breathe it

What you can ‘do’ with ValueAim for itCreate itImprove itCommunicate itLive and breathe it

You may need evidence to do these

You may need to measure your social value

But … do avoid ‘just-in-case’ evidence collection

What is Social Return on Investment?

SROI = a framework to measure & account a project’s value

Example ‘Result’: Fab Pad

Run by Impact Arts, Fab Pad supports young homeless people to sustain new tenancies. The SROI evaluation carried out on Fab Pad revealed that for every £1 invested by the government in support, £8.38 of social return was derived in reduced health care costs, reduced welfare benefits expenditure and reduced costs of repeat homelessness.

But … its not just about the ratio – it’s a story of change

About Social Return on Investment

Lots in common with ‘regular’ outcomes approaches, CBA, and social accounting

You still set outcomes and indicators, and collect data

But in particular SROI:

• has a strong emphasis on stakeholder involvement• includes all costs and all outcomes • addresses causality • uses financial proxies

Seven principles of SROI

1. Involve stakeholders

2. Understand what changes

3. Value the things that matter

4. Only include what is material

5. Do not over claim

6. Be transparent

7. Verify the result

Six stages of an SROI process

1. Establish scope and identify key stakeholders

2. Map outcomes

3. Evidence outcomes and give them a value

4. Establish impact

5. Calculate the SROI

6. Report, use and embed

Stage 3: evidencing outcomes

Stakeholder Outcome Indicator Data collection

Unemployed person

Gets & maintains work

Whether in work after 12 months

Annual postal survey plus follow up

Local authority

Increase in recycling

Amount of waste going to landfill

LA monitoring of amount of waste

Participant with health problems

Improved health

•Number of visits to GP

•Extent of health improvement (self-reported)

•Frequency of exercise

Six month review with keyworker

Disabled young person

Reduced isolation

Frequency of social contact with friends

Teachers’ report

Stage 3: giving outcomes a value

Outcome Indicator Possible proxies

Gets & maintains work

Whether in work after 12 months

Net wages

Increase in recycling

Amount of waste going to landfill

Cost of landfill charges

Improved physical health

•Number of visits to GP

•Extent of health improvement (self-reported)

•Frequency of exercise

•Cost of private GP consultation

•Cost of health insurance

•Cost of gym membership

Reduced isolation

Frequency of social contact with friends

•Cost of membership of social club

•% of income spent on leisure

Using financial proxies enables you to:

• reveal ‘hidden’ or ‘ignored’ value

• compare value of different services, to improve or stop them

• add up full value

• compare value over time

A final thought about measuring value

• Be clear about why you are doing it, what you need the information for

Thanks!

Questions?

Exercise: rethinking your value

• Back in your pairs

• Discuss two things:

1. What value does your organisation create that people, externally or internally, undervalue?

2. What approach to measuring value might be helpful to your organisation?

• Take 15 minutes each to discuss