Social Measurement in third sector organisations, social accounting and

sustainability:The case of leisure trusts

Dr Jane Gibbon Newcastle University Business School

Some key issues for social economy organisations

• Social exclusion• Poverty• Environmental degradation• Economic impact• Not a replacement for the private and public sectors• Government commitment to constructive partnership (not marketisation

of the Welfare State)• Lack of funding and capacity• Balancing social, environmental and economic outcomes• Threats of privatisation and/or mission drift• Lack of business support systems to enable delivery of multiple outcomes• Geographical imbalance

Social measurement and reporting

• Why demonstrate impact?• Purpose: internal or external perspective• Proving and improving social purpose• Many approaches are available

– e.g. SROI, SE Balanced scorecard, Third sector dashboard, PQASSO, AA1000, GRI

• Why social accounting?– Rigour– External auditing and review– Recognised technique– Flexible framework that enables inclusion of contingent

issues

History of social accounting at Jesmond Pool

• Social accounting led by Trustees• Slow process, over 6 years• Review of all stakeholders• Purpose to prove difference, adding value and

balancing different outcomes• We wanted to draw support from all areas

(stakeholders: staff, customers, community)

How Jesmond Pool did social accounts

• Organisational learning, teaching• Identified data we were losing• Set up systems• Gathered information• Bi annual report – chose most important• Presented the account/ audited• Reviewed and changed values and objectives

Values and culture (1)• The articles state that JSP is “a charitable, not-for-profit

organisation, set up by local residents to run JSP for the benefit of the whole community”

• The mission of the organisation is the “provision of swimming facilities for recreation and other leisure time activities for the inhabitants of the local and wider community in the interests of their social welfare” (Charity Registration and Memorandum of Association of JSP).

• Initially focussed on business objectives:– operational issues – environmental issues– building matters– communication issues

Mapping Impact

Inputs Staff & Funding

Activities Improve knowledge management

Outputs Strengthen policy, research & campaigning work

Outcomes Influence government policy

Desired Impact Deliver social change

MeasuringInputs Budgets; workplans; business plan

etc

Activities Numbers & descriptions

Outputs Numbers +

Outcomes Stakeholder experience

Stakeholder views

Desired Impact Movement against a benchmark

Benefits

• Evidence of how JSP benefits stakeholders• Documentary evidence to support funding and

grant applications• Provides evidence for political purposes if

needed• A review technique for operational and strategic

planning purposes• An easily understood document for staff,

customers, community

Values and culture (2)• Our Mission• Supporting our community through the provision of swimming and other leisure related activities.• • Our Values• Belief in the power of sport and leisure related activities to benefit all members of our

community, regardless of their state of health or disability.• Belief in the ability of local communities to meet local needs.• • Our Objectives:• to meet the swimming and leisure related needs of all groups in the local and wider community• to secure the long-term future of the project by maintaining its financial viability • to ensure we retain local support, through a strong sense of community interaction.• to provide a working environment that values and develops all of its people to ensure business

success, whilst being inclusive and participative. • to operate the building and activities, following current industry and best practice guidelines.• To reduce our environmental impact.

• The partner organisations as social enterprises form part of the wider third sector and re-invest all profits in the enterprise and / or community served by them.

• The organisations all work with and operate using democratic and cooperative principles and focus on the financial, social and environmental impacts of the organisation.

• The research develops understandings of how to measure these impacts through social reporting techniques building upon the specific toolkit framework of six key aspects within the organisation:

• human resources• good governance and accountability• asset lock and use of surplus• financial sustainability• environmental sustainability• economic impact

Typical aims and objectives of leisure trust

Society Aim: to address social disadvantage•Access to recreation, sport & culture •Serve dispersed / excluded / diverse populations •Increase social capital •Access to health care •Sustain dignity & independent living •Access to social opportunities Economy Aim: to address economic disadvantage •Access to work •Access to services •Affordable transport •Efficient utilisation of people & vehicles Environment Aim: to minimise environmental damage •Manage waste •Minimise energy / water / chemical usage •Green officeObjectives: •Customers: to encourage, engage and include all sections of the community •Workforce: to value, develop and involve •Local community: enabling mutually supportive partnerships •Demonstration of public benefit: charitable status or other legal form

• Brief overview of the structure of the toolkit: • Staff• Customers• Local Community• Demonstrating public benefit

• Tabular format:Stakeholder – activity – outcome/indicator-data-

source-benchmark-national indicator

Example: Demonstrating public benefit

• Stakeholder– Local Community– Local Institutions– Client Council– Community groups

• Activity– Identify places on board for community members– Create consultation process for key stakeholder groups– Establish company values/aims that reflect community requirements

• Outcome / Indicators– Regular input from community into key company decisions– Evidence of consultation effecting operational decisions and service development– Number of community members on board

• Data required– Results of consultation– Evidence of survey results– Evidence of community engagement links to service development

Source BenchmarkNational Indicator

Pathways to Impact

Social impact toolkit

1. Implementation and learning within social enterprises

2. Proving impact to stakeholders at a local and regional

level

3. Developing and sharing impact

measurement data at a regional and

national level

4. Developing and improving social

impact tools

5. Contribution to society and the

economy

Conclusions and further work• The toolkit framework is based upon the typical aims and objectives of a

Leisure Trust which are to address economic disadvantage, address social disadvantage and minimise environmental damage through a focus on customers, workforce, local community and demonstration of public benefit

• The toolkit provides a detailed guide on how and where to gather information at the stakeholder level through typical activities with a sports and leisure organisation and are linked to specific outcomes, indicators and national indicators. Specifically there is scarce provision of guidance for less traditional assets such as community owned and managed swimming pools and leisure facilities is scarce (ASA, 2009). The research project responds to this need.

• There is an urgent need for more practice based evidence to demonstrate how issues of particular social issues can be measured and reported within social economy settings. Social accounting could provide part of the solution but it must be adopted more widely.