Social Return On Investment

Have you considered using Social Return On Investment to measure your organisations impact?

A useful technique / tool to measure impact is the Social Return On Investment method (SROI). This measures the impact of the organisation in financial terms relative to the resources to deliver the services. It is similar to Cost Benefit Analysis but is explicitly designed to inform the practical decision-making of enterprise managers and focused on optimising their social and environmental impacts.

The key benefits of SORI are:

• It helps organisations understand the social, environmental and economic value created (destroyed) by your work. (not all work has a positive impact)
• To maximise the positive change you create and identify and manage any negative outcomes arising from your work. This is because the process places a value on change made not just the quantity of work delivered
• To reconsider which organisations or people you should be working with, or improve the way you engage with your stakeholders. The process is driven by stakeholders and organisations need to understand how they are impacted upon.
• It will help you find ways to collect more useful, better quality information; not just what is available/ easy but what will show the difference yo umake
• Help you promote your work, attract new clients or bring in new funding or finance, by improving performance

It is based on 7 principles:

• Involve stakeholders – Inform what gets measured and how this is measured and valued –Fundamental and sets apart from many other processes
• Understand what changes – Articulate how change is created. Evaluate this through evidence gathered, recognising positive and negative changes as well as those that are intended and unintended
• Value the things that matter –Making decisions about allocating resources between different options needs to recognise the values of stakeholders. –Value refers to the relative importance of different outcomes and is informed by stakeholders’ preferences
• Only include what is material –Determine what information and evidence must be included in the accounts to give a true and fair picture, such that stakeholders can draw reasonable conclusions about impact
• Do not over claim –Only claim the value that activities are responsible for creating
• Be transparent – 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
• Verify results –Ensure appropriate independent assurance

For more information or support on SORI, please get in touch