SROI Software Testing
Selling added value is developing some software to support the process of impact mapping and identifying added value in an effective and efficient way.
A years license for the software will be included in the training courses for candidates to further develop their SROI reports for their organisations.
The software is currently being developed and tested. At this stage, we are being careful not to try and predict a launch date.
For further information or to join the beta testing group, contact Tim Goodspeed
Social Return on Investment SROI
In the early 1990s, a non-profit social enterprise, The Roberts Enterprise Development Fund [REDF] began to analyse its social return on investment (SROI) as a means to illustrate the value generated through an investment in its programmes, expressed in monetary terms. As the methodology developed, it became a key tool for REDF to more effectively evaluate its achievements against its objectives, manage its performance and communicate results. While the true value of many social impacts cannot be monetised, the SROI calculation is a straightforward approach to demonstrate value creation for society to social investors of all profiles.
Capturing the value of social activities through SROI has potential to improve the way organisations work and how resources are allocated, as well as illustrating the value of social and environmental mpacts. Calculating SROI depends on having an understanding of stakeholders’ objectives and of an organisation’s impacts – both of which are essential for good management. SROI also depends on collecting information, which can take valuable time and resources to gather. Consequently, SROI is likely to develop and provide most benefit in sectors and organisations, which are already advanced in these areas.
Selling Added Value
Of all the models examined, SROI provided the most potential to meet Selling added value objectives: it was possible to undertake the whole process from the buyer’s perspective; it appeared relatively simple to train social enterprises to measure themselves; it produced qualitative, quantitative and monetised results; and it appeared to be possible to select buyer’s indicators for the measurement of the added value and put results straight into terms relevant to them.
However, to achieve all this, some application of SROI to the procurement agenda would need to be developed. For Selling added value this would need to include: developing shorter scopes and reports based on just the buyer as the stakeholder; and developing consistent indicators or using buyer’s indicators.
SROI Buy The Book
If you would like more information on SROI you can purchase Social return on Investment from the Social Business Bookshop
How it works
- Organisations identify one aspect of the product or service they deliver
- They map the impact of providing that service on a key stakeholder group
- Outputs and outcomes are identified as a result of the impact
- These are benchmarked against an indicator set that a buyer may recognise as valid
- A financial value is assigned to the key outcomes
- Account is taken of external effects such as what would have happened anyway
- The figures are totalled and put in the context of the cost of creating them
One key outcome from working through this process is the potential to change and improve the way an organisation delivers services, measures its impact and gets better at what it does. It is a powerful driver for change.
They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself - Andy Warhol
Sources:
http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/newways_socialreturn.aspx
http://sroi.london.edu
