Hosted by: Funded by: Issues in evaluating the distinctive contribution and impact of the ‘third sector’ Malin Arvidson Stephen McKay Domenico Moro

Contents 1.Researching the third sector workforce 2.Frameworks for evaluation of Third Sectors Organizations

Distinctive features: employment and workforce Small size (2.6% of employment) and uncertainty about boundaries Importance of volunteering as a labour input Role of philanthropy … but also contracts from public sector

How many people does the sector employ?

Employees - distinctiveness Percentage of workers in the VCS rises quite strongly with age (Proportion of workers in the VCS in 2008)

Employees - distinctiveness Percentage of workers in the VCS according to their education. (Proportion in 2008)

Employers - distinctiveness Many part-time jobs (2008)

Growth of the sector:

Under-employment VCSTotal Would like to work longer hours 2007 – q1 7.4%7.5% 2010 – q1 10.4%10.1% Part-time because cannot find a full-time job (among part-time staff) 2007 – q1 9.8%9.1% 2010 – q1 16.0%14.3%

Industries affected by the recession-Private These are suffering the most

Industries Health, social work, education and real estate cover 93.5% of VCS employment Using the SIC 92 classification – In 2008, of 100 workers in VCS 62 were working in health & social work 13 were in other social / community 10.5 in education 8 in real estate

Growing industries all with strong VCS presence are still growing

… within these industries VCS is doing better than private sector. Relative growth of selected industries from Q to Q1 2010

2. Framework for evaluation Ideas of value – Created, instrumental, and intrinsic value Theory of change approach Cost-Benefit analyst approach – Value for money – Efficiency – Savings

Social Return on Investment (SROI) General move from input/output focus Now: outcome, impact and theory-of- change approaches ‘value for money’, savings, and added value are important concepts The project Measuring Social Value is behind SROI UK, funded by OTS, running from

Social Return on Investment (SROI) In relation to an organisational evaluation: an adjusted cost-benefit-analysis allows for social, environmental and financial values to be appreciated The SROI project is envisioned to contribute to: reducing inequality preventing environmental degradation improve well-being

SROI: Strengths Strengths: ideally engages stakeholders that come from very different backgrounds clarifies the organisation’s theory of change encourages better understanding of concepts such as drop-off, deadweight, and attribution

SROI: Weaknesses Weaknesses: based on imprecise ideas about pricing and savings does not recognise the different dimensions of ‘value’ leaves ample room for discretion and manipulation

TSRC Existing papers Paper 28: The growing workforce in the voluntary and community sectors, Domenico Moro and Stephen McKay Paper 27: Impact and evaluation of the third sector, Malin Arvidson Paper 26: Business or the Third Sector, Andrea Westall Paper 25: Value and the Third Sector, Andrea Westall Paper 14: Economic analysis and the third sector, Andrea Westall

TSRC Forthcoming papers Stephen McKay and Domenico Moro, Recession and the ‘third sector’ Workforce consequences, TSRC Working Paper Stephen McKay and Domenico Moro, Is job satisfaction really higher in the voluntary sector? A longitudinal analysis. TSRC Working Paper Stephen McKay, Domenico Moro, Arvidson, M. and F. Lyon; The promises and problems of SROI, TSRC Working Paper Stephen McKay, Domenico Moro, The economic value of volunteering, TSRC Working Paper Rebecca Edwards, Graham Smith and Milena Büchs (forthcoming) Mainstreaming the Environment: The Third Sector and Environmental Performance Management, TSRC Working Paper Arvidson, M. and F. Lyon (forthcoming) Reporting social impact: practices, processes and power, TSRC Working Paper