Measuring and demonstrating Social Impact Carol Deslandes 20 th November 2013

Workshop aims To create a better understanding of: What social impact means The importance of measuring and demonstrating social impact The different tools that are available How to demonstrate social impact Context NCSE framework Defining and measuring outcomes SROI Big Society Capital Outcomes Matrix Reporting

Social Impact Measurement: Definition “The measurement of the impact of changes (outcomes) intentionally achieved in the lives of beneficiaries as a result of services and products, delivered by an organisation, for which the beneficiary does not give full economic value” ……..

Why measurement matters now Social need Cash constraints in public funding Legislation Evolving thinking Changing delivery landscape Changing funder landscape Growth of the measurement culture in policy making and public life

Key drivers The tightening public purse – more for less (Value for money) Greater devolvement of service delivery from State control – Open Public Services Act 2012 – The Localism Act 2011 – Health and Social Care Act 2012 Providers looking to differentiate themselves Emerging social investment market Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 – social value created or destroyed with the procurement Outcome- Based Government: How to improve spending decisions across government - Centre for Social Justice Jan 2011

Impact requirement for key stakeholders Social Investors – Screening and investing for greatest scale and impact against capital – Triggers for payment – Evidence of best practice and opportunities for innovation Commissioners – Greatest outcomes for least risk – Seeking on-going cost efficiencies against budget cuts through outcomes based commissioning – Wider cost savings across departmental arenas now being considered

The benefit to organisations? Can help you to: Learn and develop as an organisation Plan and estimate the impact of a future initiative or organisation Continuously improve services Prove your impact in funding, investment or planning bids where anecdotal evidence is not enough to secure agreement Show the community the value of their custom or volunteer time Make an even greater difference

What is Social Impact? Tells the story of the change we bring to people’s lives  Just a new approach to doing something we have always done Why explore it?  A problem, or something that could be done better (Original situation)  What you did in your initiative to address it (Your activity)  What happened as a result (Change in original situation)

Think about your organisation as a whole, or if easier, a specific strand of work Who will lead on this in your organisation? When will this work be completed by? What social impact does your organisation deliver? What outcomes or outputs would you need to measure to demonstrate that social value? How can you measure the outputs or outcomes that you have identified? Is there a tool that is most appropriate How will you let your stakeholders know about your social impact? Action Plan for measuring and demonstrating social impact

Defining and measuring outcomes While outputs tell us that an activity has taken place, alone they cannot tell us if an activity is effective Outcomes (the actual change that has occurred) provide us with information about effectiveness Only outcomes tell you that change has occurred

Problems with measurement Financial measurement: limited measure of value We allocate resources only to the things we can measure Stakeholders are left out of the decision making

The Challenge Measuring “making a difference” – Providing evidence that your organisation is doing something that provides a real and tangible benefit to other people or the environment Measurement across the “triple bottom line” – The economy – The environment – People

Which Social Impact Method or Tool? Influenced by: Motivation Readiness Capacity Impact

Which Social Impact Method or Tool? Eco Management & Audit Scheme (EMAS) Local Multiplier 3 (LM3) Prove it! The Social Impact Measurement for local Economies (SIMPLE) Social Accounting and Audit (SAA) Social Return on Investment (SROI) Volunteering Impact Assessment Toolkit C3 Perform Customer Service Excellence (previously Charter-mark ) European Foundation for Quality Management (EQFM) Fit for Purpose Practical Quality Assurance System fr Small Organisations (PQASSO) Social Enterprise Balanced Scorecard 3 rd Sector Performance Dashboard Quality First Outcomes Star SOUL Record

SROI – The 7 Principles 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 A piece of information is material if it has the potential to affect the stakeholders’ decision

What’s involved? Every organisation – no matter how small or new – can measure social impact  Start by measuring one indicator, perhaps related to one activity  Once used to this, more indicators can be added 3 stages:  Identifying the changes to be measured  Measuring (or estimating if you are looking forward) the amount of impact you have  Explaining the context or worth of that impact

Stage 1: Identifying the changes to be measured – Looking in Identify: Key material stakeholders? I nputs - income and expenditure associated with the activity being analysed Key outcomes

Exercise: Case Study Hand-out Who are their key/ material stakeholders? What are the inputs? What are the outputs?

Case Study: Stakeholders

Case Study: Inputs

Case Study: Outputs

Stage 2: Measuring the changes – Looking out The key to the process is a four step model to turn aims and objectives into “indicators”. 1.What is the change? 2.Who will you ask? 3.What questions will you ask? Check common outcomes and see what you need to gather data on or estimate 4.Measuring the “Distance Travelled” Assess whether what you currently measure provides evidence for your theory of change Devise a scale on which we can measure this change Ask the questions chosen more than once so that we can measure the distance travelled along the scale

Theory of change - participants By attending work- shop(s) [art, photography, film making, music, creative writing, drama, circle dancing, drumming] participants creative abilities were improved. As a result..... They felt engaged in things that have or bring meaning As a result..... They experienced increased hope and confidence for the future As a result Leading to increased confidence and self esteem Improvement in confidence and self esteem

Deadweight, attribution and displacement Deadweight – outcome that would have happened anyway, even if the activity had not taken place and for which [the organisation] cannot claim credit Attribution – how much other people or activities have contributed to the identified outcome Displacement – an assessment of how much of the outcome has displaced other outcomes

Putting a value on results - Proxies Key principle of SROI - Value the things that matter: SROI captures things that have no price as such Select proxies that represent the value to the stakeholder as much as possible Proxies used to represent the value created – Provides a common unit of measurement – Allows comparison of the return with the investment

Financial Proxies - examples

The Outcomes Matrix New Philanthropy Capital, SROI Network, Investing for Good and Big Society Capital Tool for SIFIs and social sector organisations to think through their own theory of change Aims to establish common ground and language regarding social investment and impact assessment Two elements: – Vertical axis; aspects of a person’s full and free life – Horizontal axis; kinds of individuals or groups who might benefit from the aspects set out

Vertical axis 1.Education, learning and skills 2.Employment and training 3.Housing, property and essential needs 4.Finance and legal matters 5.Physical health 6.Mental health 7.Healthy living and lifestyle 8.Personal and social well being 9.Criminal justice and public safety 10.Local area and getting around 11.Culture, sport and heritage 12.Politics, influence and participation 13.Climate change and conservation of the natural environment

Horizontal axis Individuals Families and children Community, sector and society There are 13 outcomes maps – each documents the relevant outcomes and indicators that are currently being measured by charities, government and practitioners working in this field. N.B. They are a starting point – not intended to be definitive or comprehensive

Outcomes Map: Housing and essential needs Definition Context Responses to housing need Vulnerable groups Key outcomes Related outcomes Examples of typical interventions Current approaches to measurement Key sources

Housing and essential needs: Key outcomes Housing, property and essential needs IndividualsFamilies & Children Community, Sector and Society Provision of secure, habitable and affordable housing equipped with sustainable and essential facilities such as safe drinking water, energy, sanitation, food storage, refuse disposal and access to emergency services Fewer people homeless or living in poor quality homes More affordable housing Improved access to affordable basic needs More community housing More vulnerable people or those with specialist needs able to live with greater independence Reduction of children in care Fair tenant management and behaviour Increase in availability and/ or quality of safe housing or residential care for children Public cost benefit Increase in availability and/ or quality of safe housing and residential care for vulnerable people or those with specialist needs

Key outcomes Specific outcomes IndicatorsExisting measures Source & useStakeholders (lagging) Notes Fewer people are homeless or living in poor quality homes Fewer people are sleeping rough Number of people sleeping rough Street counts Rough sleeping statistics, DCLG Individual Community & Society Figures provided by all authorities. A minority undertake a count, and a majority provide an estimate Number of bed nights provided by homeless shelter Counts based on service provider’s records of clients Initiatives to collate information across services in: CHAIN (Combined Homeless and Information Network) Homeless Link Critical Mass project Individuals People with mental health problems People with drug & alcohol problems CHAIN database contains over 100 variables Critical mass contains over 100 variables Number of unique beneficiaries Number of bed spaces in direct access projects Service provider’s records of provision Homeless Watch Survey of Needs and Provision Individuals People with mental health problems People with drug & alcohol problems Data collated by Homeless Link using Homeless UK online directory Number of bed spaces in second stage projects Measurement overview: Housing and essential needs (partial extract)

Reporting What is the purpose of the report? Who do you need to communicate with? – Assurance/ Third party involvement? – Web-site – Twitter – Facebook

Activity - summary Understand your goals for the analysis – define the purpose Define organisation’s values, mission, objectives and activities Identify the key stakeholdersConcept of “Materiality” Determine the scope of the analysis Project or organisation? Analyse income and expenditure Associated with the activity under review Map the impact value chain (logic model) Assess impacts on each (relevant) stakeholder Set indicators and collect dataDeadweight/ attribution Calculate social returnStandard NPV with/ without sensitivity analysis ReportingAssurance/ Third party involvement?/ Web-site/ Twitter/ Facebook

Contact details Inspire2Enterprise:  E mail: E mail:  Web-site: Web-site:  Twitter: Twitter:  Phone: Carol Deslandes; Head of Strategic Development   Phone: