A guide to social return on investment

A guide to

Social Return on Investment

“For FRC Group using SROI has been a fascinating process which has fine tuned our understanding of the impacts that are achieved as we improve our performance, and exposed areas in which we can do more.”
Verity Timmins, Impact Manager, FRC Group

Foreword
Liam Byrne, Minister for the Cabinet Office and Kevin Brennan, Minister for the Third SectorGovernment wants to strengthen the already powerful impact of third sector organisations in our economy. We are also leading a new drive to transform our public services. While many third sector organisations have a powerful story to tell, the social and environmental value of the impact being made is often underplayed. As we face tough economic times, it is now more important than ever that weallow for better recognition of those who create social and environmental value, leading to more efficient movement of resources to the right people, in the right place, at the right time. This new guide to Social Return on Investment is timely, as it will help third sector organisations to communicate better their impact to customers, government and the public, through measuring social andenvironmental value with confidence, in a standardised way that is easy for all to understand. The guide should also underpin the thinking of commissioners and investors. For the public sector, it will help show us what really matters to the people who use public services and who benefit from third sector activity. Ultimately, it is those in our communities in need of real help who will benefit.

“AtImpact Arts we have embraced SROI as one of our central evaluation tools, which complements our existing evaluation practice very well. SROI has clear benefits for our organisation in terms of our future funding and business development activities, as well as focusing our day to day practice on where and how we add value.”
Susan Akternel, Innovation and Development Director, Impact Arts

“SROIhas helped us develop an ongoing relationship with our stakeholders which shows that we are listening to their needs and we can now report how our work impacts on their lives and the lives of others.”
Maeve Monaghan, Director, NOW Project

Acknowledgements
This guide has been written by Jeremy Nicholls, Eilis Lawlor, Eva Neitzert and Tim Goodspeed, and edited by Sally Cupitt, with additionalcontributions from Sheila Durie, Jenni Inglis, Karl Leathem, Tris Lumley and Richard Piper. Comments, guidance and advice were also received from the advisory group and from members of the SROI Network. Thanks to the following members of the SROI Network: Helen Fitzhugh, Adrian Henriques, Martin Kinsella, David Marshall, Kathleen Quinn, Kevin Robbie, Stephanie Robertson, Peter Scholten and SaraWilliams. Thanks to the following members of the advisory group: Saeeda Ahmed, Gustavo Bagattini, Simon Berry, Amitti CanagaRetna, Andrea Chauhan, Ken Cooper, Theresa Crawley, Elly de Decker, David Emerson, Tracy Houston, Pradeep Jethi, John Kingston, Martin Kinsella, Alan Knight, George Leahy, Liz Liston-Jones, Joseph Lowe, Fergus Lyon, Claire Michelet, Ralph Mitchell, Penny Newman, Gerald Oppenheim,Akhil Patel, John Pearce, Tess Pendle, Matthew Pike, Martin Scott, Oliver Sian Davies, Richard Spencer, John Stewart, Chris Walker, Peter Wells and Jo Wheeler. Particular thanks also to Gustavo Bagattini and John Pearce.

in association with

A number of people and organisations have contributed to the development of SROI, started by Jed Emerson and the Roberts Enterprise Development Fund,developed by nef (the new economics foundation) and members of the SROI Network, and supported by, amongst others, the Hadley Trust, the Adventure Capital Fund and the Equal Social Economy Scotland Development Partnership.



Contents
Foreword by Liam Byrne, Minister for the Cabinet Office and Kevin Brennan, Minister for the Third Sector 3 6
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Introduction
1 What is Social Return on...