Social Impact Measurement
Provided by: The University of Northampton
Description
Measure the social impact of your business by tracking key performance indictors benchmarked against the United Nation's Sustainable Development goals using an innovative research methodology designed by the Institute for Social Innovation and Impact (ISII), the Social Impact Matrix©
Overview
There are many different types of social impact measurement tools available for use by social ventures in assessing the impact that they have. These include Social Return on Investment (SROI) (Hall and Arvidson, 2013), the ‘Balance Scorecard’ (Bull, 2007), as well as ‘practical toolkits’ such as ‘Prove and
Improve’ (New Economics Foundation, 2008) and ‘Outcomes Star’ (London Housing Foundation and Triangle Consulting, 2006). Although these can offer organisations useful tools for measuring their social impact, they are problematic as they are either ‘focused on outcome from the perspective of the organisation or are targeted at specific populations such as the homeless’ (Denny et al., 2011: 152). This specific nature makes it difficult to use them as underlying frameworks in the development of new toolkits targeted at specific sectors. A generic social impact framework is required that provides a theoretical underpinning for the development of sector specific social impact tools.
In providing a holistic and innovative framework for the development of social impact matrices, McLoughlin et al. (2009) developed the SIMPLE methodology, which focused upon the measurement of outputs, outcomes and impact. An output can be defined as the direct and easily identifiable outputs of an intervention (i.e. the number of people employed) (McLoughlin et al., 2009). However, whilst considering output as a method of evaluation is useful for tracking the success of an intervention from this particular perspective, if it is employed as a singular measure, the evaluation will not include important longer-term participant benefits, i.e. outcomes. An outcome represents positive changes to participants’ states of mind that will enhance their lives, their future employability and their psychological well-being (McLoughlin et al., 2009). An example of this could be the effect that an intervention has on the well-being of beneficiaries. Impact is an even longer-term benefit and is the impact on society resulting from the restoration programme (e.g. the increased tax revenue that employment brings) (McLoughlin et al., 2009). Impact is the most difficult area to measure, as it is focused on the wider and less tangible aspects of an intervention. However, it is important to measure this as otherwise the effectiveness of an intervention cannot be fully understood.
The University of Northampton’s ‘Social Impact Matrix©’ utilises the prior work of McLoughlin et al. (2009) and combines it with the ‘triple-bottom line’ that is present in the business models of social enterprise and also the delivery of public services. The triple-bottom line consists of economic, social and environmental impacts that are delivered by organisations and (in the absence of a current theoretical definition of social value) used as a proxy for social value. Any organisation that seeks to use the model to develop their own social impact matrix has to first decide what specific areas of impact that it has in the economic, social and environmental spheres. Once these areas have been defined the organisation must then identify what its specific outputs, outcomes and impacts are for these areas of impact and then develop or identify tools or formula that can be used to measure these specific outputs, outcomes and impacts.
A simplified example of this would be if a social enterprise that works in the work-integration sector sought to evaluate its social impact. First, it would map the economic, social and environmental areas that it operated in. One example of this would be employment, which would be present in both the economic and social elements of the model. An employment related output would be the number of jobs created; an employment related outcome would be the psychological benefit to an individual of being employed; an employment related impact would be the savings to the state of reduced welfare payments. Specific tools would then need to be selected in order to capture this data. This would be simple for the number of jobs created; however, for the outcomes and impacts specific tools or formula would need to be utilised/created. Psychological scales that measured constructs such as well-being, self-efficacy or anxiety could be employed to measure outcome. Impact could be measured by adopting a formula that multiplied the number of jobs created (J) by the annual income of an individual on job-seekers allowance (B). The result of this calculation could also be added to the increase in income tax and national insurance income created by the new employment (T). This would give a calculation that would provide the fiscal savings to the state of the intervention [(J x B) + T] once accounting for alternative attribution, drop-off, and deadweight has been undertaken.
Development and Use
The ‘Social Impact Matrix©’ has been tested significantly since its inception in March 2014. The ‘Social Impact Matrix©’ is fully compliant with the European Commission’s GECES framework for social impact measurement, which provides a best practice guide on how to conduct social impact measurement research. In this period social impact evaluations utilising the ‘Social Impact Matrix©’ approach have been conducted with over 50 VCSE organisations ranging across many sectors including employment, physical and mental health, social care, education, political advocacy, criminal justice, environmental restorations and recycling, the arts and international development. This has led to the development of numerous indicators as well as the testing of the model to ensure that it is robust and reliable. In June 2014 the ‘Social Impact Matrix©’ became the official measure of social impact on the Big Issue Invest Corporate Social Venturing Fund, and in late 2015 the University won an ERDF Innovation Fellowship to further develop the ‘Social Impact Matrix©’. The ‘Social Impact Matrix©’ is therefore one of the UK’s leading social impact measurement frameworks and underpins the University of Northampton’s own assessment of its social impact nationally and internationally.
About the Institute for Social Innovation and Impact
The Institute for Social Innovation and Impact (ISII) at the University of Northampton evaluates and measures the social impact of social innovations in the UK and around the world, as well as exploring the financing of, and policy support for, social innovation.
The ISII defines social impact as ‘the economic, social and environmental benefits delivered by an organisation to society’ and the Institute views social innovation as any new structure or process that enhances a society’s resources and cohesion. Crucially, the ISII is fully self-sustaining and sources its income entirely from external contracts/grants, with no core University funding provided. In this way it operates in the same manner as a socially innovative, entrepreneurial organisation!
Click here to download further information about ISII
Enquire for details
For further information about the ‘Social Impact Matrix©’ please complete the contact form on the right of this page or contact either Professor Richard Hazenberg or Dr Claire Paterson-Young at the University’s Institute for Social Innovation and Impact.