Social Impact Assessment Working for Us and Our Clients

Liz Brooks-Allen February 2010 1

Who are The Connectives?

• Social Enterprise help commercial companies leverage social outcomes and social businesses achieve commercial outcomes • Working with private, public, voluntary and social enterprise sectors • Work across sectors – health, housing, construction, financial services, social justice, education etc. • This is the way we operate – do well doing good • Lifelong traditions run throughout the company: • language • tried and tested tools 2

Who are We?

• What do we understand of social impact?

• Experience of social impact assessment?

• Experience of needing to demonstrate social benefit in bidding documents?

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What is Social Impact?

The positive and negative changes bought about as a result of the activities of an organisation • These may be social, environmental or economic effects • Often achieved in addition or alongside contractual obligations • More than a quick fix, so beware new found enthusiasms, not a panacea, but a way of being 4

Possible Current Issues

• Clients driven by market share or commercial growth - need to know what/how people buy • Procurement often based on price versus quality, need third dimension of social value – elevate a values debate • CSR – you, your client, their customer • Philanthropy - you, your client, their customer • Sustainable partnering and investment needs to withstand scrutiny 5

Why Measure Social Impact Activity?

• Evidencing social impact tells the whole story of the companies performance • Competitive advantage in a market where cutting costs constantly wont work • Can inform the strategic development of the enterprise • Builds social capital with clients • Builds reputation and attracts partners and/or investors • Motivates internal teams • CSR/Public Benefit/Social value obligations

Wates Case Study

• Wates Construction – family owned company • Charitable foundation developed • Recognise the social value of their activity and its economic benefit • Supported by The Connectives to improve bidding documents and pitch teams • 10 th – 1 st contract on a tender list securing a £70m framework • Over last 5 years secured >£1bn additional work • However - Connaught and ROK 7

Creating customer focused services

• Social Impact Assessment enables enterprises to: – Identify opportunities to hear the voice of customers – Identify the good, the bad and the ugly of service provision – Re-configure services based upon evidenced need rather than received wisdoms/assumptions – Make intelligent purchasing decisions based upon social and economic benefit

Valuing more than money

• Previous Government policy has dictated the way we spend public funds and purchase services but what change might we see next?

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value for money must be assessed over the whole lifetime of a project, including disposal (either sale proceeds or decommissioning costs), estimating the costs and benefits to society as a whole, not simply those directly relevant to the purchaser - e.g. environmental impact”

Social Value Bill

• not set in law yet but intends to… • strengthen the social enterprise business sector • make the concept of 'social value' more relevant and important in the placement and provision of public services.

• places a duty on the Secretary of State to publish a 'national social enterprise strategy’ 10

Social Value Bill

• amends Local Government Act 2000 - local authorities required to – produce a sustainable community strategy, – including proposals for promoting engagement with social enterprise in their area. • requires local authorities entering into public procurement contracts, to give consideration to economic, social or environmental wellbeing during the pre-procurement stage 11

Social Investment Concepts

• Government approach to funding previously public sector now potentially third sector activity • Social investment bank – central govt. funds - loans and grants • Social investment bonds – personal/commercial investors • Philanthropy – opportunity for individuals and commercial clients 12

Commissioning Behaviour

• Do they actively encourage collaboration between services by packaging service provision?

• Do they procure services in an aggressive or ruthless environment where cost is king?

• Is the procurement process accessible to us and/or our clients?

• Do commissioners commission sustainability? – (‘short- term’ism vs. sustainable enterprises) • Do they incorporate social clauses?

• Do they score and value social impact measurement?

How do we make purchases?

• Consider what factors influence buying decisions?

– Value based purchases – Relationship based purchases • Do we or our clients have clear and stated social values • Can we identify and evidence our/their social values in action?

So..What do we want to measure and report?

• Positive, negative and no change situations • Extent of change – how much difference?

• Experience of change – what did it feel like?

• Benefits achieved – social, economic and environmental differences

Measuring our Success

• New Economics Foundation identifies 25+ tools which can assist in the measurement of social impact • Most prominent are: – Social Accounting and Audit – Social Return on Investment – LM3 (Local Multiplier 3)

Social Accounting and Audit

• • • • • • A principles based approach to measuring impact Focused upon stakeholder consultation Uses qualitative and quantitative measuring of performance against a set of social objectives Creates a set of social accounts, independently verified at audit Enables year on year comparison and supports benchmarking activity Does not agree that every action/outcome can assume a financial value

Social Return on Investment

• Principles based approach but focused upon financial/numerical assessment of performance • Uses financial proxies to evaluate social benefit (agreed or created proxies) • Creates a £:£ ratio showing the social benefit achieved for every £ spent on services • Less useful for internal and external benchmarking due to ‘snapshot’ nature of ratio generated • Can be used to estimate future return on investment

LM3

• • • • • • • • Focuses on expenditure/financial impacts Money flows out of communities – leakage Assess where money is spent and develop retention strategies 3 rounds of spending Local enterprises help money ‘stick’ Examine supply chains - involvement of local firms Consider - social capital and consequent effects Tescopoly cloning High Streets 19

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Key Terms around Indicators?

Output The specific consequence of a project or programme that can readily be measured, usually by numbers • • Outcome The effect of a project or programme on the people involved as a consequence of what an organisation does • • Impact The effect of a project or programme on the people involved as a consequence of what an organisation does • • Benchmark An external standard or reference point against which performance may be compared 20

Factors that Determine Indicators

• What information is it important for you to know? This applies to all the activities your organisation undertakes and about how you live up to your values?

• What information and views can you realistically collect , given your organisation’s resources?

• Therefore, how shall you you can do?

plan your organisation’s social accounting to do effectively what you believe 21

What Indicators? What information to Collect?

• Narrative information that describes clearly what has been done; which will be backed up by… • Quantitative data which give the countable figures about what has been done, and… facts and • Qualitative information that tells us what the stakeholders think about performance and about the impact of your organisation – their voices 22

Consultation Methodologies

• • • • • Questionnaires – Postal/Telephone/Online Focus Groups Citizens Jury’s Mystery Shoppers Structured/Semi structured interviews 23

How do we measure the intangibles?

• Intangible indicators of change – Well being – Happiness – Engagement • Capturing meaningful data – Self reporting – Observation – Noticing what doesn’t happen

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Social, Environmental and Economic Reporting and Audit

Draft the organisation’s Social Impact Assessment Have it verified where appropriate Use the audited assessment and evidence Disclose and discuss the findings CONTINUE THE CYCLE 25

[email protected]

07790 779578 www.theconnectives.com

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