In January, the Community Laundry Co-op (CLC) agreed to participate in a graduate course on social finance, offered by Carleton University\u2019s Centres for Community Innovation, Voluntary Sector Research and Development, and the School of Public Policy and Administration. The course is designed to provide students with the opportunity to apply their knowledge and gain experience solving real world problems, while also benefiting the partner organizations. Over the winter term, three students have been working with CLC to develop a framework for measuring the Co-op\u2019s Social Return on Investment (SROI).<\/p>\n
SROI is an analytical tool for organizations with a social or environmental mission that assigns a monetary value to both financial and non-financial outcomes of the organization (inputs and outputs) to provide an overall measure of social impact. An SROI evaluation can be used internally by organizations to track progress and inform program development and strategic direction. It can also be a useful tool for communicating the\u00a0blended value<\/em>\u00a0(economic, social and environmental) of the organization to others\u00a0 because it speaks in a language that everyone understands.<\/p>\n Assigning a financial proxy is relatively straightforward in most cases for \u2018inputs\u2019 to an organization, including donations, grants, income generation and capital expenditures. However, some inputs are often overlooked by traditional accounting practices, such as volunteer hours. For these inputs, the SROI framework provides guidance for translating these inputs into monetary terms, by assigning a market wage to volunteer hours.<\/p>\n Measuring the social and environmental \u2018outputs\u2019 of the organization in monetary terms is more challenging, but the SROI framework demonstrates that it is possible and important. For example, the Co-op\u2019s Community Economic Development program provides employment opportunities to people facing barriers to employment, which can be valued in terms of the contribution to the economy and the reduction in government spending on social assistance. The Co-op also offers counselling services to its members, which can lead to cost savings for the public health system, among many other potential outcomes.<\/p>\n However, other outcomes are not as easy to convert into monetary terms. Several members have expressed a strong sense of community and belonging as a result of their involvement with the Co-op, but as one of the students commented, \u201chow do we assign a monetary value to gaining a new friend?\u201d<\/p>\n It is important to recognize that a SROI analysis is not about calculating the absolute monetary value of the organization\u2019s outcomes. SROI is a framework for incorporating non-financial factors into the value equation to capture the positive social impact of an organization that permeates several levels (e.g., increased income leading to improved physical and mental health, reduced crime, contributing positively to society, etc.) and generations (e.g., children are able to participate in positive social activities as a result of their parent being employed). This is what makes a SROI study so valuable to an organization and its stakeholders \u2013 it tells a story about the positive impact made on people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n Thanks to the Carleton graduate students, the Co-op now has a comprehensive SROI framework. The SROI evaluation requires rigorous data collection and analysis and the Co-op is hoping to take this on over the coming year. While there is currently no common evaluation or reporting standards used among the not-for-profit community and its funders (government, foundations and private sector), SROI is gaining recognition as one of the most effective frameworks for measuring social impact.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In January, the Community Laundry Co-op (CLC) agreed to participate in a graduate course on social finance, offered by Carleton University\u2019s Centres for Community Innovation, Voluntary Sector Research and Development, and the School of Public Policy and Administration. The course is designed to provide students with the opportunity to apply their knowledge and gain experience […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n