1. Measuring Social Impact:
Looking for Inspiration
Mary Lee Rhodes
Trinity College Dublin
Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action
8 March 2013

2. What’s the problem?
1) Philanthropists, Government and Citizens are
looking for ways to allocate scarce resources
for maximum benefit
2) GDP as a measure of social ‘progress’ has
been roundly criticised
3) A plethora of new proposals for measuring
social progress have been mooted – no
generally accepted standard as yet.
4) Measurement approaches highly subjective
Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action
8 March 2013

3. Sources of ‘inspiration’
• performance objectives and outcomes measures as
critical components of public service systems
• Rise of ‘Beyond GDP’ (‘well-being’) social progress
indicators
• Research into housing ‘system’ in Ireland
• Board membership on Housing-related Non-profits and
Government agencies
• Practical and Academic challenge of Social Impact
analysis / reporting
• Need for credible measures of Social Return for
emerging social finance market
Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action
8 March 2013

4. What is social impact?
• Measuring cost-benefit: the production of social value (‘benefit’) that
is greater/less than the resources (‘cost’) required to produce it
(Arvidson et al, Bagnoli & Megali, Emerson et al, Gordon, Tuan)
• Social value: change in the conditions of (targeted groups of) human
beings in specified areas, e.g., health, education, housing,
employment, environment (Ashoka, REDF, GIIN – see IRIS database)
• Resources: financial, human, political, environmental, legitimacy
assets that are expended in the creation of social value (Nicholls et al,
Zappala & Lyons)
• Sustainability: economic, social and environmental future viability of
the organisation / programme (Bagnoli & Megali)
Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action
8 March 2013

5. What is well-being?
• Personal happiness: positive emotions, lack of negative emotions,
energy, self-esteem, optimism, income/consumption (Oswald, Diener,
Kahneman, Stiglitz)
• Agency & capability: ability to make choices, to fulfil one’s potential,
to be engaged in one’s work / study, ‘positive functioning’ (Nussbaum
& Sen, NEF)
• Environment & social interaction: positive relationships with family,
community, wider society (Putnam, CMEPSP)
• Good governance: perception of fairness / equity in society, trust in
government, having a ‘voice’ (NESC 2009)
• Sustainability: economic, social and environmental future viability of
current levels of well-being (CMEPSP)
Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action
8 March 2013

6. Overlaps & Divergence
Well-Being
FEELINGS
SOCIETY*
LOCATION/
POLICY
Social Impact
‘ACTUAL’ CHANGE
Sustainable positive
change (or level?) in
socially desirable public
interest domains
CONSUMPTION
*‘Fair’ distribution across
society
TARGET GROUPS*
ORGANISATION /
PROGRAMME
*More for ‘base of
pyramid’
Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action
8 March 2013

7. Objectives in a public service system?
‘Value objectives’ based on a study of 63 organisations in housing in Ireland including public, non-profit, private, community and political sectors
1) Utility: individual /organisational value achieved through
exchange or allocation of goods / services
2) Production: individual /organsational value achieved through the
production of products / services
3) Wealth: individual /organsational value achieved through
accumulation of assets (value can be created or destroyed)
4) Equity: systemic value achieved through narrowing the gap
between ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’
5) Inclusion: systemic value achieved through increasing
participation
6) ‘Collectivity’: systemic value achieved through increasing level
of consensus around policy / practices
Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action
8 March 2013

8. Competing or complementary?
SOCIETY
Well-Being
Social Impact
TARGET GROUP
FEELINGS
‘PRODUCTION’
‘UTILITY’
(consumption)
‘EQUITY’
‘UTILITY’
(satisfaction)
INDIVIDUAL
‘WEALTH’
(cost)
‘COLLECTIVITY’
‘INCLUSION’
‘WEALTH’
(profit)
Housing System
Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action
8 March 2013
ORGANISATION

9. Key Issues for Research & Development
• Defining / producing social impact measures
– Omission of feelings, inclusion and “collectivity” in Social Impact literature
– Measures are notoriously difficult to define, to agree upon, to establish
robust measurement strategies for, to aggregate / synthesize, etc
– What about sustainability: trade-off between current and future generations?
• Establishing cause & effect relationships
– Even if the measures can be agreed and strategies for collecting data
established – determining what organisations, policies and/or environmental
factors affect these measures is a major challenge
– Issues of attribution, deadweight, gaming etc. require attention
• Institutional accountability & transformation
– Should cause & effect relationships be established, these are likely to be
complicated and have many interdependencies – making accountability
difficult – defining accountability may need adjustment
– Institutional change is required and extremely challenging
Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action
8 March 2013

10. References (Social Impact)
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Arvidson, M., Lyon, F., McKay, S., et al. (2010) "The ambitions and challenges of SROI". Birmingham: Third
Sector Research Centre.
Bagnoli, L and Megali, C (2009) Measuring Performance in Social Enterprises. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector
Quarterly. Accessed at: http://nvs.sagepub.com/content/40/1/149. Last Accessed: 15/01/12
Emerson, J; Wachowicz, J and Chun, S (1999), Social Return on Investment: Exploring Aspects of Value Creation
in the Nonprofit Sector. REDF Box Set - Social Purpose Enterprises and Venture Philanthropy in the New
Millennium (17)
Flockhart, A (2005), Raising the profile of social enterprises: the use of social return on investment (SROI) and
investment ready tools (IRT) to bridge the financial credibility gap. Social Enterprise Journal, Vol. 1 (1), pp.29 - 42
Gordon, M (2009), Accounting For Making a Difference. Social Enterprise Magazine. 25.11.09.
Leviner, N; Crutchfield, L and Wells, D (2007), The Impact of Social Entrepreneurs: Ashoka's Answer to the
Challenge of Measuring Effectiveness Putnam, R.A. (2000) Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American
community, NY, NY: Simon Shuster
Nicholls, A., Mackenzie, Somers (2007) Measuring real value: A DIY guide to Social Return on Investment, New
Economics Foundation
Tuan, M (2008), Measuring and/or Estimating Social Value Creation: Insights Into Eight Integrated Cost
Approaches. Prepared for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Impact Planning and Improvement
Stiglitz, J., Sen., Fitoussi, J-P. (2009),
Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress,
Zappala, G. and Lyons, M. (2009) "Recent approaches to measuring social impact in the third sector: An
overview". The Centre for Social Impact
Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action
8 March 2013

11. References (Well-being)
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Diener, E. & Seligman, M. (2004) “Beyond money: toward an economy of well-being” Psychological Science in the
Public Interest, vol 5: pp. 1-31
Kahneman, Daniel (1999), ‘Objective Happiness’ in Kahneman, D., Diener, E. & Schwarz, N. (eds), Well-Being:
The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology, New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation
Michaelson, J., Abdallah, S., Steuer, N., Thompson, S., Marks, N. (2009), “National Accounts of Well-being:
bringing real wealth onto the balance sheet”, London: New Economics Foundation (NEF)
NESC (2009) Well-being Matters: A Social Report for Ireland (vol 1), Dublin: NESC
Nussbaum, M. & Sen, A. (eds) (1993) The Quality of Life, Oxford: Clarendon Press
OECD (2001) The Well-Being of Nations: The Role of Human and Social Capital, Paris: OECD
Oswald A (1980) ‘Happiness and economic performance’ The Economic Journal 107:1815–1831.
Putnam, R.A. (2000) Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community, NY, NY: Simon Shuster
Ryan, R. & Deci, E.L. (2001) “On happiness and human potentials: A review of research on hedonic and
eudaimonic well-being” Annual Review of Psychology, vol 52: pp. 141-166
Stiglitz, J., Sen, A., Fitoussi, J-P. (2008), Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social
Progress (CMEPSP) Issues Paper,
Stiglitz, J., Sen., Fitoussi, J-P. (2009),
Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress,
White, A. (2007) “A Global Projection of Subjective Well-being: A Challenge To Positive Psychology?” Psychtalk,
vol 56, pp. 17-20
Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action
8 March 2013