On the evening of Thursday March 15th, 2012 you have the opportunity to learn how the Demonstrating Value  framework can help you show the value of your work to the community. “Know It and Show It” is the first in a series of social learning events for social entrepreneurs.

Are you a social entrepreneur, business consultant, or evaluation consultant? Do you want to connect with others and talk about using the Demonstrating Value framework for effective evaluation and communication of social impact? Join us on March 15th!

Learn more and register for Know it & Show it

seToolbelt.org is an open content resource hub that is committed to making free tools accessible to social entrepreneurs to help them plan, start, manage, and grow successful social enterprises. In this week’s seToolbelt Resource of the Week, Demonstrating Value is profiled. Take a look at this post to learn more about some key impact measurement tools developed by the Demonstrating Value initiative, including a Performance Snapshot webinar, the Organizational Sustainability Assessment Tool, and “Why You Matter”, a tool for mapping your social, environmental, and cultural impact.

The seToolbelt Resource of the Week is featured on Social Earth, a comprehensive news and information site for social entrepreneurs.

To read the latest Winter 2012 issue (and past issues), visit the newsletter archives.

In their December 2011 e-newsletter, NOWBC shared a story that came to them via Discovery Organics, a supplier held in high regard by NOWBC. In this story, Discover Organics describes to NOWBC customers the community impact of their fair trade purchases. This story is simple, yet effective, and serves as a great example of using narrative for showing impact.

When asked about NOWBC’s approach to storytelling as a means of communicating impact, Executive Director Kirsty Dick’s response vividly reflects the core values of the organization:

“Building community is very important to us and I think that is where the storytelling aspect comes in for us at NOWBC.  We send out our newsletter to a few hundred people every week and each week we try to tell a story.  We try to help our customers and members get to know the products and the people who make them.  If customers get to know the people who produce their food ,then it changes the way they think about it.  A carrot becomes more than just a carrot.  We all begin to understand what had to happen to get that carrot into our hands and we come to understand it in a really meaningful way.  Telling a story is a way to really get through to people – facts and figures just don’t seem as important as the real people behind those facts and figures.”

Why would an organization choose narrative for showing impact? While NOWBC does understand the importance of presenting and analyzing facts and figures – something that they certainly focus on in preparation for annual general meetings and at the Board level – it appears that they have found a balance between quantitative and qualitative in their approach to demonstrating impact. Kirsty Dick’s thoughts sum it up nicely:

“I think that we, although I don’t think it has been a conscious choice, always default to a storytelling aspect because of who we are.  I think it is about connecting with each other and with our producers around a common goal.”

Take a look at this excerpt from the NOWBC e-newsletter, and you will see how a story can go a long way when it comes to demonstrating the impact that your work has had in the community near and far:

How our farmers spent your fair trade dollars

“For the last 2 years, you have paid a little extra for bananas, apples, pears, kiwi, passion fruit, blueberries, mangos, avocados and grapefruit.  Your purchases of Fair Trade produce have guaranteed literally thousands of farm families a secure and reasonable income – and for many of them it’s the first time in their lives.  You have also, through your purchases over the past 2 years, provided for social projects all throughout the Americas, funded by Fair Trade Social Premiums, included in the price you pay.

You’ve built a Summer School in Salitral, brought potable water to a remote village in central Mexico, and an elementary school in Peru. You paid for elders to learn to write Spanish in Piura, and specialized teachers to work with mentally challenged children in Tambo Grande in Peru and Michoacan in Mexico.  You have helped support a first-of-its-kind micro-finance system for 1200 farm families and workers, in one of the poorest areas of South America in Sullana, Peru, operated jointly by a banana and a mango cooperative.  You have funded new remote medical centers in both Peru and Argentina. You have paid to rebuild or replace homes for farm workers in earthquake stricken Concepcion, Chile, and 100 more through a special earthquake fund you supported 20 months ago.

So from the bottom of our hearts, a huge thank you, for your support, and believing in what we are so passionate about.  All the best for 2012!”

(excerpt from “How our farmers spent your fair trade dollars”, Discovery Organics, featured in New at NOWBC e-newsletter, December 16, 2011)

In early 2011, John Kania and Mark Kramer published an article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review entitled “Collective Impact”. This article received rave reviews. As the concept of collective impact percolated in the minds of readers, the authors were faced with an outpouring of responses and interest. In short, people liked this approach to collaboration and its ability to significantly address widespread social problems. When it came to social progress, collective impact seemed to emerge as the answer.

Kania and Kramer recently collaborated with Fay Hanleybrown to publish a follow-up article: Channeling Change: Making Collective Impact Work. The goal of this article is to provide more depth and guidance on how to put the collective impact principles into practice and emphasizes the increased relevance of the concept given the economic and social realities of today. The article builds on the point that collective impact is not just an elegant name for collaboration; rather, it is “…a fundamentally different, more disciplined, and higher performing approach to achieving large-scale social impact.” Another interesting revelation emerges in the article, highlighting that “[e]ven the attempt to use these ideas seems to stimulate renewed energy and optimism”.

Taking readers on a journey exploring what it takes for collective impact to succeed, the authors discuss important elements such as the preconditions for collective impact, the phases of bringing collective impact to life, and the value (and complexities) of shared measurement systems. Here, the article refers to the collective impact and shared measurement efforts of the Calgary Homeless Foundation as an example of how a system can align for significant impact (see Demonstrating Value blog post Shared Measurement and the Calgary Homeless Foundation). Structural elements critical to the longevity of a collective impact approach are also discussed, emphasizing the importance of a “backbone organization” and “cascading levels of linked collaboration”.   

The article concludes with some reflection on the intangible benefits of collective impact, illustrating how hope and optimism can arise from these efforts as belief in an improved future is sparked and sustained.

“[W]e believe that there is no other way society will achieve large-scale progress against the urgent and complex problems of our time, unless a collective impact approach becomes the accepted way of doing business.”   - Fay Hanleybrown, John Kania, & Mark Kramer, “Channeling Change: Making Collective Impact Work.” Stanford Social Innovation Review Blog. January 26, 2012.

January 31st and February 7th, 2012 (10:00 - 11:30 AM)

Are you concerned about the future sustainability of your programs and services? This three-hour webinar (conveniently split into two 90 minute segments one-week apart) will delve into the issue, as you learn what factors can increase the sustainability odds of your program and how to develop a formal sustainability plan. 

Registration: $75 plus HST Register here

Interested in this topic but unable to participate in the webinar? Visit the Community Solutions website for an assortment of resources, including 34 Factors Promoting the Sustainability of Programs.

Click here to read the blog post on frogloop.com.

For more information on digital engagement through stories (including links to free tools), visit TechSoup Global’s Digital Storytelling section.

Social Capital Partners: Our Approach

In Part 1 of “10 Ways to Show Your Impact”, we discussed five things you can do to show your value including: 1) be as clear as possible in describing your vision, mission, and strategies, 2) describe what differentiates you, 3) describe and show evidence of the value you create from the perspective of all your stakeholders, 4) tell your story and the stories of those you work with, and 5) create a map of how you are influencing change. Here in Part 2, we will show you five more ways you can express your impact as a community-based organization. While Part 1 focused more on qualitative measures, the tips in Part 2 will take a different spin on things with a greater focus on quantitative measures.

6.       Quantify what you can. Quantifying is all about pulling together indicators and doing analysis around them. Quantitative (numerical) indicators can provide a firm “backbone” for assertions about how you create value. One of the best things about measurement is that it allows you to confirm and give confidence to observations and can also provide counter-intuitive insight that opens up whole new perspectives. What is the best way to communicate indicators? Indicators should be shown in a way that provides insight about performance – for instance, shown as part of a trend, against some kind of target, or against a benchmark. They should also be complemented by information that can help the reader interpret them correctly. If you’re interested in learning more about indicators, check out the Why you Matter tool and Monitoring Ideas Library on the Demonstrating Value website!

7.       Calculate your impact. Indicators alone do not show impact. Rather, they give glimpses into the work that you are doing (your activities) and changes that are occurring in the field you’re working in (“outcomes”). Showing these “glimpses” can be useful in itself, but you may also be interested in explicitly defining your impact. This means making the connection between the two – your activities and the outcome you observe – to show how you are creating long-term, large-scale, sustainable benefits. While this may be desirable to show, making this connection can be challenging  because: 1) other factors could also be contributing to the outcomes, 2) change will continue to happen after your “intervention”, or 3) some change may have occurred without your intervention.

Keeping these challenges in mind, there are several options you could follow to define your impact:

1. You can describe your “sphere of influence” over the outcome. For instance, how your contribution fit in with others working in the same area.
2. You can make a quantitative estimate of your “sphere of influence” and subtract it from your measure of the outcome. By this, you are defining your “attribution.” This includes estimating what may have happened without your intervention (a baseline) and separating out other factors.

In some cases, your influence may be quite direct over the outcome and it may be relatively straightforward to define your attribution. In other cases, you may be working in an area where it is difficult to tease out your influence, and it is valuable to describe how you are working with others to contribute collectively to an outcome.

8.       Monetize what you can. Expressing the value of a community-based organization’s activities as a dollar figure can appeal to audiences who focus on the financial bottom line of an investment. Several methods have sought to develop dollar estimates for social and environmental value and to incorporate them into certain ratios that express value creation. This includes “Social Return on Investment” (SROI) analysis, and “Expanded Value Added Statements” (EVAS). We must remember that putting dollar figures on social value is challenging. It is not possible to do this for all types of social value, and where it is possible, it may be difficult to collect (or access) data to support this. Another way to show social enterprise value as a dollar figure is to develop an estimate of the economic benefits of your activities within a particular community (a method known as “Local Economic Impact”).

9.       Calculate a Social Return on Investment. The Roberts Enterprise Development Fund (REDF) developed social return on investment (SROI) analysis to place a dollar value on social enterprises in its portfolio. This method has since been applied and adapted by others, including the Social Venture Technology Group in the U.S., the New Economics Foundation in the U.K., and Social Capital Partners in Toronto. In Canada, the SROI Canada Network serves as a hub for social value creators, evaluators, and investors and provides tools and resources for expressing social return on investment.

The SROI method develops a “social-purpose value” that represents the social benefits of an enterprise’s work. This is then incorporated into metrics that parallel business investment metrics (the Return on Investment Ratio). This ratio can be shown separately (e.g. as a social return on investment) or can be combined with business return on investment to yield “blended” ratios.

The “social-purpose value” can be estimated in different ways, though in practice it is mainly calculated from an estimate of the changes in public (taxpayer) costs that may be realized by the activities of the social enterprise.

The following resources are helpful for learning more about SROI:

• Peter Scholten, Jeremy Nicholls, Sara Olsen and Brett Galimidi. Social Return on Investment: A guide to SROI analysis. Available by contacting SVT Group.
• Prove and Improve: SROI
• London Business School, SROI Primer
• Social Capital Partners, SROI and Performance Measurement  
• REDF, SROI Collection

10.   Calculate an Expanded Value Statement (EVAS). The Expanded Value Added Statement is another way of incorporating an estimate of “social value” into traditional accounting. It has been developed by Laurie Mook, co-director of the Social Economy Centre of the University of Toronto. The EVAS is based on a conventional accounting statement called the Value Added Statement, which measures the wealth that an organization creates by adding value to raw materials, products, and services through the use of labour and capital. In the EVAS, the statement is modified to include social and environmental items. Like SROI, quantifying and placing a value on social (and environmental benefits) can be done using different methods.

For more information about this method, consult the following resources:

• Quarter, Jack, Laurie Mook & Betty Jane Richmond. What Counts: Social accounting for Nonprofits and Cooperatives. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2003.
• A Social Accounting Framework for Cooperatives: The Expanded Value Added Statement

By starting simple and gradually working your way along the ‘path’ of showing your impact, it is possible to express your organization’s value with a well-strategized combination of tools and tactics. Give it a try! By using both the qualitative measures outlined in Part 1 and the quantitative measures in Part 2, your organization can equip itself with the appropriate tools and approaches to successfully measure and show your impact in the community.

So what are community-based organizations to do? How can they express this value to others and get the recognition they deserve? Well, the bad news first:  there is no simple and commonly recognized way to measure and show this value.  The good news: there are many things that you can do that can show your value! With a thoughtful, well-strategized combination of tools and tactics, organizations can successfully measure and describe the value they are creating in their communities. But remember, taking the steps to show your impact as an organization is best described as a ‘path’ – start simple and gradually build up, and you will eventually find yourself strongly expressing all facets of the value you create.

Take a look! Here are the first five things you can do to show your value. You will notice that these five tips focus primarily on qualitative measures, emphasizing descriptions based on a quality or characteristic.

1)      Be as clear as possible in describing your vision, mission and strategies. People support you because they value both your vision and the activities you’re doing towards that vision. Think about how your vision and mission motivates others to support you and motivates your own organization. Ask for specific feedback from your members/customers about what your mission and vision mean to them so you can know if your message is getting across clearly.

2)      Describe what differentiates you.  If you are a social enterprise, brainstorm the ways that you add value when compared with a business that isn’t a social enterprise, or with a program that isn’t a business. What do you do differently? What are you trying out that’s never been tried before? You can make your case stronger by describing evidence to support what you’re saying. 

3)      Describe and show evidence of the value you create from the perspective of all your stakeholders. Reporting indicators to stakeholders can be a concise way to express value. This approach of using indicators to demonstrate value is optimized when you and your stakeholders collectively identify indicators that you will report on. Everybody who is involved – all of your stakeholders – should see these indicators as important and feasible to portray. These should also be indicators that are important for you to monitor internally, and which also reflect standard indicators in your field (where possible).

4)      Tell your story and the stories of those you work with. Don’t discount the power of storytelling! Even if you ‘measure’ and calculate a number, this may be meaningful for only a few – but, a story will reach all.  Telling a story doesn’t mean that you aren’t rigorous or business-like. Decision-makers in many fields, including business and government, turn to ‘non-quantitative methods’ (i.e. stories), because of the limitation of numbers. There are a number of resources for using story effectively, including the following publications:

• Community Foundations of Canada. The Storied Organization: Communicating Value, Inviting Caring, Celebrating Success. Discussion Paper, Storytelling In Voluntary Sector, Ottawa: Community Foundations of Canada, 2002.
• Rick Davies and Jess Dart. The Most Significant Change (MSC) Technique: A Guide to Its Use. April 2005. http://www.mande.co.uk/docs/MSCGuide.pdf
  (MSC is a technique to collect and systematically choose stories to understand impact. The guide is developed for international development projects).

5)      Create a map of how you are influencing change. Impact mapping is a valuable exercise and tool for planning, guiding what you monitor, and expressing your value as a community-based organization. It helps you define your social, environmental, and/or cultural mission in more detail and really understand the impact and outcomes your work has in the community.

“How can I start mapping?”, you may ask…

A great first step is the “Why You Matter” Impact Mapping Worksheet featured on the Demonstrating Value website. You can use this worksheet to:

1. Describe the activities you do to make a difference, and what the difference looks like.
2. Explore methods you can use to map out connections between your activities and what you want to accomplish with your mission.

In this worksheet you will also find templates for three different mapping methods, including logic models, outcome mapping, and theory of change. Happy mapping!

(Stay tuned for five more ways to show your impact in our post next week.)

In their blog, Genuine Evaluation, Patricia Rogers and Jane Davidson share their enthusiasm for evaluation with weekly posts that reflect their commitment to improving the quality of evaluation. Blogging from Australia and New Zealand, Patricia and Jane employ an international approach from a distinctly Southern Hemisphere perspective.

An intriguing feature of the blog is the everyday language and practicality with which thoughts and ideas are expressed. Guest bloggers are also invited to contribute, adding a fresh burst of thinking from experienced and insightful evaluators from around the world.

Recent blog posts have discussed what’s new and exciting in evaluation and have also continued to enhance the collection of Friday Funnys. Take a look for yourself, and soak in these ideas and conversations on evaluation – an important element of tracking and expressing your success!