About

The SROI Primer has been designed to introduce how to measure social outputs, outcomes and impacts, and to use of the Social Return on Investment (SROI) approach to valuing some social impacts in monetary terms.

This web tool is the result of collaboration between London Business School and nef (new economics foundation), which was made possible with the financial support of The Social Enterprise Unit within the Small Business Service of the Department of Trade and Industry. Input into its development came from a broad range of contributors including Stephanie Robertson, GSVC Faculty Advisor (2002-2004), London Business School, and Jeremy Nicholls and Lisa Sanfilippo of nef. The final product benefited from the advice and guidance of Hetan Shah and Andrea Westall of nef, and Jessica Rafinski and Bernadette Bickerton of The Social Enterprise Unit. This project has been developed with support from the Social Enterprise Partnership (GB) Ltd. Quality & Impact Project, funded by the European Social Fund's Equal Programme.

This project was inspired by the students and competitors involved in the Global Social Venture Competition. As the GSVC has a global reach, the primer was designed to be accessible to entrants from around the world. A partnership was formed with nef as this educational tool is designed to complement nef's ongoing work on SROI in the UK. It is a 'first step' for social entrepreneurs, social enterprises and other organisations seeking to measure their social outputs and understand SROI as one method of measuring their social impacts.

To watch the primer click here.

Acknowledgments ¦ Collaborators ¦ Partner Organisations ¦ Case Studies

Collaborators

Stephanie Robertson

Stephanie Robertson's work in the areas of Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Entrepreneurship includes a range of consulting and educational activities. While at London Business School, Stephanie developed teaching tools that focused on the day-to-day management challenges of the corporate social responsibility business agenda. She was a catalyst of the Social Entrepreneurship Initiative and designed and taught the Social Entrepreneurship elective in 2002. She is an associate of The Corporate Citizenship Company, a consulting firm working with blue-chip companies seeking to manage their social performance in relation to core business goals. Her client experience ranges from setting up systems to manage social performance to assessing the impact of community programmes for both the business and the community partner. Stephanie has been a policy advisor to several Canadian federal ministers; co- founded a national non-profit for Canadian youth, and has several years of marketing experience. She is currently on the Board of Advisors of Escuela Nueva, an educational foundation in Colombia, has a BA from Trent University and an MBA from London Business School.

For more information, please contact Stephanie Robertson.

Jeremy's work covers a range of areas relating to value creation and accountablity. As well as working on SROI with nef, he is a founder and director of three other businesses. The Cat's Pyjamas runs programmes to help people to manage a double bottom line in their organisations. The Beta Model provides online reports on business trends and dynamics across the UK to help economic development professionals. His consultancy, Urban Strategy Associates, has recently been working on public procurement, business engagement in regeneration programmes and with small businesses on Corporate Social Responsibility. Previously he worked for Price Waterhouse Coopers and spent several years in Tanzania and Liberia. He is a chartered accountant and the Chair of AccountAbility.

For further information contact Jeremy Nicholls.

Lisa Sanfilippo leads the Social Enterprise Partnership (UK) Quality & Impact Project (2003-2005), which aims to provide social enterprises throughout the UK with the knowledge tools and resources to prove and improve their quality and impact. Through this project, nef will bring the SROI to a broad social economy audience throughout the UK. The project involves researching, developing and managing pilot projects and creating a 'toolkit' or 'road map' to the various methods of impact measurement and quality-building for the social enterprise / social economy sector, including social accounting, the social enterprise balanced scorecard, lm3, SROI and a host of other tools. Lisa co-leads nef's work on new ways of measuring, developing tools and frameworks for measuring progress for individuals, communities, economies, and society. Before joining nef, Lisa worked with several voluntary and social enterprise projects in New York City for six years, and has worked in the UK regeneration field. She specialises in working directly with diverse communities to develop effective solutions to various social and economic challenges. Lisa holds a BA in Sociology from Brown University and an MSc in Social Policy and Planning from the London School of Economics.

For further information contact Lisa Sanfilippo.

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Partner Organisations

London Business School

It is the vision of London Business School to be the pre-eminent global business school, nurturing talent and advancing knowledge in a multi-national, multi-cultural learning environment.

London Business School's mission is twofold:

• To provide our students with the knowledge, skills, attributes and networks - the global business capabilities - required for leadership and success in demanding careers in the global economy.
• To foster rigorous, relevant and innovative research on the dynamics of global business for students, business leaders and policy makers throughout the world.

nef is an independent think-and-do tank that inspires and demonstrates real economic well-being.

nef aims to improve quality of life by promoting innovative solutions that challenge mainstream thinking on economic, environment and social issues. They work in partnership and put people and the planet first.

nef is working to redefine the way we understand and measure progress: finding ways to make the invisible value of things which are essential to quality of life visible and measurable. nef's approach to impact measurement focuses on engaging people and building capacity.

Social Enterprises are businesses with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose, in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners. Social enterprises tackle a wide range of social and environmental issues and operate in all parts of the economy. By using business solutions to achieve public good, the government believes that social enterprises have a distinct and valuable role to play in helping create a strong, sustainable and socially inclusive economy.

The role of the Social Enterprise Unit (SEnU) is to:

• act as a focal point and co-ordinator for policy making affecting social enterprise
• promote and champion social enterprise
• take action needed to address barriers to growth of social enterprises
• identify and spread good practice.

The Global Social Venture Competition began in 1999 as a student-led initiative at the Haas School of Business. In May 2001, Columbia Business School and The Goldman Sachs Foundation partnered with Haas to extend the reach of the competition and help grow a national platform for social ventures. In June 2003, the London Business School joined the competition partnership.

The GSVC is open to anyone with an idea for a social venture, or to expand an existing venture. Each team must have at least one current MBA student closely involved. In 2004, nine finalists were chosen from a pool of 129 business plans, which were submitted from business schools in countries as diverse as Kenya, India, The Netherlands, Finland, France, Columbia, Canada, the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom. Information for this year's competition can be found at Global Social Venture Competition.

The Social Enterprise Partnership is a three-year collaboration that implements infrastructure and systems development, capacity building, research and development for the social enterprise sector in the UK. It is a collaboration among Co-operatives UK, the Development Trusts Association, nef (the new economics foundation), Social Enterprise Coalition, Social Enterprise London and Social Firms UK. The SEP is supported by the Social Economy theme of the European Social Fund EQUAL programme and by the Social Enterprise Unit of the UK Department for Trade and Industry's Small Business Service.

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Case Studies

Hill Holt Wood

In 1994 Nigel and Karen Lowthrop purchased a 34 acre deciduous woodland on the A46 between Lincoln and Newark with a dream of setting up a self-sustaining woodland that would be of benefit to the local community. Those who visit Hill Holt Wood and speak to staff, clients or visitors are aware of how well they have been able to turn that dream into reality.

In January 2002 Hill Holt Wood evolved into a community controlled, not for profit business, although the original aims are still the same. This means the communities, who surround and support the company, have elected representatives on the board of directors. Hill Holt Wood is a winner of Enterprising Solutions 2004.

"The most technologically advanced music venue in the world. The detail at every level is astounding. Sightlines are excellent, as are the acoustics. It is a magnificent feat of building and design." - Time Out

"London's best-looking new venue. In Hackney!" - The Face

Its difficult to imagine a more diverse part of the UK than Hackney and East London or a more perfect setting for a venue like Ocean. Couple that with being situated in an area with one of the highest concentrations of artists and musicians in Europe and one with high levels of social problems and you have a recipe for a dynamic music venue, showcasing an extremely diverse music programme that reflects the many cultures it serves, whilst providing one of the most comprehensive and innovative music education and training programmes in the UK.

Tomorrow's People is a specialist national charitable trust, with a 20-year track record of success in helping people out of long-term unemployment and welfare dependence. Tomorrow's People works in partnership to assist those of greatest need, such as ex-offenders, people with disabilities, lone parents, substance misusers and the long term unemployed, helping them find and keep a job. Since its inception in 1984 Tomorrow's People has helped in excess of 384,000 people.

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Web Tool Consultants

Moral Support

Moral Support is a multi media production company. They produce theatre, live arts and events as well as accessible online video tools for social enterprises. For the SROI Primer they supplied advice and expertise to communicate the needs of the SROI primer to it's international audience. Services included: video production, script development and online integration. For more information contact zoe@moralsupport.intranets.com. [Moral Support does not have a website]

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