Making the case through Social Value

Make more of what you’ve got!

Social value offers a way for public and private sector organisations to show the true impact of their work. Government agencies and others, more often now, see the benefit of considering social value when services are commissioned or assessed. Private and voluntary sector organisations need to improve delivery and report impact. We developed approaches to work with clients to identify, calculate and prove social value. We advise or give our clients the tools and understanding to collect good quality evidence in a cost-effective way. We apply the key principles of Social Return on Investment, recognised as best practice for social value accounting. Our clients find that working with us to measure social value delivers much more, providing a means of:

• achieving best value;
• building internal capacity;
• improving performance;
• directing resources more effectively;
• showing the difference that you make; and
• securing additional funds.

For a Plain English guide to Social Value then please refer to our guide that we put together for Social Value UK.

The Social Value Self-Assessment Tool

The basic Social Value Self-Assessment Tool is a free tool designed to help users judge how well they are measuring and reporting on their social value, in line with the Principles of Social Value. It was created by us in collaboration with Social Value UK. The tool is comprised of a seven-stage questionnaire, showing results as a spider chart illustrating areas of strength and areas for improvement. Why not try it out.

We have a more advanced tool that we have developed to move organisations forward. This will focus on themes and elements in more detail. We have a related consultancy service to embed social value within public sector organisations and understand the tools and approaches that people can use. We can provide services to clients based in the UK and overseas.