Social Return on Investment (SROI) and Performance Measurement

Abstract

Social enterprises are being promoted as responsive and innovative way to deliver public services. As part of this promotion, these organizations are being required to demonstrate the social and economic value they generate. Social return on investment (SROI) is a performance measurement tool currently being encouraged to capture this impact. This paper draws on survey and interview data to analyse how SROI is used and understood in health and social care settings. It indicates that despite being accepted as an internationally recognized measurement tool for social enterprise, SROI is underused and undervalued due to practical and ideological barriers.

Developed-developing world partnerships for sustainable development (1): An ecosystem services perspective

“…The concept of social return on investment (SROI) arose in 2012 as a principlesbased method for measuring environmental, social and other forms of value not reflected in conventional financial accounts, relative to resources invested (Millar and Hall, 2012). These values can be positive or negative, influencing the overall 'return on investment' of a scheme.…”

The Role of Blended Value Accounting in the Evaluation of Socio-Economic Impact of Social Enterprises

“…Empirical research by Millar and Hall (2012) into British SEs operating in the health and social care sector show that -a vast majority of SEs already uses performance evaluation tools: -in about a third of the cases the tool used (because recommended by the public authorities) is SROI analysis; -a large majority prefers to use customized tools.…”

Measuring the Promise of Open Data: Development of the Impact Monitoring Framework

“…It explains in detail the steps involved ranging from stakeholder identification to mapping of outcomes and, finally, calculating and reporting. Further academic publications present a rather critical view of the methodology (Ryan and Lyne, 2008), pointing out challenges and limitations of SROI (Arvidson et al, 2010) and identifying practical challenges when conducting impact assessments with SROI (Millar and Hall, 2012). Despite the critique of the SROI approach results, most authors acknowledge the method to estimate the holistic value of not-for-profit activities.…”