If you are struggling to measure value, trying to demonstrate the value of your services and programs, or wanting to undertake meaningful evaluations then Social Value – Made Real © is for you!
Developed by our UK Partners, JB Eventus, our Social Value evaluation and assessment framework, Social Value – Made Real © has been tailored by TCCT to the Australian context. Social Value – Made Real © is an easy to follow, 4-stage framework that supports services, programs, organisations and funders to measure Social, Economic and Environmental value through Real Context-Real Measures-Real Stories-Real Value.
Social Value – Made Real © can be used for:
- Performance management process
- Monitoring and evaluation frameworks
- Setting up a funding/contracting strategy and/or prospectus for single or multiple activities
- Developing an organisation or service strategy
- Evaluation of existing services or programs of activity. Yes, Social Value – Made Real © can be applied retrospectively!
Social Value – Made Real © aims to make monitoring and evaluation simple, rewarding and motivating as well as provide meaningful reports.
Social Value thinks beyond the price of an activity and takes account of the benefit to individuals and the wider community. It also requires an assessment of the financial and environmental benefits.
There are many definitions of social value incorporating social capital and citizenship. Our aim is to ensure that definitions used are understandable, that social value makes sense and supports the development of clear outcomes and reports.
Social Value-Made Real © has 10 key performance measures that assess Social, Economic and Environmental Indicators, which are:
- Choice and Being in Control – assess independence and being involved in decisions that affect peoples lives
- Being Active – assess the access to community, recreation and sporting activities and opportunities to maintain active lives.
- Health and well being – assesses a wide range of measures, which are related specifically to stakeholders, such as reduction in mental ill health
- Being Connected and Building Relationships – assesses both personal and community connections and opportunities for engagement
- Learning and development – assesses the ongoing learning and development of individuals and groups
- Employment opportunities and status – assesses people’s sense of well being, and can include personal finance, work placements, volunteering support, job readiness
- Value for money – assesses the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery assisting delivery organisations who may not have the systems in place and need to meaningfully measure value for money well.
- Added value – is our phrase to describe those non financial benefits services often bring as a result of the way they deliver what they do, through skills, culture and community connectedness
- Preventative (early interventions) value – looks at the potential or real preventions that occur through service delivery, such as strategies to reduce isolation or improve social connectedness that may have longer term health and well being outcomes, such as reduced GP visits through improved exercise group activities. (Effectively looking at savings made to the State and Federal systems)
- Environmental Value – The scale of environmental value will vary according to the size and type of service and for this reason we have not predetermined what should or should not be included. We would expect that something like a large infrastructure project would have more environmental indicators than a small service delivery support to individuals. Indicators could include carbon footprint, recycling initiatives and transport use..
We aim to support change in the way funders, service delivery organisations and their staff and volunteers feel about monitoring and evaluation.
Social Value-Made Real © is used to help individuals and organisations feel as passionate as we do about demonstrating value and to de-stress practice through providing tools/skills to save time and resources to create reports that:
- focus on bringing to life the experience and voice of service users • evaluate social, economic and environmental impacts • are concise and accessible • celebrate and demonstrate the difference achieved
Using the 10 Social Value – Made Real Indicators
The 10 Social Value-Made Real © indicators provide a consistent framework for funders or service providers to establish meaningful measures. This enables the best and most relevant data to be collected and provides the framework for analysis, evaluation and reporting including:
- Outputs
- Quality Performance Measures
- Outcomes
- Change and impact
We can provide tools for funders to assist in developing funding frameworks to enable comparisons and reporting across different programs, services or departments where contracting occurs, or for service delivery organisations where tools are created for your social value measures together with data and reporting requirements.
See an example report here.