The SROI Network Intl.

How Has SROI Helped Me?

"Using SROI to analyse and review has been a great confidence booster to the club. Just having this new knowledge, knowing that what is provided collectively has a real value, and is already is making a difference in putting forward a case for support and funding. This gives a worthwhile model and credible road map for others to follow." Bob Reid, North Lanarkshire Quad and Scramble Bike Club

"When we started the process it was to show our partners the economic value of the project in a way they would easily understand. This has been done but we have received so much more information which allows us to further develop and support the project and all those involved with it." Vivienne McNiven, Bums off Seats

"Collectively these [SROI] studies provide powerful evidence that investing in greenspace represents good value for money - and that's becoming increasingly important in these very challenging times. We've shown that relatively small investments lever very real benefits in terms of preventative spend, with community greenspaces delivering big returns by improving people's health and wellbeing; building confidence and skills; reducing anti-social behaviour and creating safer, stronger and more vibrant communities." Julie Procter, Chief Executive, Greenspace Scotland

"It's been a great opportunity for the Friends of Sunnybank Park to try and test the SROI approach on a real initiative - our Community Events Programme. It has proved the real value for Aberdonians of the social outcomes associated with greenspace activities. It has forced us to focus our thinking and helped us to identify exactly where we can and do have our biggest social impact for the individuals and community we work with. It has also improved our own skills as a management group, helped with making new and solidifying our existing relationships with our key partner organisations, and will help us to better access and target funding." Sinclair Laing, Friends of Sunnybank Park

"The SROI project is proving invaluable to us. We are expected to be able to put a monetary value on the work we do. However, due to the nature of the service we provide and the groups and individuals we serve, it was always difficult for us to show this. Now thanks to the SROI programme we are able to do this. We are also finding that being involved with greenspace scotland and the SROI programme has enabled us to present a more professional case, which has assisted us in achieving funding." Helen Trainor, Gorbals Healthy Living Network

"SROI has helped St Bartholomew's House (West Australian Homeless provider) to apply its resources only to those activities which truly make a positive difference to its clients. It has provided a solid foundation for the boards strategic planning and has challenged many of the assumptions of its supporters and staff." Tom Tolchard, Project Director, Social Innovation In Western Australia

"Being able to quantify the value of the changes that a project has brought about can be hugely beneficial in planning future projects, in engaging support and, most crucially, in securing funding. Our first commercial SROI project has been very successful and we look forward to working with a range of organisations from the private, public and social sectors over the coming months." Lucy Day, SROI Co-ordinator, Liverpool John Moores University

"The SROI assessment day was a unique experience that enabled the stakeholders of the Access Enterprise programme to look at the journey they had been on and place a value on the changes that they had been through. This was invaluable and we will be able to use this [SROI] information in our marketing strategy to funders and other key stakeholders." Joe Hemington, Merseyside Expanding Horizons (MEH) Network

 "SROI has helped to communicate the value of our work to our myriad of stakeholders, in a language that everyone understands." Goodwin Development Trust

“Completing an SROI analysis for Viewpoint has been enormously helpful in proving the social impact we have, in particular demonstrating to clients the benefits to them and to wider society of working with us.The model is easy to understand and has helped set us apart from our competitors.” - Alistair Ponton, Managing Director, Viewpoint Research CiC

"This [SROI] study has been much awaited and the message it brings is powerful. We can now conclude Solvatten has gained such a high level of user acceptance because it brings multiple benefits, both heating and purifying water in a cost efficient way. For many the heated water has been the principal driver for the daily use, thereby bringing health back to the community." Solvatten AB

"We were delighted to fund this research. This [SROI report] will help us to better understand the social benefits that urban nature sites provide for local communities. For example, the report showed that outdoor activities provided in a community woodland improved health, increased social capacity and helped people with long term mental health problems find new skills. The analysis provides a way of putting a financial value on the social benefits of different outdoor activities." - Chris Nevin, Greenspace and CSGN Manager, Scottish Natural Heritage

"The secret to think3e's massive success is because of the work we do with SROI and how it is involved with every strategic decision we make." - Trevor Lynn, Think3e

 "As a social enterprise, CREATE provides long term social benefits by helping vulnerable people transition into work through work experience, skills training and volunteering opportunities. We were already using the P & L and financial accounts to measure our businesses and assess how successful they are and now, by using SROI, we can do the same with our social objectives. SROI has already shown us ways we can improve: it provides a great way of making sure that we manage our businesses to deliver the maximum social impact." - Sarah Dunwell, Chief Executive Officer, The CREATE Foundation CiC

The nature of my work is to provide support to voluntary and community organisations in bidding for funds, contracts and developing social enterprise ideas. I spend a lot of time helping organisations understand what outcomes are and how to evidence them - so SROI is invaluable as an approach." - Diane Sheppard

"Using SROI to explore the value of our online question and answer service, askTheSite, helped us develop new mechanisms for speaking to young people and gain a real insight into the impact of our work. The project enabled us to demonstrate YouthNet's commitment to robust impact measurement as well as our commercial approach to project evaluation. Perhaps most importantly, being able to assign a monetary value to askTheSite has enabled YouthNet to convey to current and potential funders how valuable the service is for both young people and the wider society in a language that they understand" - Sarah McCoy, YouthNet

"The work [on SROI] will be of great help to us. it means we can make a strong case to investors, and have a sound planning & evaluation tool going forward. I think it will be really important for us to follow this up again in a couple of years. it is one of our core tools for measuring and sustaining success." - Alex Shead, Chief Executive, Fair Business

"The SVA team brought expertise on the SROI methodology and established this SROI as a core tool for us to measure our impact. They asked hard questions about real outcomes for each stakeholder group and formed trusted relationships with Vision Australia staff and executive" - David Speyer, GM Corporate Service, Vision Australia

"The core business of Noaber is to create social return, through grants and social investments. Measuring impact accurately is therefore crucial to our success, and SROI enables us to assess all relevant aspects. We have integrated SROI in our business processes of screening, monitoring and evaluating projects. Supported by the social e-valuator webtool, the method helps the team to really involve (potential) projects in analyzing and improving the social business case. Identifying the key stakeholders and social value drivers improves the quality of the decision making and monitoring process. In conclusion, SROI helps us and our investees to focus on the factors that are significant in achieving the positive change that is aimed for." - Jan Olde Loohuis- Investment Analyst

"I see SROI as Impact plus- what I mean is that SROI brings a process and framework to demonstrating improved whole system impact by showing the results of our work in terms of both human outcomes and financial cost allowing us to set out how we really do deliver more or less! We are just about to open a new complex and chaotic needs service- and we are going to SROI it from day one." - Martin Kinsella, P3 Charity

Read 'Third Sector Offender Mental Health Services Operating In the West Midlands'

"For FRC Group using SROI has been a fascinating process which has fine tuned our understanding of the impacts that are achieved as we improve our performance, and exposed areas in which we can do more." - Verity Timmins, Impact Manager, FRC Group

"Bulky Bob's won the contract not only on the quality of the tender submission and value for money but also on the additional social and environmental benefits they bring to Liverpool and its residents. We were very impressed with their creative ideas and passion and crucially with the strength of the information they could provide to demonstrate that what they do really makes an impact" - Keith Cadman, Partnership & Contracts Manager, Liverpool City Council.

"Local greenspaces make a real difference to the quality of life of people and communities. We know that many groups have a powerful story to tell about their greenspace project but the social, economic and environmental value of the impact being made is all too often underplayed and undervalued. We are delighted that this award from the Big Lottery Fund will enable us to deliver a groundbreaking programme that will address the imbalance and allow us to capture and communicate the real value of community greenspace projects" - Julie Procter, Chief Executive of greenspace scotland

"At Impact Arts we have embraced SROI as one of our central evaluation tools, which complements our existing evaluation practice very well. SROI has clear benefits for our organisation in terms of our future funding and business development activities, as well as focusing our day to day practice on where and how we add value." - Susan Akternel, Innovation and Development Director, Impact Arts

"SROI has helped us develop an ongoing relationship with our stakeholders which shows that we are listening to their needs and we can now report on how our work impacts on their lives and the lives of others." - Maeve Monaghan, Director, NOW Project

"Our departmental researchers necessarily tend to focus very much on the costs and benefits in terms of 'pure' costs of prisons or community sentences. Through using SROI in our work on women offenders and women at risk of offending- women who are often primary carers too- it vividly illustrates the broader costs that need to be considered within and beyond the department." - Liz Hogarth, Criminal Justice Women's Strategy Unit, Ministry of Justice

“SROI was important for BTCV (British Trust for Conservation Volunteers) to evaluate its services and develop its case for investment. We now better understand the real value to society of ' green volunteering’, ie reduced crime, vandalism, increased leisure use of the space, and creation of ' green ' jobs. We are confident about the overall value of our offer, and the importance of external validation of our claims. We have commenced work in partnership with Defra and the New Economics Foundation on pro environmental behaviour. The Public Spending review will underpin the urgency of these investments for front line delivery NGO's” - Tom Flood, BTCV

"SROI has turned out to be an unlikely but very useful form of client engagement. Discussing the outcomes of the interventions with clients, and the effect of these on peoples' lives, is a very motivating and humbling experience and we shall be using this approach in the future" - Valarie Graham, Central Surrey Health"

"Social Return on Investment analysis provides concrete justification for industry partners and government funders who wish to support our organization's efforts to help women achieve economic security through recruitment, assessment, training, job placement and job retention support. It is tangible evidence of money well spent." - JudyLynn Archer, President & CEO, Women Building Futures