- About the Social Value ROI Calculator
- Licensing information
- What do I need in order to use the Social Value ROI Calculator?
- Principles of the calculator
- Next steps for the calculator
- Disclaimer
- Register and download
About the Social Value ROI Calculator
The Social Value ROI Calculator is designed to help users with their social value calculations. It is designed for organisations that wish to:
- Plan the social value they intend to create,
- Measure and understand the social value they create,
- Manage and improve the social value they create.
The calculator helps with these things by supporting users to set up the necessary calculations, avoid errors, and to conduct more sophisticated analyses than is possible in many frameworks.
For example, the calculator makes it easier to measure the depth or magnitude of change, rather than just quantifying how many people benefit, by enabling the conversion of data from questionnaire scales into calculator-ready data. Furthermore, the built-in sensitivity analysis macro can significantly reduce the time taken to conduct a sensitivity analysis, making it more practical for users to understand how the data they collect is affecting the social value results. The calculator is intended to be used alongside the principles of social value, but it can also draw on other frameworks. If you are currently using a particular social value framework, or a particular set of outcomes, indicators, data sources and valuations, these can be included within the calculator.
The calculator can help you with:
- Data Collection: Identify the data that you need to collect
- A Forecast Social Value or SROI Calculation: Conduct a forecast social value or SROI calculation, based on the amount of change that you expect to create
- An Evaluative Social Value or SROI Calculation: Conduct an evaluative social value or SROI calculation, based on actual outcomes data that you have collected
To use the calculator, please read, understand, and agree to the licensing and disclaimer, and register as a user of the calculator. Registering as a user is free of charge.
Licensing information
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
To use the calculator, please read, understand, and agree to the disclaimer below, and register as a user of the calculator. Registering as a user is free of charge.
In addition, permission is granted for organisations to use the Social Value ROI Calculator for the measurement, analysis, monetisation, evaluation and communication of social value and ROI, including for commercial advantage, so long as it is correctly attributed. However, the calculator may not be resold as part of a commercial offering for the measurement, analysis, monetisation, evaluation or communication of social value and ROI.
What do I need in order to use the Social Value ROI Calculator?
In order to complete the social value ROI calculations, you will need:
- Details of Stakeholders: Details of the stakeholders who are affected by the organisation or project you are analysing, and the outcomes that they experience
- Data on Outcomes: Data on how many stakeholders are affected, and how much change they experience
- Data on Impact: Data on what would have happened anyway (deadweight), the attribution and displacement, and the extent to which the outcomes last into the future
- Data on Investment: Data on the investment into the organisation or project you are analysing – if you are planning an SROI analysis
For further guidance on these areas, we recommend reading the Guide to SROI.
Principles of the calculator
The Social Value ROI Calculator has a number of principles at its core:
- It is transparent: the way that social value is calculated is clear and transparent. It is also open to conversation, debate, and continuous improvement.
- It is flexible: not every organisation is seeking to measure the same outcomes, use the same indicators, or take the same approach to monetising outcomes. Users of the calculator are not limited to a pre-determined set of outcomes, measures, or monetisation approaches.
- It aligns with best practice: our work has always been aligned with the principles of social value, as set out by Social Value International. Users of the calculator can ensure their work aligns with these principles, as well as more recent best practice developments such as the UK Green Building Council’s Framework for defining social value.
- It is method-neutral: there are many different ways to measure and value your social value. We have our views on the strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches, but the calculator itself allows you to use whichever you prefer. Furthermore, while the calculator is framed around the SROI approach, it can also be used with other techniques such as cost-benefit analysis.
- It is comprehensive: our calculator goes further than any other in allowing people to adjust their calculations to reflect the reality of their work. This gives the user more options and means that more questions need to be asked. It also means that the result will be more robust and meaningful.
- It is accessible: we do not seek to place limits on who can use the calculator, or to lock people into a specific approach to social value.
Next steps for the calculator
We know that there is room for further development and improvement of the calculator. In the coming months we intend to do the following:
- Explore ways to make the calculator even more intuitive and user-friendly. This may include further guidance.
- Add further functionality to the calculator, increasing its possibilities and making the process of measuring social value easier and quicker.
- Link the calculator to other best practice. For example, in future versions we will provide examples of indicators and financial proxies that users may find helpful.
- Provide demonstrations of the calculator, and training its use.
We need your help to do this! Future versions will draw on feedback from users, so please share your experiences of using the calculator with us, and let us know how you think the calculator can be improved. You can contact us at info@envoypartnership.com.
Disclaimer
The calculator is still in testing stage. Further versions will be developed and made available in the future.
This spreadsheet is provided ‘as is’ without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of fitness for a purpose, or the warranty of non-infringement. Envoy Partnership makes no warranty that:
- The spreadsheet will meet your requirements.
- The spreadsheet will be uninterrupted, timely, secure or error-free.
- The results that may be obtained from the use of the spreadsheet will be effective, accurate or reliable.
- The quality of the spreadsheet will meet your expectations.
- Any errors in the spreadsheet will be corrected.
The spreadsheet could include technical or other mistakes or inaccuracies. Envoy Partnership may make changes to the spreadsheet or documentation made available on its website.
Envoy Partnership assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in the spreadsheet or documentation available from its website.
In no event shall Envoy partnership be liable to you or any third parties for any special, punitive, incidental, indirect or consequential damages of any kind, or any damages whatsoever, including, without limitation, those resulting from loss of use, data or profits, whether or not Envoy Partnership has been advised of the possibility of such damages, and on any theory of liability, arising out of or in connection with the use of this spreadsheet.
The use of the calculator is at your own discretion and risk and with agreement that you will be solely responsible for any damage to your computer system or loss of data that results from such activities. No advice or information, whether oral or written, obtained by you from Envoy Partnership or the Envoy Partnership web site shall create any warranty for the calculator.