Network: Better Future of Social Economy
Final Conference
June 26th, 2012 - Brussels
Measuring social added value
A model for public authorities
Floriana Nappini
[e-mail: [email protected]]
Network: Better Future of Social Economy
The 5 Strands:
I-Public Procurement and Public-Private Partnerships
Lead by the Polish Ministry of Regional Development
II-Measuring Social Added Value
Lead by the Lombardy Region
III-State Aid and Social Services of General Interest
Lead by the Flanders ESF Agency
IV-Social Franchising
Lead by the Swedish ESF Council
V-Financial Instruments
Lead by the Czech Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs
Methodology

The research outline is based on two principles:
the importance of the
experience aspect
collecting as many
experiences as possible on
local, national and
international levels
the participatory approach
involving all stakeholders:
project partners, subjects
who in the future will use the
evaluation tool, but also
social enterprises that will be
the object of evaluation
It should lead to the implementation of a tool that is as close as possible to
the actual needs of the players involved and applicable to/in the everyday
life of organisations.
I. Attention to direct experience - Desk research

Survey of documents and site-bibliography: to identify sensitive areas
and aspects to be considered; approaches and models for quality and
social responsibility were examined.

Subsequently, the research has focused the analysis on:
International systems of quality evaluation (and particularly the ISO, SA8000
and EFQM rules)
 Evaluation systems promoted by EU projects within the last few years (e.g.
several projects under EQUAL Initiative)
 Experiences of social accounting developed in Italy and Europe during the last
twenty years.
 SROI models and tools
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II. Participatory Approach -Stakeholders
The following type of stakeholders have been involved:
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Project Partners
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Social enterprises
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Banks/Credit Institutions
These stakeholders were involved through a number of different tools:
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Questionnaires
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One-to-one interviews
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Focus groups
Main objectives and characteristics of the tool
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The general goal of the model is to measure the social value produced by
a social enterprise as a whole or by a specific project.

The primary goal of the system is to give funding entities, particularly
public bodies, a tool for evaluating the social value created by social
enterprises.
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Ex-ante evaluation of social impact
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Simple and easy to use
The tool for measuring social added value
The Measurement Tool elaborate consists of two main parts:
1.
2.
The first part is designed to "measure" the social value produced by the
social enterprise as a whole (based on Social accounting)
The second part is intended for evaluating mainly single projects (based
on SROI)
Each part could be applied at different levels of depth analysis, based on
the context (i.e. amount of the financial grant, size of the social
enterprise, etc..)
PART I- Evaluation of the overall social added value produced by the
enterprise – The dimensions

The system takes into considerations the following dimensions:
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Financial and economic soundness
Democracy and governance
Organizational functioning
Professional resources
Equal opportunities
Socio-occupational integration
Clients
Networks and partners
Project design and innovation abilities
Environmental sustainability
Services and interventions
PART I- Evaluation of the overall social added value produced by the
enterprise – The sub-dimensions
 Dimension: Socio-occupational integration

Sub-dimension: Effectiveness of job placements
INDICATOR
DEFINITION
Total job placements
Job placement cases of persons from
disadvantaged groups
________________________
Total workers
N. of drop-outs during the given year
Job placements drop-outs
________________________
Total n. of placements in the year

INDICATOR
DEFINITION
Placement tutor
Has a tutor been identified for each job
placement? (Yes/No)
Sub-dimension: Quality of job placements
Skills evaluation
Has a skills evaluatio plan been drafted?
(Yes/No)
PART II – Evaluation of the social added value produced by single projects
(SROI-Social Return On Investment)
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SROI is an analytic tool developed recently in the United States for
measuring and accounting for the social, economic and environmental
impact created by organisations.
This approach aims to reveal the value of changes experienced by
stakeholders whether those changes have been priced in market
transaction or not and helps identify which changes are significant. It uses
financial proxies to help reveal the value and as part of the process of
deciding which changes are significant.
It allows for the calculation of a benefit to cost ratio. A 3:1 ratio indicates
that an investment of 1€ delivers 3€ of social value.
Testing the tool
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Part I – Evaluation of the social added value produced by the enterprise
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Identifying a system of weights
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Benchmarking
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Building a specific software
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Modifying the evaluation system if necessary
Part II – Evaluation of the social added value produced by single projects
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SROI case-study on a real social inclusion project in Lombardy
Comparative analysis
Conclusions from the experience
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European Institutions
 Social value measurement tools could be a practice to be emphasised within
the Social Business Initiative promoted by the European Commission.
 The European Commission could promote social value as an EU horizontal
issue in Structural Funds implementation (similarly to equal opportunities,
environment etc.).
Conclusions from the experience
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ESF Managing Authorities and Public Authorities in general
 In addition to evaluation systems already used in ESF Operational
Programmes, Managing authorities could introduce elements of social added
value measurement. Such element introduced in ESF Operational Programmes
would be based on the specific regional and national needs.
 Managing Authorities and public authorities could invest resources from their
ESF Operational Programmes to fund training and capacity building so as to
endow public authorities with effective evaluation systems assessing social
value.
 The Commission proposal for the 2014-2020 ESF regulation states that “at
least 20% of the ESF allocation should be dedicated to promoting social
inclusion and combating poverty” (COM(2011) 607 fin/2). Managing
Authorities could use tools for measuring social added value to implement,
verify and demonstrate the effective implementation of such new rule
Conclusions from the experience
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Social Enterprises

Social enterprises can use social value measurement tools to improve the
quality and effectiveness of their services, to promote stakeholders’
engagement and to better communicate their business to public and private
investors.
THANK YOU!