Measure, Manage and Maximise Your Impact
A Guide for the Social Economy
Social impact measurement and management is a particularly helpful practice for social economy entities to understand their contribution to society and potentially improve the achievement of their mission. Impact areas that are particularly important for the social economy, such as economic prosperity and employment, social inclusion and well-being and community, are often the hardest to translate into quantitative metrics. Current social impact measurement and management practices are largely shaped by funders and for-profits with limited focus on the social economy. This guide offers a simple, straightforward approach for social economy entities to measure, manage and ultimately maximise their impact, and to prioritise the use of findings for strategic organisational learning and improvement.
Executive summary
Social impact measurement and management helps social economy entities to understand and demonstrate their contribution to society while providing valuable information to achieve their social mission. Impact evidence is also used to diversify sources of funding and financing, tap into public and private markets and communicate transparently with internal and external stakeholders. Social economy entities differentiate themselves from conventional businesses by focusing on three founding principles: they place people and purpose (social or environmental) over capital, they espouse participatory governance, and they reinvest profits (if any) to the benefit of members, users or society at large. These defining features bear important consequences and advantages for social impact measurement and management practice.
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