Social Value Thailand, Social Value International and HKI-SIA to Offer SROI Workshops in Bangkok

Social Value Thailand, a new platform group for supporting Thai social impact practitioners, has joined Social Value International as its newest affiliation network in Asia. The group was launched with support provided by NISE Corp, a key player promoting the development of social enterprise in Thailand.

The first training event offered by the Thai network is a series of SROI Accreditation Training (June 5-6 & 9-10; English speaking) and SROI Practitioner Workshops (June 19-20 & 23-24; English and Thai speaking) to be offered by NISE Corp with the support of SVI and HKI-SIA. Jeremy Nicholls and Adam Richards of Social Value UK and Terence Yuen of HKI-SIA will serve as co-trainers for the accreditation training, while Terence will work with qualified trainers from NISE Corp to conduct the practitioner workshops.

For details of the events: June SROI events in Bangkok

About the SROI Accreditation Training

Social Return on Investment (SROI) is an internationally recognized framework for understanding, measuring and valuing social, economic and environmental outcomes. This two-day SROI practitioner training course is accredited by Social Value International and will equip you with a working knowledge of social value and SROI. The course will cover:

• The philosophy behind SROI and the seven principles of social value
• Practical exercises to understand, measure and value outcomes
• Real applications and examples to show how your organisation can use the principles of Social Value and SROI to increase your impact

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Social Impact Institute of Taiwan Became Full Member of Social Value International

In its meeting on April 25th, the Board of Social Value International approved the application by Social Impact Institute of Taiwan (台灣社會影響力研究院) to become a full member of Social Value International.

台灣社會影響力研究院
本會宗旨：本會以促進台灣社會影響力與社會價值之在地創新研究並與國際學術界建構交流網絡，以發展台灣在地實務應用框架與流程為宗旨，並配合國內經濟發展需要，結合學術界、產業界、第三部門與公部門的資源，以協同發展與合作為運作模式，從事有關發展和提升台灣社會影響力與社會價值之創新研究之學術和實務的質量與水平，透過積極探尋台灣多元社會議題的解決方案，來達到台灣永續發展為目的。

Earlier this month three delegates from the Taiwan Network attended the SVI annual conference in Istanbul. The group hosted a roundtable to share their experience in establishing a new member network and the challenges they faced.

In the above photo (from left to right) HKI-SIA Executive Director Terence Yuen had a photo opp with Alfred, Chiayuan and Tracy from Taiwan.

Summary Account of Social Impact Deliberations in Two Recent Social Enterprise Conferences

Two international events on social enterprise development – the Social Enterprise Summit and Social Enterprise World Forum – were held in Hong Kong during the International Philanthropy and Social Enterprise Week in September. A good number of conference sessions of the two meetings were devoted to addressing the topic of social value and social impact assessment.

Check out the following synthesized report (in Chinese) on relevant discussions on social impact measurement compiled by Social Enterprise Insights from Taiwan.

「社會影響力評估」的挑戰與因應方案

今年9月社企流來到香港「社企民間高峰會（Social Enterprise Summit）」與「社會企業世界論壇（Social Enterprise World Forum）」現場，為讀者帶來第一手的採訪與觀察！跟著我們從社企認證和評估、政府採購、以及創新案例等面向，一探全球的社企發展趨勢。（文：龍映涵）

文章節錄：
回顧在2016年「香港社企民間高峰會」與「社會企業世界論壇」中和社會影響力評估相關的講座，可大致歸納出幾個講者們共同提出的問題：

1. 執行門檻高，小組織難負荷
   熟悉一套適合組織的完整評估架構並不容易，除此之外，為了在過程中納入不同利害關係人的聲音，得花許多時間進行各方訪談驗證、資料蒐集和篩選；尤其在首次執行評估時，由於還在摸索階段，在沒有過往經驗支持的情況下，所需投入的時間和人力成本往往是最大的。因此，許多規模仍小的社會企業，不一定有足夠的人力和財力踏出執行社會影響力評估的第一步。
2. 工具複雜，選擇不易
   一般企業皆以獲取財務報酬為目標，從會計報表資訊衍伸出的各項指標，基本上是多數企業都認可的溝通語言。反觀社會企業，社會議題的多元和個別性使不同組織的目標通常相去甚遠，也因此，為了評估不同組織在特定目標上的達成度，出現了各式各樣的評估工具，有些聚焦在員工培力、有些重視社區經濟發展，有些在評估成效時也想同時幫助組織達到管理的目標等等。雖說做影響力評估時，在工具的選用上可說是「沒有最好，只有最合適」，但要在茫茫工具海中找出「最合適」的那個，對許多初探影響力評估領域的組織來說，會是不小的挑戰。
3. 成本高昂，效益未知
   影響力評估雖說對內可協助組織改善營運績效（improving），對外可作為和投資者與社會大眾溝通影響力的依據（proving），但實務上對組織的幫助有多大、與付出的成本相比是否合理仍是待解的問題。

要閱覽整篇文章，請按此連結

Inauguration of Taiwan Social Value and Impact Forum

The inaugural Taiwan Social Value and Impact Forum was held in Taipei City on May 30th.

Over one hundred participants gathered at the Eslite Performance Hall at Songshan Cultural Park to attend the full-day event. Overseas speakers joining the conference included Jeremy Nicholls from Social Value International, Ken Ito from SROI Japan, Terence Yuen from Hong Kong Institute of Social Impact Analysts, Albert Teo from National University of Singapore and Li Zhiyan from the China Roundtable Conference for Donors. The Mayor of Taipei Ko Wen-je also attended the conference and delivered a brief remark highlighting the importance social impact measurement in policy formulation and implementation.

Jeremy Nicholls delivered the keynote speech titled Accountancy Will Change the World which examined how advancement in and adoption of social value accounting could fundamentally change the ways investors and asset owners make capital allocation decisions and consequently lead humankind to begin to address, rather than continue to deepen, social inequalities and environmental degradation.

After the one-day policy forum, a SROI practitioner training workshop was organized in Taipei in the next two days, and the local practitioners are now contemplating the idea of establishing the new professional entity Social Value Taiwan to further promote social impact assessment across the public, social and corporate domains.

 

Public Seminar on Managing Social Value Creation & Collective Impact

HKI-SIA and Social Value International co-organized a public seminar in the afternoon of May 26th, titled Managing Social Value Creation and Collective Impact. Sponsored by the Xu Family Charitable Foundation, the seminar was a fringe event of the AVPN Conference and was attended by around 70 participants around two-third of which were from the government and social sectors, while the remaining participants were from impact investing and corporate sectors. The speakers and detailed programme of the event are listed at the end of this post (the speaker profiles could be found here.)

In the first part of the seminar, Professor David Weimer shared his experience in applying benefit-cost analysis as a decision-making model for guiding social policy planning and implementation in the US. Tony Luh and Terence Yuen then responded to Prof Weimer’s presentation in two different angles. Using cases in rural China, Tony offered vivid examples to show the importance of evidence-based impact evaluation for highlighting areas of overlooked service needs and how impact assessment could support policy advocacy and help arouse the awareness of policymakers at the national level. Terence shared SROI findings of the Ageing In Place initiative of the Hong Kong Housing Society implemented in 11 housing estates involving some two thousand elders. The local example again demonstrated the importance in applying social impact assessment in the planning and implementation of social policy.

The second part of seminar included four presentations. Ken Ito from Tokyo discussed latest policy developments in Japan in relation to social investment and social finance; in particular, three pilot cases of social impact bonds in the areas of recidivism, child adoption, and dementia prevention were introduced. Using a set of slides consisting of only emojis, Kelvin Cheung of UnLtd HK discussed how the start-up incubator would walk alongside the young entrepreneurs in their journey of entrepreneurial success, suggesting that impact communication plays an essential role in that journey. Jeremy Nicholls then discussed latest developments in the corporate world on impact measurement, with an emphasis on how CEOs and corporate boards have now moved to embed social impact assessment as an integral part of management decision-making to deliver value to all stakeholders. The last speaker Stephen Wong offered the overall concluding remarks reflecting on the worldwide movements as depicted by the other speakers while noting the increased level of awareness by think tanks and policy makers locally in Hong Kong.

*****

The public seminar Managing Social Value Creation and Collective Impact was delivered in two parts:

Part 1: Evidence-based Program Evaluation and Policy Intervention
David Weimer, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Tony Luh, Yifang Foundation (Beijing, China)
Terence Yuen, Hong Kong Institute of Social Impact Analysts
(Moderator, Jeremy Nicholls of Social Value International)

Part 2: Engendering Cross-sector Collaboration to Drive Collective Impact
Stephen Wong, Our Hong Kong Foundation
Ken Ito, The SROI Network Japan
Kelvin Cheung, UnLtd HK
Jeremy Nicholls, Social Value International
(Moderator, Terence Yuen of Hong Kong Institute of Social Impact Analysts)

 

New Report on Social Innovation and Social Impact Assessment

Our Hong Kong Foundation on March 31st released a new research report on social innovation. The report recommends the Government to fully support and promote social innovation, constructing an enabling environment for social innovators.

One key recommendation of the Foundation is for the Government to adopt a comprehensive strategy with social impact assessment (SIA). The report recommends the Government to implement SIA on policy formulation so as to advocate the concept of social outcome and encourage the use of SIA. In the meantime, the Government should raise the society’s awareness of social innovation by engaging business, increasing competition for social outcome and building capacity. Only with the support or even direct participation of the Government, businesses and NGOs in social innovation, Hong Kong could tackle complex social problems effectively.

Wong Yuen Shan Stephen, Head of Public Policy of Our Hong Kong Foundation who is also Vice-Chairman of HKI-SIA, will join as a panelist in the forthcoming Public Seminar on Managing Social Value Creation and Collective Impact on May 26th organized by the Institute. Stephen will share the key findings of the new research report and also share his thoughts on cross-sector collaboration and the notion of collective impact/creating shared value.

Click here for registration of the Public Seminar on May 26th
Click here for downloading the research report by Our Hong Kong Foundation

HKI-SIA Completed Two Research Studies Funded by SISE

Earlier in 2016 the Institute submitted two final research reports to the SISE (Funding Scheme for Studies/Projects on Social Impact of Social Enterprises) which was established by the Social Enterprise Advisory Committee (SEAC) under the Hong Kong Government Home Affairs Bureau. The two research projects are:

1. SROI and B Impact Assessment Comparative Study
The research team assessed the social impact of two social enterprises – Fullness Salon and Fullness Auto Repair – using both B Impact Assessment and Social Return on Investment. The research findings shed light on the complementarities as well as the strengths and weaknesses of these two major impact assessment tools in the context of small-scale work integration social enterprises. The report also addressed the notion of portfolio management in social investing and examined two impact management frameworks: the international Bridges IMPACT Radar and the locally developed SVhk IMPACT Framework.

2. Use of SROI as a Valuation Tool for Social Enterprise in DPO
The research aims to apply SROI as a enterprise valuation tool in a hypothetical Direct Public Offering (DPO) exercise for fund raising for a social enterprise. Social enterprises face the challenge to raise funds in the capital market, and it has the exceptional challenge to demonstrate its social impact in monetized terms for assessment by potential impact investors. Using SROI as a tool for corporate valuation, this research demonstrated how corporate valuation could be undertaken for a social enterprise and also produced a hypothetical DPO Prospectus for the capital raising. The research aims to broaden the scope of accounting for value for supporting the development of the social capital market.

On March 24th the Executive Director of HKI-SIA Terence Yuen presented the key findings of the DPO valuation research to the Social Enterprise Advisory Committee and shared views with the Committee members on how to promote social impact assessment in the Hong Kong context.

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Published SROI Guidance Report

Social Value UK member Professor Erik Bichard of University of Salford, who was a resident in Hong Kong in the 1990s and now a good friend of the Hong Kong SROI Network, has written a report for the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors on placing a value on social and environmental impacts of projects in the built environment.

Developing an Approach to Sustainable Return on Investment

The report develops an approach which places a value on the social and environmental impact of projects and applies these to the built environment.

The work uses Social Return on Investment and Ecosystem Services Analysis techniques in an integrated manner in the context of projects and programmes in Brazil, the USA and the UK. It uses this approach to define sustainable return on investment.

The research is directed towards built environment professionals in all sectors where evidence of social and environmental value is either demanded by a regulator or funder, or is likely to contribute to competitive advantage. It aims to collaborate with other disciplines in order to add value by developing new/future knowledge for society and practitioners.

The full report is available for download at: Developing an approach to Sustainable Return on Investment

Catch up on Critical Mass!

Critical Mass, the 2015 Annual Conference of Social Value International, took place in London on 19th and 20th October. Over 2 days at the Royal Institution, over 400 people gathered to talk about social value, social innovation and social enterprise; and how we can move our agenda into the mainstream.

As a member network of Social Value International, HKI-SIA CEO Terence Yuen attended the two-day conference, as well as a separate half-day gathering of SVI and Social Value UK members. A number of Oxford University undergraduate students from Hong Kong studying social entrepreneurship and impact investing also traveled to London to participate in the main conference.

To catch up with the discussions and conversations that were had, you can read articles based on some sessions, listen to a podcast interview with Jeremy Nicholls or search Twitter for the hashtag #criticalmass15.

Global Meeting on the Valuation of Social Outcomes Takes Place in Italy

HKI-SIA CEO Terence Yuen (back row, first left) was one of the 22 participants attending the
Valuing the Things that Matters workshop held at the Bellagio Center in Milano

Press release: Valuing the Things that Matter, Bellagio Center, Milano, 21 – 25 September 2015

On the 21st September, Social Value International (SVI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) convened a global meeting for experts in valuation of social outcomes. Taking place in the Bellagio Center on Lake Como and sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation, the meeting brought together 22 individuals from a range of sectors and countries to discuss how a variety of valuation techniques relate to each other and can be mapped and brought together with clearer guidance.

The meeting, entitled Valuing the Things that Matter, is part of a growing interest in the valuation of social outcomes. A crucial part of sustainability and impact reporting, valuation is the way in which different outcomes can be measured using the same scale. This process then means that choosing between different options or ways of doing things is more transparent and accountable. Most of the time, the valuation of outcomes is done using ‘gut instinct’, which results in non-transparent and incomparable judgements being made.

Derived from welfare economics, social research, statistical analysis and SROI, the valuation of social outcomes is a mixture of existing and new approaches.

Delegates brought expertise from around the world, including Australia, Hong Kong, Brazil, Canada, Singapore and India. Sectors represented included academia, philanthropic foundations, the UK Cabinet Office, accounting and financial consultants, multinational corporations and small social enterprises.

Over the three day meeting, delegates discussed the way that valuation techniques map onto each other, the relationship between valuation and audience and purpose, a way of selecting an approach and the assurance of valuations.

Jeremy Nicholls, CEO of Social Value International, said “this meeting has been a fantastic opportunity to bring a wide variety of expertise into one room to talk about this fascinating – and crucial – question of how to value social outcomes. We believe that this valuation process will be a key part of changing the way that organisations can be held to account. Everyone values things intuitively and on an everyday basis; making this process transparent will help organisations to increase the value that they create.”

Kitrhona Cerri, Manager of the WBCSD’s Redefining Value project, said “the conversations and discussions that have taken place over this week have been an incredibly useful way to develop our understanding of valuing social outcomes. For an area which has so much cross over between different sectors and has huge global implications, the chance to gain insights and agreement from a group of people with such diversity of backgrounds and expertise will go a long way towards improving and focusing our understanding.”

-ENDS-

About Social Value International

Social Value International is the global network focused on social impact and social value.

Our members share a common goal: to change the way society accounts for value.

All too often key decisions about resources and policies are made using a limited economic concept of value, which fails to consider important effects on people and the environment. As the gap between rich and poor increases and the effects of climate change become more apparent, our work has never been more urgent.

Social Value International works with our members to embed core principles for social value measurement and analysis, to refine and share practice, and to build a powerful movement of like-minded people to influence policy.

This pioneering community contains members from 45 countries, drawn from a huge range of different sectors and disciplines. Our goal at Social Value International is to support, connect, and represent our members through training, knowledge-sharing and networking.

Social Value International is much more than a professional network. Together, we are building a movement for change.

About WBCSD

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), a CEO-led organization of some 200 forward-thinking global companies, is committed to galvanizing the global business community to create a sustainable future for business, society and the environment. Together with its members, the council applies its respected thought leadership and effective advocacy to generate constructive solutions and take shared action. Leveraging its strong relationships with stakeholders as the leading advocate for business, the council helps drive debate and policy change in favor of sustainable development solutions.

The WBCSD provides a forum for its member companies – who represent all business sectors, all continents and a combined revenue of more than $7 trillion – to share best practices on sustainable development issues and to develop innovative tools that change the status quo. The council also benefits from a network of 65+ national and regional business councils and partner organizations, a majority of which are based in developing countries.

Press contacts

Helen Campbell, Communications and Membership Coordinator, Social Value International
helen.campbell@socialvalueint.org  | +44 (0)151 703 9229

Irge Aujouannet, Communications Manager, WBCSD
aujouannet@wbcsd.org  | +41 (0)22 839 3129