B Lab partners with Social Value International to help companies measure and improve their impact

Today, B Lab and Social Value International announced a co-ordinated effort to help companies improve how they measure and assess their accountability, transparency and social and environmental performance. This partnership brings together two of the biggest organisations in impact measurement in a joint effort to encourage all companies to measure their impact with as much rigor as they do their profits. (See the full press release.)

Established in December 2013, HKI-SIA is an affiliated member of Social Value International.

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“Better Isn’t Good Enough”

Why does the way in which we think of, manage and create social value lack the same drive and unapologetic hunger that exists in the creation of financial value?

Jeremy Nicholls, CEO of The SROI Network International, explains why we must optimize social value in a new article at the Pioneers Post.

HKI-SIA Delivered Professional Seminar at St. James’ Settlement

(January 14th) Today HKI-SIA CEO Terence Yuen delivered a guest lecture at the professional grade staff meeting of the Hong Kong social service agency St. James’ Settlement (SJS). The title of the talk is “Beyond External Reporting: Impact Assessment as Decision Supporting Tool for Service Improvement” (社會影響評估：從交待服務成效到持續提升服務質素). The seminar was attended by over one hundred professional and managerial grade staff of SJS.

Making the argument that social impact assessment is most useful for social service organizations in support of their internal management decisions, the seminar examined the limitations of conventional charity evaluation, and presented different scenarios where difficult service design and resource allocation decisions could be aided by the use of information on social value of services through impact assessment framework such as SROI. Rather than seeing impact evaluation as primarily meant for external reporting or as one-off consultancy exercises, it was argued that a social value mentality should be incorporated and embedded in the Management Information System of any service organization for the purpose of continuous service improvement and enhancing service accountability to stakeholders.

In addition to delivering the lecture, Terence earlier also wrote an article for the January 2015 issue of the community development newsletter《社區生活誌》of SJS, commenting on the applicability of SROI for assessing the impact of community development work.

See article: 社區發展的社會投資回報   如何量度？應否量度？ (Chinese version only)

SROI: Myths and Challenges

In a short article published on the Dec 2014 issue of the CSR Times, HKI-SIA Chief Executive Terence Yuen reviews some common misunderstandings and biases on SROI among the local practitioners.

There are in fact quite a lot of misunderstandings on SROI, as detailed in an earlier review report released by The SROI Network International.

SROI is often perceived as a cost-benefit ratio or as just “another” impact evaluation tool, but it is best described as a holistic framework comprising a set of generally accepted principles for guiding the professional practice of social impact measurement.

See article: SROI的謬誤與偏見 (Chinese version only)

Big Questions in Social Impact Assessment

What are the big questions in social impact assessment? In an article titled “9 questions that SIA needs to answer“, HKI-SIA Chief Executive Terence Yuen examines the most fundamental issues that need to be addressed by social impact assessment, and how these issues are related to the principles of SROI.

See article: 社會影響評估要回答的九個問題 (Chinese version only)

People, Power, and Accountability

“Any approach to measuring social impact that doesn’t include a transfer of power to stakeholders is just marketing,” argues Jeremy Nicholls, CEO of SROI Network International.

See Jeremy’s new article on the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

Investment – The Ethical Perspective

SROI-International CEO Jeremy Nicholls in a new article that appeared on the website of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland argues that “It is time we prepared accounts for the needs of a moral investor.” And he explains how it could be done in the article.

An abbreviated version of this article appears in the June 2014 issue of The CA magazine.

See full article

HKI-SIA Message on HK Economic Journal

Today (May 7th) a full page advertisement is placed on page A9 of Hong Kong Economic Journal, announcing the establishment of the Hong Kong Institute of Social Impact Analysts. Key messages from board members and supporters of the Institute were given on the print advertisement.

See image of the print ad here (Chinese only)

Measuring Blended Value

Tracking social return on investment is more complicated than measuring financial return. How do impact investors do it? B Lab Project Officer and HKI-SIA Advisor Phoebe Leung addresses the related issues in an article published on ShelterForce: The Voice of Community Development

See article: Measuring Blended Value.