In past posts you may have followed our research project with the BC Association of Farmers’ Markets to develop a Farmers’ Market Impact Toolkit.This toolkit was piloted with 9 farmers markets in the summer of 2012 in British Columbia (Canada) and a final version of the toolkit is posted here on our website.
Tracking impact measurement in social enterprises can come out of the basic process and system development that should naturally occur in any business. I recently advanced this notion in my presentation at the Social Enterprise World Forum last week, and have been thinking more about how this should be done. Here are some ideas.
I recently spoke with Michelle Strutzenberger, of Axiom News, about the state and future direction of impact measurement in anticipation of my participation in the panel 'Measuring and Demonstrating Impact' at the Social Enterprise World Forum taking place in Calgary October 2-4.
"There are known knowns; there are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns; that is to say, there are things that we now know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns - there are things we do not know we don't know."
-Former US of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld
When CBC’s Fifth Estate program launched Rate my Hospital last week, I couldn't help but immediately look up the grade of my hospital across the street. I felt smug that Eagle Ridge wasn't one of the Lower Mainland's batch of terribly ranked hospitals. But should I really sleep better?
Social change leaders hit the ground running: challenges come up, forks in the road present themselves, and their business models constantly evolve. Ideally, they have some good data on hand that can help with tough decisions, and that provide insights about social, environmental and financial bottom lines.
Keeping an eye on the right financial metrics can allow you to respond to issues before they spin out of control. Financial performance is a key part of the Demonstrating Value Framework.
Demonstrating Value is featured in Accounting for Social Value, a new book published by University of Toronto Press edited by Laurie Mook.
There’s added value in using multiple frameworks when completing an impact evaluation. SROI – an evaluation framework growing in popularity – expresses value in monetized terms, and is one such framework that can be used in conjunction with Demonstrating Value.
