The Accounting for Social Value Framework has been developed for Community Ventures to measure, calculate and report the Social Value created in the communities that they have supported to develop.

Community Ventures believe that Social Value is the added value of community development, the relationships built through trusted networks can achieve positive change for all stakeholders involved.

Mission

Our mission is to celebrate the value that communities can give to society, accounting for Social Value in the communities that we work helps to realise the true value of community assets, enables communities to value themselves and gives a robust evidence base of the Social Return on Investment that communities can achieve.

Vision

Our vision is that communities can understand and communicate their Social Value in order to lever social investment so that sustainable and independent communities emerge for future generations.

Values

  • Stakeholders within the community decide what matters to them.
  • Committed to active listening, building relationships and trust.
  • To be open, honest and accountable within our social accounting process.
  • To provide continued communication and feedback.
  • To maximise opportunities for the communities in which we work.

Guiding Principles

  • To include all stakeholders within the community, engaging with at least 80% of stakeholder groups and ensuring legitimacy in the engagement process.
  • To demonstrate transparency and confidence in the data collection methods used to collect and analyse data.
  • To demonstrate that the decision-making process is clear and non-subjective.
  • To demonstrate the journey from output – outcome – impact – value without losing the integrity of data.
  • Enables the demonstration of financial, non-financial and local value within the community.
  • Accounting for Social Value demonstrates Community Ventures strategic and operational commitment to embed Social Value into our organisations development, growth and continuous reporting.

Our Objectives

Accounting for Social Value will:

  • Enable the collection of information and data that will influence how services need to be developed to support communities to thrive.
  • Unlock the potential within communities so that they can support themselves.
  • Develop a database of community assets so that communities can share learning and share resources as a fair exchange.
  • Provide learning opportunities and skills development so that communities can measure and communicate their own Social Value, lever social investment and prove their Social Return on Investment.

 

The Accounting for Social Value Process

 

Plan It

This is the very start of the journey where Community Ventures will commence their work within a community of action.  During this process Community Ventures will undertake a stakeholder mapping exercise to understand the direct, indirect and wider stakeholders that will be involved in the initial stages of community development.  Representatives from each stakeholder group are invited to a ‘Prepare It’ event.

Prepare It

It is essential that all stakeholders within the community understand the Accounting for Social Value process.  The Prepare It session will:

  • Raise awareness of Social Value within the Community.
  • Prepare stakeholders for the Accounting for Social Value Process.
  • Provide a question and answers sessions relating to the Accounting for Social Value process.

Value It

Through a connected event which brings representatives of all stakeholder groups together, Community Ventures will facilitate the discussion of key issues within the community, identify the priorities for each stakeholder within community, develop and map the changes required within the community and develop a Social Value Pledge.  A social Value Pledge sets out Key Value Indicators as benchmarks in which the Accounting for Social Value process will use to understand what has changed throughout the community development process.

Key Value Indicators should represent multi-agency issues relating to health and wellbeing, education, employment, environment, housing, crime and the local economy.

At this stage, Community Ventures are mapping stakeholder’s views against the Key Value Indicators chosen prior to the community development process, this indicates the start of the change journey.

Prove It

This process happens at the end of Community Ventures involvement in community development and focuses on stakeholder engagement to undertake primary research (against the Key Value Indicators) to provide both quantitative and qualitative outcome and impact.  The ‘Prove it’ process works with the existing stakeholder groups to map further stakeholders within the community, develop suitable methods of engagement, design relevant questions that can capture the Theory of Change (in theory what has changed as a result of MCM’s interventions within the community).  In this stage Community Ventures will ask stakeholders:

  • What has the stakeholder witnessed or experienced as part of Community Ventures community development process?
  • What has changed in the stakeholder’s behaviour as a result of their involvement with Community Ventures?
  • What are they doing differently as a result of this change?
  • How often has this change been witnessed/experienced?

Calculate It

Calculate it, focuses on how to analyse and interpret the information gathered from the stakeholder engagement sessions and provide guidance of how the outcome, indicators and the impact turn into value for stakeholders.

MCM will use blended Social Accounting methods to calculate social value:

  • Social Return on Investment: Measures the benefit to the state and the cost savings of proactive or reactive support, it provides a ration. i.e. for every £1 invested, there is £XX in social benefit.
  • Local Multiplier Effect: Measures the benefit to the local economy.
  • SAA: This tells the story of the non-tangible effect of the change process for individuals through case studies.
  • Trust: This measures the effect of Trust on the impact of achieving social value.

Report It

Creating and developing innovative methods of communicating a Social Value Report is vital to develop a positive and equal relationship, developing new networks, supporting income generation, proving the worth of the community’s assets and helping the community to be proud of themselves.

A comprehensive report can exceed 50 pages including statistics, case studies, methodology and supporting documentation.  In addition to the written report, Community Ventures will also use infographics, video clips, audio and visual recordings to ensure that key features of the report are easily accessible.

Prior to publication, the Social Value Report will be verified by HACT who then assess our completed Value Calculator to check we have applied the Social Value Bank correctly. If the criteria are met each social value account then will receive HACT Certification.