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	Strategic Planning Framework		Strategic Capacity Diagnostic (SCD)
	Operational Capacity Diagnostic (OCD)		Program Logic and Performance Assessment (PLPA) Framework
	Social Return on Investment (SROI) Tool		Strategic Funding Framework
	Financial Management Tools

Social Return on Investment (SROI) Tool
SROI provides an estimate of the total financial value, including social value created by a non-profit and compares this to the investment required to generate these benefits.

The SROI methodology was originally developed by Stanford University and the Roberts Enterprise Development Fund in the US.  It is now widely used across the US, UK and Europe.  SVA began working with the tool and customising it to the Australian non-profit sector in 2002. Since then, the tool has been used with many of SVA’s ventures, the Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services, a range of Local Government’s investing in social enterprise as well as a number of Foundations. 

The tool:

• Estimates the financial benefits generated by an organisation (either through its commercial activity and/or activity relating to its social mission)
• Compares financial benefits created to investment required to generate these benefits. This return ratio tells us the extent to which the funds are being effectively leveraged.

For a non-profit organisation, estimating financial benefits can help by:

• Giving a more accurate picture of the total value the organisation creates
  
  • Non-profit organisations often find that their financial contribution to the community is undocumented and therefore unacknowledged
  • Quantitative data (unlike qualitative information) can be tracked over time and compared to other organisations
• Providing a powerful language in which to communicate outcomes
  
  • Hard, tangible results can capture the attention of important stakeholders
• Sharpening strategic focus
  
  • The SROI tool helps an organisation to separate those components which have a commercial output from those which primarily have a social output. This helps to clarify organisational strategic objectives, set targets in terms of profitability, and assists with decisions such as where to direct any surplus that may be generated.
• Enabling comparative analysis
  
  • The more data we have about the cost and impact of our work the better equipped we are to inform our funder’s investment decisions and compare ourselves to other programs and organisations.
  
  
  

 More Information

For additional details on Social Return on Investment, download and read this more comprehensive description.

Case Studies
Two organisations provide their story of using the SROI tool:

‘SROI provides the hard numbers that give us credibility beyond the qualitative stories of success’
Bill Lawson, Chair Beacon Foundation

 View the Beacon Foundation Case Study.

‘SROI confirmed that we are a business model, not a welfare model.’
Peter Cox, Eaglehawk Recovery & Sales Yard

 View the Eaglehawk Recovery and Sales Yard Case Study.

 Click here to learn more about SVA Workshops or SVA Consulting

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