How can you compare social impact frameworks?

1 What are social impact frameworks?

Social impact frameworks are sets of principles, indicators, methods, and standards that guide how you define, measure, analyze, and report your social impact. They can help you clarify your goals, align your activities with your intended outcomes, collect relevant data, assess your performance, and communicate your results to your stakeholders. There are many different social impact frameworks available, each with its own strengths, limitations, and suitability for different contexts and sectors.

2 Why compare social impact frameworks?

Comparing social impact frameworks can help you understand the similarities and differences between them, and how they relate to your specific needs and expectations. By comparing frameworks, you can identify the ones that match your mission, vision, values, and objectives, as well as the ones that are relevant and credible for your target audience and sector. Comparing frameworks can also help you avoid duplication, confusion, and inconsistency in your measurement and reporting practices, and ensure that you use the most appropriate and effective framework for your purpose.

3 How to compare social impact frameworks?

When evaluating different social impact frameworks, there is no one-size-fits-all approach, but there are some common aspects and criteria to consider. These include scope, which looks at the focus and coverage of the framework, as well as its applicability to a specific sector, issue, or geography. Additionally, you should examine the framework's theory of change and how it defines and links inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes, and impacts of your work. Furthermore, indicators used to measure and demonstrate your impact should be relevant, meaningful, and measurable for your context and objectives. Additionally, you should consider the methods used to collect, analyze, and report your data as well as any standards that the framework follows or sets for measurement and reporting practices. All of these factors should be aligned with best practices and expectations of your sector and stakeholders to ensure quality, credibility, and accountability of your impact.

4 Examples of social impact frameworks

To illustrate how you can compare social impact frameworks, here are some examples of well-known and widely used frameworks in different fields and sectors. Social Return on Investment (SROI) is a framework that quantifies and monetizes the social, environmental, and economic value of your impact compared to the cost of your inputs. This helps to demonstrate the return on investment of your work and how you create value for stakeholders and society. Theory of Change (ToC) articulates and illustrates the causal pathways and assumptions behind your impact to clarify logic models, test hypotheses, and identify indicators and data sources. Impact Management Project (IMP) provides a common language and approach to measure and manage your impact across different dimensions, such as who, what, how much, contribution, and risk. It helps align impact goals with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and compare performance with other organizations. Lastly, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) sets standards and guidelines for reporting social, environmental, and economic impact based on principles of materiality, stakeholder inclusiveness, sustainability context, and completeness. This helps communicate impact in a transparent, consistent, and comparable way to meet expectations of investors, regulators, and customers.

5 How to choose the best social impact framework for you?

When choosing the best social impact framework for your organization, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. You should consider the main objective of measuring and reporting your impact, the needs and expectations of your stakeholders, the resources and capacities you have or need, the balance between simplicity and complexity, and how to adapt and evolve your framework over time. By comparing different frameworks based on these criteria, you can find one that suits your purpose and context best, helping you measure and communicate your impact effectively and efficiently.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?