What are the social impact challenges and how can you identify them for your organization?

1 What are social impact challenges?

Social impact challenges are the problems or issues that an organization needs to solve or prevent in order to achieve its social impact goals. These challenges can be internal or external and vary depending on the sector, size, and scope of the organization. Examples include reducing the environmental footprint of operations and products, ensuring the health, safety, and well-being of employees and stakeholders, promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion within the value chain, supporting social and economic development of communities served by the organization, and addressing ethical and human rights implications of decisions and actions.

2 How to identify social impact challenges?

Identifying social impact challenges requires a systematic and holistic approach that takes into account the organization's vision, mission, values, and strategy, as well as the needs and expectations of its stakeholders. To do so, you should conduct a stakeholder analysis to identify those affected by or interested in your organization's activities, as well as their concerns and priorities. You should also perform a materiality assessment to determine which social impact issues are most relevant and significant for your organization and your stakeholders. Additionally, mapping your social impact value chain can help you understand how your organization creates, delivers, and captures social value, and where potential risks and opportunities for improvement lie. Benchmarking your social impact performance against peers, competitors, and best practices can help identify gaps and areas for improvement. Finally, setting SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) social impact objectives and indicators that align with your organization's strategy and stakeholder expectations is essential.

3 How to address social impact challenges?

Addressing social impact challenges requires a collaborative and innovative approach that leverages an organization's resources, capabilities, and partnerships. To do this, you should develop a social impact strategy that defines your vision, mission, goals, and actions. Additionally, you should implement a social impact management system that establishes policies, procedures, roles, and responsibilities for planning and executing activities. Engaging stakeholders in a continuous dialogue is also essential to communicate your social impact efforts and involve them in decision-making processes. Furthermore, innovating your solutions with design thinking, lean startup, and social entrepreneurship principles can help you experiment and iterate your initiatives. Finally, you should measure and report your results by collecting reliable data and information using standardized frameworks such as the Social Return on Investment (SROI) or the Impact Management Project (IMP).

4 How to benefit from addressing social impact challenges?

Addressing social impact challenges can bring numerous advantages to your organization, such as enhancing your reputation and brand value, improving performance and competitiveness, strengthening culture and capacity, and contributing to the global goals and agenda. By demonstrating commitment to social good, building trust with stakeholders, reducing costs and risks, increasing efficiency and quality, creating new markets and opportunities, fostering a sense of purpose and pride, attracting and retaining talent, developing new skills and competencies, and aligning with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, your organization can benefit in many ways.

5 How to learn more about social impact challenges?

If you're looking to gain further understanding of social impact challenges and how to identify and address them for your organization, there are a variety of options available. You can explore the online courses and resources offered by reputable platforms and organizations, such as Coursera, edX, or the Social Impact Academy. Alternatively, you can join the online communities and networks that connect and support social impact practitioners and learners, such as the Social Impact Exchange, the Impact Hub, or the Global Impact Network. Additionally, attending events and conferences that showcase and discuss the latest trends and best practices in social impact, such as the Social Innovation Summit, the Skoll World Forum, or the Impact Summit is another great way to learn more.

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?