51. Issues in Using Social Return on Investment as An Evaluation Tool
- Author
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Bruce Gurd, Shaun Dennis, Kari Vallury, May Walker-Jeffreys, Lee Martinez, Kuda Muyambi, Pauline Beach, Muyambi, Kuda, Gurd, Bruce, Martinez, Lee, Walker-Jeffreys, May, Vallury, Kari, Beach, Pauline, and Dennis, Shaun
- Subjects
information services ,Finance ,cost effectiveness ,Sociology and Political Science ,Cost–benefit analysis ,business.industry ,05 social sciences ,beneficiaries ,Social benefits ,Social return on investment ,Development ,social policy ,0506 political science ,0502 economics and business ,050602 political science & public administration ,Business ,outcome assessment ,rate of return ,050203 business & management - Abstract
Social return on investment (SROI) is an approach built on cost benefit analysis and is used in the evaluation of projects with social benefits, as an alternative to cost benefit analysis and theory-based evaluation. This paper provides an analysis of SROI as an evaluation tool compared to theory-based evaluation, based on an evaluation of a community based mental health rehabilitation program in regional South Australia. The paper describes the process of constructing a SROI impact map and identifies the issues at each stage. Establishing the resources used, the activities and the outputs appears relatively straightforward. Arriving at an agreed theory of change is much more contested, even when using a high level of involvement of the service beneficiaries. The single greatest difficulty is to find the indicators and the financial proxies to value the outcomes. Outcomes such as improved wellbeing are difficult to value. It is particularly difficult to establish the level of outcomes immediately after or during an intervention. The paper concludes with an analysis of landscapes where SROI is unlikely to fit. Refereed/Peer-reviewed
- Published
- 2017