Mental health is a huge part of our daily lives with research from the Mental Health Foundation showing that two thirds of us experience a mental health problem in our lifetimes. In fact it was impossible not to notice #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek this month. We have been inspired to focus this month's newsletter on social value through the lens of mental health,
with the opportunity to bring you all the news of the crucial work being done by SVUK members, and our wider network. With so much activity across the network this is our most full newsletter this year, so do keep going to the end to find some exciting opportunities.
Have you taken the free Zero Suicide Training?
The Zero Suicide Prevention training was launched in the House of Commons in November, by Mersey Care Suicide Prevention. It is their goal to have 1 million people complete their free awareness training, and to cut suicides in Merseyside to zero.
The 20 minute long training was co produced by people with lived experience (principles of social value in action) and is an entirely free, no strings attached, evidence based resource for anyone who wants to know how to have a life saving conversation. This really should be taken by everyone so please take it and promote it.
News from Social Value UK
New social value help for councils: Ten questions council scrutiny can ask about social value
Public services are facing a common challenge – how to spend public money in ways that meet society’s needs and deliver better outcomes for people and communities, not just for now but for future generations. Tim Gilling, Director of Centre for Public Scrutiny (CfPS), discusses this common challenge in the Social Value Matters guide covering the 10 impact questions that can be asked to make sure that social value is at the heart of effective decision-making. The guide has been produced by CfPS in collaboration with Social Value UK. Five years on from the Public Services (Social Value) Act,
which set a legal requirement on public bodies to consider economic, environmental and social benefits when procuring services, the time is right highlight the importance of social value in delivering the best outcomes possible within increasingly scarce resources for people who use public services. If you want more detail on how to embed the 10 questions into your planning and delivery cycle you can read The Maximise Your Impact guide. Published in October 2017, the guide is the output of a two-year cooperation by four organisations – Estonian Social Enterprise Network, Koç University Social
Impact Forum, Mikado Sustainable Development Consulting and Social Value UK. The key to this approach is ‘Impact Thinking’ and at its heart this means involving and being accountable to stakeholders, primarily those affected by your activities. But how do you do ‘it’? To join the growing body of organisations across the public, private and civil society sectors who recognise the need to use your understanding of the impact of your activities to drive decision making. To make the most value for your stakeholders you can join our expert team for this interactive online training
programme. You will learn how to practically embed ‘impact thinking’ into your organisation's activities and make a real difference to your stakeholders lives.
New course to help you embed the Social Value Principles. Delivered online with 5 weeks of feedback, support & interactive workshops
Join the growing number of organisations that recognise the importance of accounting for social value.
Work with experts to develop the skills and systems you need to measure, manage and maximise the impact of your work. This is your opportunity to apply your learning to your own organisation and receive feedback each week that helps you create a complete system for maximising social value. Read more and book online.
Mears are SVUK organisational members
It is a huge success for Social Value UK to have Mears join as organisational members. Mears are bringing the social value principles to life in their work as housing management and maintenance services to the affordable housing sector, providing personal care to over 15,000 elderly and disabled people. We previously featured their Women in Trades campaign to promote and attract women into the trades. Read more about their exciting work.
NPC renew SVUK organisational membership
“We are excited to be working with SVUK on the Impact Management Programme to help charities and social enterprises in England improve their impact practice. We have also just published a report about our work with KL Felicitas Foundation looking at the social impact of their impact investing portfolio. We are hoping to work more closely with SVUK on impact management support for charities and social enterprises around the UK.” Read more.
Community Action Wirral join SVUK as organisational members
We are so pleased that Community Action Wirral have joined SVUK as organisational members. Keelan Early, Head of Service at Community Action Wirral, “Social Value UK are the leading force in measuring social value and the social return on investment. We are excited to be joining at a time when the social economy is being placed at the forefront of Liverpool City Region’s growth.” Community Action Wirral are uniquely placed to provide an overview and insight into the third sector in Wirral. As well as offering practical support to groups getting started or already established, they are also the conduit between the third sector and the public and private sectors. Read more.
New digital tool for SMEs to understand the value of apprenticeships & work-based learning
Working with partners from 7 European nations the tool seeks to calculate the return on investment of such practices, with SVUK supporting the inclusion of social costs and benefits alongside the more traditional financial concerns. Read more.
A social value approach in Salford thanks to Salford CVS
Salford’s Social Value Alliance is asking organisations across all sectors to look at what they are doing already in terms of the benefits they provide to the city and to consider how their work relates to 3 thematic areas: people, planet, prosperity. Read the blog by Deb Drinkwater from Salford CVS.
Don't miss the 3S: Manage for Impact Conference
3S: Manage for Impact is an inspirational and interactive two-day event focused on impact management. The first of the Stone Soup Recipes for Impact series, this conference will bring us beyond measurement to more effective management of the impact we seek to create. It is the first event of its kind in Europe to unite best practice and collaborative learning.
When & Where?
In beautiful Barcelona on 27-28th September 2018 At ESADE Business School
Why?
Impact metrics and methodologies are under constant discussion; it is time to move from simply measuring impact to managing it. Impact is the ability to set objectives and measure the changes you generate. Management is actually using the data you collect from your measurement to actively optimize and improve your performance to achieve greater social impact.
Who for?
3S: Manage for Impact is an inclusive event designed for any organisation working within and/or financing the impact economy: social purpose organisations, social enterprises and non-profit of all sizes, impact investors, venture philanthropists, financial institutions, corporates & CSR teams, public administrations, service providers and academics.
Conference goals:
1. Increase the capacity of actors in the impact economy to improve their value through efficient and effective impact management strategies.
2. Strengthen the impact community across Europe (and beyond).
3. Improve the value chain of impact across organistions and countries.
Your comments are needed on Social Value Principle Four 'Only include what is material'
For those of you who are Social Value International members through membership of Social Value UK, you are part of the process of setting the standards for the Social Value Principles.
You get first access to all guidance and standards for review, and we welcome your comments, questions and feedback which we will then compile, consider and report on after the review period has ended.
Social Value International have been working on the next draft of the standard for applying Social Value Principle Four 'Only include what is material'. This is part of the wider ongoing project to set standards for all of the Principles of Social Value. The standard is published on the Social Value International website. We would really appreciate it if you would take the time to read through the 'Standard for Applying Principle Four' and give us your feedback. The review period will be open for 1 month until June 24th 2018. Submit feedback by contacting Catherine Manning on catherine.manning@socialvalueint.org.
How business can measure the impact - and ROI - of corporate sustainability
Innovation Forum, 19 & 20 June, London.
This two day conference will provide business delegates with the latest tools and techniques for understanding, measuring and communicating the impact of sustainability programs. The emphasis will remain on how business can use these insights to drive strategy, justify budgets and communicate work effectively. You can see full details in the conference brochure here. Some of the issues covered include: • Understanding impact: How can business measure and communicate social and environmental impact effectively? • ROI in action: In-depth corporate case studies on how companies can attribute a clear and quantifiable return from sustainability programs • The investor perspective: What do they want to hear about company performance and how do they want to hear it? • Data that drives decisions: How the right data systems and frameworks can drive innovation and strategy within sustainability departments • Science based targets: Can companies bring together economics, expert stakeholders and science based targets to drive strategy and improve
performance? Join Social Value UK and others including BASF, Unilever, Nokia, Pukka Herbs, Maersk, Diageo, MARS, Syngenta, Kering, The World Bank, Amazon, Aviva Investors, Cargill, Philips, Hermes Investment Management, Neste, The Crown Estate, The Natural Capital Coalition, Novartis, Aberdeen Asset Management, UNPRI, Shell Foundation and many more for an exciting and informative two days of debate, discussion and solutions. *Watch out for the SVUK member discount code coming soon.*
Networking opportunity for entrepreneurs in the Midlands
Join the Hub Club & Social Value UK members for casual Friday networking. End your week with a dose of positivity, meeting others with similar goals and potentially the means to help you move forward. Friday 1 June 2018
4.00pm - 6.00pm
The Enterprise Hub, Coventry University
5 Whitefriars Street
Coventry
CV1 2DS
The Hub Club is for entrepreneurs at all stages of their ventures. Bring any existing challenges to your business that require a solution. You will have the chance to speak to everyone there to see if anyone can help you or knows someone who can. You will meet people who have similar goals to you, who have taken steps to account for their social value and actively do more of it. You will discuss challenges and successes, and make some contacts that will help you build your confidence on your social value journey.
Learn from your peers how to enact the socially responsible goals you had in mind but were not sure how to bring to life. Bring problems, meet others, find solutions, leave inspired!
Not to be missed: Social investment in affordable and quality long term care, Sprint Conference.
The SPRINT consortium is inviting policy makers, researchers, care providers and other key stakeholders, to discuss the challenges associated with the application of the concept of social investment to the provision and resourcing of long-term care.
The EU faces a major challenge: How can it deliver the new social right to affordable long-term care of good quality as its working-age population shrinks and the share of those of retirement age expands? Long-term care is a long-term issue: Eurostat projects that by 2080 those aged 65 and older will account for 29.1% of the population (compared with 19.2% now) and the share of those aged 80 and older will more than double (from 5.4% to 12.7%). Social investment has been a strategic policy response to new social risks. What does this approach have to offer for tackling this challenge? This is an opportunity to hear and share new ideas and to network with others interested in this issue. Thursday 7 June, 3.00pm - 6.45pm
European Parliament, Brussels.
The new Impact Management Project website! The Impact Management Project also developed an impact management tool specifically for mental health charities. It provides guidance, activities to develop an outcomes framework, and signposting to other relevant resources. It was reviewed by a group of mental health charities including Mind, Mosaic Clubhouse, Rethink Mental Illness and Maytree. This blog by Leanne Bennett from NPC about whether or not charities and others are doing enough to raise the level of understanding of the less common, more complex, mental health conditions. We are also reading Adrian Ashton's blog about how social impact reports sometimes tell us more about ourselves, than about the changes we've created for others. HACT and Simetrica's
ground-breaking research that revealed it is possible to break down the value of various stages in assessing mental health, linking the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale to wellbeing valuation. Housing associations, charities, councils and contractors help thousands of people to better mental health. It is now possible for them to understand and measure these improvements with the valuations.
The latest news from Social Value UK members
- 'All things resilience' conference, Mytholmroyd, 22 June 2018
The devastating flooding of 2015 caused destruction, long-term economic damage and personal trauma to the community of the Calder Valley. This event will explore the practicalities and spirit of being a resilient business community in the wake of the floods. The conference is of particular interest to us because Mandy Barnett, board member at SVUK, is looking into social impact of community resilience projects in the UK. We are in the process of setting up a working group on socially led resilience. Context of the Socially led resilience Working Group
There is an emerging trend where society seeks a personal or community response to challenges, as public services lack money, and our most innovative agencies are moving from co-production to social productivity. This was evident in February 2018 as communities supported each other through the snow and storms, but it's also about individuals having more say over their own lives. Evaluating in this context is especially hard, as it is more difficult to reach the people we need to speak to, and once we've reached them the complexities of attributing impact create more challenge. If you are interested in being part of the working group please contact Catherine Manning.
- Finance for the Future awards, enter by 15 June 2018.
Whether you are a charity, social enterprise, SME or FTSE-listed business, the Finance for the Future Awards are open to all organisations based in the UK or internationally. Gain recognition for your organisation and finance function as leaders in business sustainability. Entering the awards represents the perfect opportunity to raise your profile and be publically recognised for your innovative approach.
- Contribute your experience on selecting a data management system.
Substance are looking to add to and freshen up the wider guidance that exists on the selection of data management systems. Such decisions can be both exciting and daunting. Exciting for the benefits they might bring but daunting on the basis of the disruption they might cause and the fear of making the wrong choice!
- There is of course some guidance out there already but at Inspiring Impact we believe there is nothing better than sharing knowledge and insight straight from the horse’s mouth. As such, we are very keen to speak to Impact Champions who themselves have experiences to share or who could put us in touch with those with recent experience from across their networks. We want to gather bite size insights and experiences that we can present alongside existing guidance to help bring it to life.
- If you think you have something valuable to share and could spare 15 minutes to talk to us, or put us in touch with organisations who would discuss any aspect of the process of data management system procurement. From the decision to do it, consultation, planning, selection, through to implementation and insight - we would be extremely grateful.
- Please contact Lauren Ford, Operations Manager on lauren.ford@substance.net.
- NCVO Charities Evaluation Services is looking for a small charity* to run through the Measuring Up! for small organisations toolkit with. We can offer this to one group but there is a request! We will be writing a blog about using MUp! and we would ask you to share your thoughts and reflections on this and therefore you would be co-writing the blog. We need to do this in the month of May/early June as we would like to publish the blog during Small
Charities Week.
- If you are a London-based organisation, it may be possible to run the session in person. If not, we could do it via webinar technology or Skype. The average time it takes to run the session is two hours. We would suggest running it with a mixture of staff, trustees and any others who are interested but it is also possible to run it with just a couple of organisation representatives.
- If this is something you would be interested in, email Sarah Menzies on sarah.menzies@ncvo.org.uk to find out more. We will offer the session to the first respondent who matches the criteria.
*NB small charities are defined as those with an income of < £100,000 but this session would also be relevant for organisations who are newer to impact practice.
Equality Impact Investing project submission deadline 31 May.
With support from the Connect Fund, the EII project is being led by Dartington’s Centre for Social Justice Innovation (CSJI) in partnership with the Equality & Diversity Forum, Social Investment Business and Dartington School for Social Entrepreneurs. The project aims to better understand and improve the extent to which the UK social investment sector is tackling
discrimination and advancing equality and human rights, from the perspective of both the SI sector (SIFIs, industry professionals, policy-makers etc.) and frontline organisations with a focus on equality and human rights. Through an initial call for evidence we are currently seeking any pre-existing material (e.g. published or unpublished impact reports, lit reviews, data analysis, impact measurement frameworks, policy documents) that highlights existing and potential links between the two sectors. Key current questions for us
are the extent to which the social investment sector is measuring and having equality impact, and the extent to which VCSE organisations with a focus on equality and human rights are accessing or able to access social investment. We’re therefore keen to hear from both equality and human rights (see blog), and social investment stakeholders (see blog) . This initial research will be used to inform additional primary
research, the development and piloting of practical equality impact investing pilots and policy recommendations. We’re delighted to be undertaking this project given its potential for advancing the role of social investment in tackling inequality and we know a wide variety of people and organisations will be interested in its progress. Keep up to date with the Equality Impact Investing project and other work undertaken by the CSJI by following us on Twitter (@DartingtonCSJI) or visiting the CSJI webpage.
Here are the events we think are particularly relevant to those interested in the social value agenda.If there is an event our network should know about, please reply to this email.
Our training and services
Social Value Practitioner Training - BOOK YOUR PLACE HERE
Our most popular training course to demystify social value.- London, 25 & 26 April
- London, 22 & 23 May
- Manchester, 13 & 14 June
- London, 26 & 27 June
- Zagreb,
Croatia, 5 & 6 July
- Online, 10 July - 7 August - Maximising Online Value training
- London, 17 & 18 July
- London, 19 & 20 September
- Manchester, 4 & 5 October
- London, 20 & 21 November
- London, 12 & 13 December
If you have any feedback or anything you would like suggest a theme or contribute to a future newsletter, please email Lucy.
|