Social Impact Measurement and Non-profit Organisations: Compliance, Resistance, and Promotion

Abstract

Non-profit organisations are under increasing pressure to demonstrate their social impact. This paper examines the experience and behaviour of non-profit organisations in the UK in relation to a demand for impact evaluations. It shows that organisations both accept and resist control, and use evaluations for promotional purposes. External resource providers request organisations to present evidence on how resources are used and what organisations have achieved. However, non-profit organisations can also proactively use social impact measurement as a way of exerting control over their environment through using their discretion in deciding what to measure, how to measure and what to report. The analysis uses a combination of the concepts acceptance, rejection, compliance and strategic decoupling to distinguish different organisational responses to external demands for impact evaluation.

The Development of a Measurement Instrument for the Organizational Performance of Social Enterprises

“…There is a growing consensus that social enterprises should assess their performance to support internal decision-making and to respond to the increasing demands of accountability towards different stakeholders [3,21]. As a result, researchers and practitioners have developed different methodologies and tools to measure the performance of social enterprises [22].…”

“…This is especially the case for social enterprises [1][2][3]. Social enterprises are social mission-driven organizations that develop an entrepreneurial activity (make products and/or deliver goods and services) in order to fulfill unsolved social needs in society [4,5].…”

“…Although there is a consensus that the development and adoption of performance measurement instruments is of particular interest for social enterprises, there is a lack of methodologies with a practical usefulness for a broad range of social enterprises [3,17]. This paper aims at describing the development of a set of indicators and an assessment tool, useful for evaluating and reporting the non-financial organizational performance of social enterprises.…”

Accountability and Governance Reporting by Non-Profit Organizations

“…There are still a lot of rooms for improvement need to be taken into consideration by NPOs to be more accountable in reporting of their activities since they are being pressured from the external resource providers to present the evidence on how the resources are spent and achievement acquired although they can voluntarily decide to measure on the social impact for their own purpose (Arvidson and Lyon, 2014). According to McGann and Johnstone (2006), transparency should emphasize on the three areas which include, transparency on how funds are spent, transparency in the method of intervention and to conduct regular monitoring and evaluation involving the stakeholders or making the outcomes of these known to the stakeholders.…”

Measuring impact: prospects and challenges for third sector organisations

“…Some commentators are encouraging TSOs to view the practice of impact measurement as a process whereby organisations can strategically promote their social mission and gain influence in the particular arenas in which they work (Arvidson and Lyon, 2014). TSOs may be able to use evidence of their (positive) impact to attract new funders, volunteers, and patrons to their activities, and gain wider recognition and resources.…”