This is a 6 part blog series on strategising, planning, budgeting, and implementing social value. The aim is to present the key principles of efficient, meaningful and commercially viable social value delivery.
Every company has inherently valuable resources and these can be harnessed to produce social value. Resources will vary depending on the industry and the nature of the work you do – social value is an opportunity to utilise your company’s unique skills, knowledge and buying power to deliver additional value.
How can you support the communities you work with?
Your resources consist of money (donations, partnership fees and commercial collaboration), skills, non-skilled volunteering, and product and service contributions. Often it is not a matter of choosing a single resource, but rather an effective combination to maximise impact. Procurement-related, additional social value consists of four pillars. Partnership models with local VCSEs can contribute to all pillars which means companies do not necessarily need to build extensive internal organisations for delivery. Through partnerships, you can be locally relevant and efficient in an agile way.
Money
Setting up a grant or money donation scheme can be the most effective way of supporting new or established local initiatives with proven impact. This requires access to suitable initiatives, easy due diligence and active communication to coordinate and understand the progress and impact being made. Effectiveness comes from matchmaking and reporting technology which makes sure the coordination and administration costs stay as low as possible to guarantee the anticipated social return on investment. If you are already supporting causes with money, adding other elements of support, e.g. volunteering, becomes easier due to existing relationships and being a larger contributor.
Skills and volunteering
Too often volunteering stems from self-interested motivations from the company to engage their staff, without consideration for the genuine needs and benefits of the organisations who receive this volunteering time. When creating a measurable impact, volunteering should be conducted in larger quantities of hours; combined with other resource donations and through programmes that last for a longer period. Each employee irregularly volunteering with different local organisations, doing low-skilled tasks, does not allow for the measurement of impact. Skills-based volunteering is best when sustained over some time, and when it fulfils a specific need of the charitable organisation.
Skills-based volunteering is difficult to get right. The volunteering offered needs to be matched to the requirements of the beneficiary organisation, in terms of skill set and time. However, when done correctly, offering these skills can be incredibly valuable.
It is always useful to budget for small expenses as an extension of skilled volunteering – whether it is IT support, construction or training and employment mentoring. Often, VCSEs lack the budget to implement valuable advice or continue improved practices, for example, paying for recommended software; investing in marketing or paying rent for an alternative location.
Service Donations
The nature of service donations are different to skills-based volunteering. It is a service your company would usually deliver to clients and charge for, but delivered with a £0 contract. The quality and liability requirements still apply. Service donations can have a transformative effect on a local charity or community groups, saving tens of thousands of pounds from set-up, tech or renovation costs. These donations can be highly rewarding for your staff to deliver, and depending on the industry you work in, they do not necessarily require a local presence, as many services can be delivered from a distance.
Product donations
There is high demand for almost all kinds of used and new products – it is simply a matter of finding the right partners with a timely need for the resources you have available. New raw materials, the products your company produces, or office equipment, can be radically helpful, and thus the value of these donations should not be underestimated.
Supply chain
When working with charities and social enterprises, there is also the option to buy their services and products. By buying their services, your company can include these organisations as part of your supply chain. The offer can vary from mental health training for your staff to catering services employing a disabled workforce, from consulting on environmentally sustainable practices to providing ecological office products.
