Debunking 3 common social value myths

There are plenty of reasons why your organisation would prioritise its social value. Becoming a more socially and environmentally conscious business can help you attract more customers, secure investment, win contracts, strengthen your operations, and future-proof your organisation.

But, as with anything, there are also some common misconceptions about social value. And these might be stopping you from making the necessary changes. It’s been over a decade since the Social Value Act, but we’re still in this odd transitional phase that means aspects of it are misunderstood.

It’s these social value myths that will slow global progress towards our sustainability goals. They might stop organisations getting the most out of their efforts, or perhaps even delay them engaging with social value altogether. So we want to dispel them.

Here are three of the most common ones we hear:

#1 – It requires a large upfront investment

Let’s start with a big one. One of the reasons we see organisations dragging their feet with social value is because they believe it’ll be detrimental to their bottom line.

Now, getting started – or scaling up your approach – will require some time and resource investment. That’s unavoidable. Sustainable alternatives can be more expensive (note: not always though!) Creating new initiatives or services won’t be without its costs either. And capturing, monitoring, and reporting on your social value progress may require new tools and technologies.

But there’s no reason you need to go from 0-100, trying to do it all right away. Plus, any upfront investment you make in your social value now will quickly be offset once you find your feet.

Effective social value is about quality over quantity. Which is why it’s important to scale appropriately to your business. If you’re not bound by legislation, you can gradually work your way up. Even if you are, you can create a social value strategy that increases your investment in a way that makes sense for your circumstances. 

Either way, link your social value strategy to the issues most important to your business and its stakeholders. Prioritising social value also helps you avoid costs in the form of legal fees and fines. It can result in cost reductions – for example, tax exemptions and benefits from the government. And it can increase your revenue as you become more attractive to consumers and suppliers. Not to mention that by not making the necessary investments now, you’re likely only putting off the inevitable. 

All of this to say: there’s no reason prioritising your social value will negatively impact your organisation’s bottom line in the short- or long-term.

#2 – It’s all about value for money

Similarly, when it comes to social value, it’s easy to get caught up in the pounds and pence. In proving that X initiative or decision resulted in X £s worth of social value. And it makes sense. Translating intangible social impacts into monetary values makes it far simpler to compare different initiatives. But this isn’t where social value stops.

Demonstrating value for money can cause organisations to overlook the reason social value exists in the first place: helping real lives and communities.

Sure, identifying that an internship scheme has generated £1,500 worth of social value in its first year is powerful data to capture. From here, you can gauge whether it’s met expectations or how you might go about improving it moving forward. But this doesn’t get you any clearer on the real-life impacts of the intervention.

Value for money ends up overshadowing the bigger picture of who you’ve helped and how you’ve changed their lives for the better. So rather than chasing figures and monetary values, it’s important for organisations to take a blended approach that also digs deeper into the meaningful human stories behind your actions. 

In the above example, what are the real stories of people who have been through the internship scheme and are now able to provide for their families as a result? How are you incorporating their views and experiences into your data and reports?

#3 – You must commit to one framework

There are so many social value frameworks out there that it can be overwhelming knowing where to start. And with your organisation and priorities always changing, you might not want to commit to something you could outgrow in a matter of months.

The idea that you have to decide on one framework for measuring and reporting on your social value is a complete myth. There’s no reason to shoehorn your efforts into a prescriptive framework.

Framework-agnostic social value tools exist for this very reason. They allow you to shape your approach based on the needs and priorities of your business, stakeholders, and beneficiaries – not the metrics and themes a third-party provider deems most relevant. 

Instead of settling for a finite list of metrics and measurements, framework-agnostic tools allow you to cherry pick the themes that align best with your long-term goals and strategy. In some cases, you’ll even be able to create your own measures for capturing the unique data needed to monitor your full impact. 

We’ve come a long way since the Social Value Act was first introduced. But to this day, there are still a lot of myths and misunderstandings about what social value should and could look like. The truth is, it’ll look differently to every single organisation and team!

At Impact, we’d love to help you achieve your social value goals. We’re an intuitive, framework-independent platform that puts your entire social value process on autopilot. Decentralise data capture to capture all progress, design surveys with ease to give beneficiaries a voice, and generate engaging reports in a few clicks. To find out more, schedule a demo, or get in touch with the team on 0161 532 4752.