Posted 27th June 2024
Crafting a compelling social value report is essential for showcasing the incredible impact you’ve had on your stakeholders. These reports not only bolster your credibility and improve your accountability, but also open doors to additional support and funding for your invaluable work.
As a vibrant network of private, public, and voluntary sector members, we encounter a diverse array of reports with different audiences and purposes, including funder reports, internal option assessments, charity commission reports, and annual impact reports. We’ve noticed a pressing need for more support in creating social value reports—not just detailed accounts, but those produced at lower levels of rigour (but which still play an important role in informing decisions) and those focusing on powerful narratives of the changes which stakeholders experience.
While full Report Assurance represents the “gold standard” of accreditation, many organisations simply want a way to learn how to improve their reports and demonstrate a level of independent oversight. They seek reassurance that their impact stories are communicated effectively and align with best practices.
Our new Report Review service is designed to be a practical and educational experience for any organisation or author who has prepared a report around social value. This can be a Social Return on Investment (SROI) report which follows our freely available guidance, an impact report, or a report produced according to another methodology or framework. This service provides the author with feedback, structured around criteria relating to each of the 8 Principles of Social Value, along with recommendations to enhance the report and better demonstrate the application of the Principles.
Unlike the Professional Pathway and Report Assurance, our Report Review Service isn’t an assessment that results in a pass or a fail. Instead, it provides constructive feedback to improve your social value reporting and practice. This approach promotes consistency and excellence across all sectors.
Our training-needs analysis also revealed a significant demand for support in writing high-quality social value reports. In response, we are also introducing peer-to-peer support sessions on reporting, co-delivered with our members to foster a community of learning.
Unlock the full potential of your social value reports with our expert guidance. Join us in using the Principles of Social Value as well recognised benchmarks for social value reporting and amplify the impact of your remarkable work. Let’s make every report a testament to the positive change you’re driving in the world!
Our Report Database is one of our most valued resources, if you have a good social value report that you would like us to promote and share so that others can learn from you, please let us know!
The Report Database can be found here.
More about the Report Review Service can be found here.
Watch this space for more details about our new Peer-to-Peer Support Service that will offer members an opportunity to learn from each other and therefore improve their social value reporting.