Reports Database:
Social Return on Investment Analysis: Evaluating Four Service Themes at Crann (October 2023 – October 2024)
“About Crann
Crann is a registered charity based in Ovens, County Cork. The organisation was established in 2014, incorporated in 2018 and commenced operations in 2019. As of January 2025, it has a team of 25 staff and
turnover of approximately €2 million per year. Crann served 646 clients with a disability and 491 family members across its suite of services between 2019 and the end of 2024. It provides evidence based, high
quality services and supports for children, adults and families living with congenital, progressive, or acquired neuro-physical disabilities. Its services are focused on, but not limited to, people who have any of ten
diagnoses:
- Arthrogryposis
- Cerebral Palsy
- Hydrocephalus
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Muscular Dystrophy
- Osteogenesis Imperfecta
- Spina Bifida
- Spinal Cord Injury
- Spinal Muscular Atrophy
- Stroke
Crann’s vision is an inclusive partnership which empowers children, adults and families living with neuro-physical disabilities towards better health and wellbeing and increased opportunities for participation in
education, work and leisure. The organisation utilises an evidence-based, best practice 2Generation (2Gen) Model of Care (illustrated in figure 1) that delivers meaningful outcomes for the children, adults and families who use its services. Services are provided through six core themes, delivering integrated, wraparound care:
- Psychological Wellbeing
- Health and Continence
- Education and Career Pathways
- Mobility
- Independent Living
- Social Capital
It is a core part of Crann’s mission to provide a unique service offering and not duplicate services that are already available to people with disabilities in Ireland.”
“Key Findings
Social Return on Investment (SROI) is a methodology used to evaluate the total value created by an
organisation’s activities on all of its stakeholders. It draws on well-established methodologies from economics,
accounting, and social research.
The Social Return on Investment analysis of Crann’s Services was underpinned by the seven guiding principles of social value:
- Involved stakeholders
- Understand what changes
- Value the things that matter
- Only include what is material
- Do not overclaim
- Be transparent
- Verify the result
The SROI method ascertains the value of outcomes experienced by stakeholders and is especially pertinent in valuing “soft” outcomes, or outcomes that do not have a simple market value. The social value is calculated by attributing a financial value to the quantified change experienced by stakeholders, commensurate with the size of the change. For many stakeholders, it is difficult to place a value on a “soft” outcome, like one’s mental health, so SROI uses financial value as a proxy for value, allowing for comparison between the value of different outcomes that would otherwise be difficult to compare. These financial proxies represent the value of the change experienced and not the value or cost of the service provided.
The most important component of the SROI is to understand the value that the clients of the services and other stakeholders place on their outcomes, so that we can understand what they value the most. Decisions
can then be made to increase that value and avoid actions that reduce it. Involving stakeholders is key to understanding this, so stakeholder views were collected qualitatively from 36 stakeholders and from 228
stakeholders using quantitative surveys during the SROI Evaluation period. Quantitative data was supported by qualitative findings from a mixture of interviews and focus groups, conducted during Evaluation Stage 1 – Qualitative. A comprehensive overview of the stages of research involved in the SROI Evaluation are included below, in Section 1.4 and the preceding SROI Forecast method is included at Section 3.4 to provide context. Stakeholders were given the opportunity to review the findings and confirm or clarify their perspectives as well as suggest new insights at each stage.
The value of the outcomes included in this SROI analysis represents the value created by Crann through the in-scope services included in the evaluation, that would otherwise not have happened without the intervention of those services. Any value that would have happened anyway (deadweight) or that is attributable to other interventions (attribution) has been deducted.”
An executive summary of this report is available here.