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Social Return on Investment forecast report of Plinkr

Social Return on Investment forecast report of Plinkr

The solution of Plinkr

Plinkr was founded in Eindhoven in 2017. The mission of this social enterprise is ‘to help every resident with financial problems towards a life free of money worries’. To this end, Plinkr developed digital solutions, in collaboration with experts, experience experts and based on thorough research in the social domain. One of these solutions is called ‘the Hub’. The Hub is a scalable solution for outflow and aftercare of people in debt in the Netherlands. In the hub trajectory a ‘blended-learning’ process is combined with personal support provided by a local budget coach and an official administrator. It is a standardized process which maintains customization for participant through a modular approach. The offer of Plinkr’s Hub focuses specifically on strengthening the financial self-sufficiency of residents in the context of increased outflow from protective guardianship.

The digital trajectory is paid by the municipalities, who appoint an official administrators and coach for residents in custody. The trajectory takes place in an online environment where clients, specialists and coaches work together. Over about six months, participants work to build the skills and self-confidence needed to get back to managing their own finances, with help from a local financial coach. This local financial coach can be appointed by the municipality, the administrator or -when needed- can be engaged by Plinkr itself.

After a first baseline measurement, the ‘Mesis’ is used to measure the progress of the program. The
Mesis helps, the parties involved, to determine the participant’s skills, knowledge and motivation that
are necessary for healthy financial behaviour. The Mesis is also used, to determine after 6 months,
whether the participant’s custody can be responsibly terminated. To this end, the Hub generates a
report recording the course and results of the trajectory.

During the trajectory, participants are given assignments in 5 themes that help to develop appropriate
competencies. The themes varies from ‘sufficient income, saving, organising money matters, spending responsibly, to be prepared for (un)foreseen events’. In addition, 10 sessions with the local financial coach are provided. Furthermore, at the start, middle and end of the program, consultation moments take
place between the coach, the participant and the official administrator. The personal findings of the various parties and the results of the Mesis screening, support the introductory meeting and the joint mid-term and final evaluations. The results and the different personal findings are included in the final report, which is transferred to the district judge for making a decision of the termination and/or continuation of the guardianship. More information (in Dutch) on Plinkr and the Hub, can be found at the following link.

Scope of this SROI

This assignment was carried out at the request of Shaping Impact Group, a social impact fund investingin Plinkr. The assignment consists of preparing an evaluation of the SROI for the year 2022 and calculatethe forecasted SROI for the years 2023 and 2024, based on the results of the evaluative SROI analysisof the year 2022.