Valuing the social? The nature and controversies of measuring social return on investment (SROI)

• Published in: Voluntary sector review Vol. 4; no. 1; pp. 3 - 18
• Main Authors: Arvidson, Malin, Lyon, Fergus, McKay, Stephen, Moro, Domenico
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Manchester Policy Press 01.03.2013; The Policy Press
• Subjects: Charities; Charity; Impact; Investment; Judgement; Measurement; Organizational structure; Return on investment; Social Enterprise; Social enterprises; Social entrepreneurship; Social values; Sroi; United Kingdom; Usefulness; Value; Voluntary work; social enterprise; charity; value; impact; SROI

The concept of 'social return on investment' (SROI) has come to play an important role in debates about how social enterprises and charities conceptualise, measure and communicate their achievements. In this paper we analyse the nature and role of SROI as used in the United Kingdom for imp...