A digital tool described as being the first-of-its-kind has been launched to reveal the social impact of charities on the communities they serve.
Launched last week by the University of Hertfordshire, Our Social Value is a calculator platform which utilises the national index of multiple deprivation to measure the social impact of charities.
The new platform, available to charities in Hertfordshire and west Essex, will weight results according to the socioeconomic conditions of the areas served by charity services.
This means that two organisations delivering the same service – such as food redistribution or community training – but in different areas will no longer appear equal on paper when using the platform.
Instead, charity projects operating in areas of high deprivation will show proportionally greater social value than those in more affluent communities, which the platform’s developers hope will reflect “the true scale of their contribution” and empower charities to “strengthen funding bids and clearly showcase the genuine impact of their work”.
Plans for national rollout
Developed over the past year, researchers worked with charities and social enterprises in Hertfordshire and west Essex to develop the platform and is free to use for organisations in those areas.
The platform had more than 100 registered users, almost all in the local catchment area, prior to its official launch last Monday, with an increase since then.
Project lead Eren Demir, professor of decision sciences at the University of Hertfordshire, said: “The steps for scaling the solution for national deployment depend heavily on the availability of funds.
“While the backend is currently designed for national deployment, including deprivation scores, it is primarily Herts and west Essex-focused and requires updates – both to key data and to incorporate local and regional variations.
“In short, this could be a rapid research and development update for national-level deployment (within 12 months), depending on the availability of funds.”
Demir said the annual cost of continued development and of maintaining free access to charities in Hertfordshire and west Essex is around £50,000, with more funding needed for a national rollout.
