Teaching Note

In the Measures of Good project, run by ARVO, the aim was to provide the best tools to measure societal impact. The project developed the impact chain which in itself is not a tool that would measure impact directly but is a great way to develop, plan and evaluate the social impact of an organisation. The Impact Chain of Measures of Good – create your own

In the Measures of Good project, run by ARVO, the aim was to provide the best tools to measure societal impact. The project developed the impact chain which in itself is not a tool that would measure impact directly but is a great way to develop, plan and evaluate the social impact of an organisation.

When using the impact chain one must carefully think of each of the pieces and then write down the answers to at least these questions:

societal need

What societal challenge are we talking about? What is the risk of exclusion in question? Who does it touch? Teaching question Choose an organisation that aims to have societal impact. Then write down the impact chain of that organisation using the questions above. vision

What is our overall aim? What has changed when the need in question has been met?

actions

What actions are the resources used for? How much, what, to whom? How and why are these actions leading to changes in target groups’ lives? outcomes

What are the outcomes of the actions? What has changed in target groups’ activities? What are the metrics to prove the changes?

IMPACT

OUTCOMES

ACTIONS SOCIETAL NEED

VISION

GOAL(S)

RESOURCES

goal(s)

What kind of changes in target groups’ lives are we aiming at? What results must there be in order to enable the vision? resources

What are the resources needed to reach the goals? Where is the investment targeted?

impact

What do he reached outcomes mean in the long run compared with the original need? What are the financial and wellbeing outcomes and

to whom?

Other teaching points:

How could the Icehearts model be scaled?

Icehearts is now partly philanthropy, partly social business. How could it be transformed to business that would not depend on donations?

References

1. Measures of Good: Impact Evaluation of Icehearts Model, final report. (2016). Nordic Healthcare Gorup. Available at: https://bit.ly/3cYuu0D. Accessed on 06-06-2020.

2. Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland (TEM): SIB projects. Available at: https://tem.fi/en/sib-projects. Accessed on 06-06-2020.

3. Measures of Good project. Available at: www.hyvanmitta.fi. Accessed on 06-06-2020.

4. Kotiranta ja Widgrén (2015). Esiselvitys yhteiskunnallisesta yrittämisestä. Katsaus yhteiskunnallisiin yrityksiin ja vaikuttavuussijoittamiseen Suomessa. ETLA.

5. Hilli, P., Ståhl, T., Merikukka, M., Ristikari, T. (2017). Syrjäytymisen hinta – case investoinnin kannattavuuslaskenta. Yhteiskuntapolitiikka, 82 (6): 663–675.

6. Kyösti, A., Airaksinen, J. (2020). Hyvinvointipalveluiden tulevaisuus risteyskohdassa – kohti vaikutusten hankintaa? Itlan raportit ja selvitykset 2020:2. Available at: https://bit.ly/3cW32QW. Accessed on 12-06-2020. Further reading

1. Tykkyläinen, S. (2019). Growth for the Common Good? Social Enterprises’ Growth Process. LUT University.

2. Kataja, K. , Ristikari, T., Paananen, R., Heino, T., Merikukka, M., Gissler, M. (2014). Huono-osaisuuden ylisukupolviset jatkumot eri perustein kodin ulkopuolelle sijoitettujen lasten elämässä [ Intergenerational transfer of wellbeing problems among children placed in out-of-home care]. Yhteiskuntapolitiikka, 1: 38-45.

3. TEM working group. Yhteiskunnallisen yrityksen toimintamallin kehittäminen. Työ- ja elinkeinoministeriön julkaisuja 4/2011. Available at: https://bit.ly/34rWMNb

4. Russell, S., Pattiniemi, P. Koivuneva, L. (2014). A Map of Social Enterprises and Their Eco-Systems in Europe. Country report: Finland 2014. Available at: https://bit.ly/3ldIG8Q.

5. Kostilainen, H. (2019). Social Enterprises and their Ecosystems in Europe. Country report: Finland 2019. Available at: https://bit.ly/30zie1p.

6. Fraser, A., Tan, S., Lagarde, M., Mays, N. (2016). Narratives of promise, narratives of caution: A review of the literature on social impact bonds. Social Policy & Administration, 52 (1): 1–25.

7. Albertson, K., Fox, C., O´Leary, C., Painter, G. (2020). Towards a Theoretical Framework for Social Impact Bonds. Nonprofit Policy Forum. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2019-0056.