MCIS is a non-profit organization that facilitates access to critical information and services for vulnerable persons in their respective languages. The organization was originally created to help victims of domestic and sexual violence overcome language barriers with the aid of high-quality and responsive interpreting services. MCIS uses Plunet to track all activities, from financial processes to critical services and their impact. Find out how for-profit companies can learn from a non-profit’s experiences and way of working in this exciting best practice presentation.

1. From Transaction to Transformation
Measuring Social Impact with Plunet
Veronica Costea & Luisa M. Cano
MCIS Language Solutions

2. Changing Lives One Word at a Time

3. SOCIAL IMPACT OF TRANSLATION

4. What is the change we want to
bring about in the world? /
What is our Theory of Change?
How are we relevant?
What is the change we want
to bring about in the world?
How do we know we are
doing the right thing?

5. “There is an identifiable set of basic information needs that
individuals need met to navigate everyday life, and that
communities need to have met in order to thrive. […] A large body
of research suggests […] that access to information and, equally, the
tools and skills necessary to navigate it are essential to even a
minimal definition of equal opportunity and civic and democratic
participation. Further, both traditional and contemporary analyses
have demonstrated access to information […] to be essential to
community economic wellbeing and democracy.” (Friedland et al.,
2012)

6. Our new mission: Improving access to critical information and services
through high quality language solutions

7. Emergencies
& Risks
Health &
Welfare
Education
Transportation
Economic
Opportunities
Environment
Civic & Legal Political

8. I
N
F
O
G
R
A
P
H
I
C

9. “Transactions involve the quantifiable markers […] such
measures tend to be easier to track because they are more
tangible. But transactions only tell part of the story and tend to
skip over the richness of experience and momentum that can be
precursors to big change. Transformations […] show how
people, organizations and movements have been altered
through the collective efforts […] it is the combination of
transactional and transformational metrics that will tell a fuller
story.” (Pastor et al., 2011)

10. 38

11. Using Plunet Properties to Track Social Impact Data
TRANSACTIONAL METRICS - PROPERTIES
Customer Level Properties– sectors served
Project Level Properties:
 Program (Source of revenue)
 Criticality of Information/Service
 Type of Impact (Individual vs. Community)
TRANSFORMATIONAL INFO - TASKS
• Storytelling
• Tracking change over time

12. Sind Sie sicher,
dass Sie nichts
verbergen?
Alles ist auf
Plunet

13. • Customer profile set up: properties: Program (FFS/SBI/Funded) and sector type
Customer Level Properties (Transactional) – Program Codes
Business Education Government Healthcare Legal Social
Services
Insurance
Manufacturing
Media
Retail
Services
Technology
Utilities
College
School Boards
School
University
Other
Municipal
Federal
Provincial
Other
Foreign/
International
Community
Health
Centres
Hospitals
Mental Health
Nursing Home
Pharmacies
Public Health
Rehabilitation
Corrections
Courts
Law Firms
Police
Tribunals
16 included:
From seniors,
victims,
shelters to
francophone
services and
housing

16. Order Level Properties (Transactional)
• Critical service; Critical
information; None or Both
Criticality
• Legal, employment,
education, assessment,
health, housing, employment
and others.
Nature of
assignment
• Individual, family, communityType of impact

18. Using Tasks to Capture Transformational Info

19. From Transactions to Transformations
MCIS services that provide access to critical information/service VS None
Correlation: Organizational sector/criticality of information & service
Financial perspective: making decisions as a Non-profit Organization
Transparency of information: Engagement

20. Thank you
Any Questions? Let’s talk.
Veronica Costea∙ veronica@mcis.on.ca
Luisa M. Cano ∙ luisa@mcis.on.ca
Follow us:
@MCISLanguages