This document proposes a model for charities and organizations to optimize their social impact. It argues that many currently use a "deficit model" that focuses on offsetting perceived negative impacts rather than maximizing benefits. The proposed "social benefit" model emphasizes measuring an organization's "structural impact" from its core activities. Additional and complementary activities should complement rather than detract from this. The document advocates for "additional" research and innovation to continually improve social impact through refined core activities. It provides examples from the social housing sector to illustrate how this framework could be applied.

1. A model for optimising social impact
among charity and third sector
organisations.
How a “deficit model” can be replaced
by one of “social benefit” to influence
focus, activity and social impact.

2. In this presentation I’m going to propose how third sector, charitable and some
commercial organisations might think about and increase the good that they do
in the world. The term for this is their “Social Impact”.
This presentation is necessary because I’ve witnessed organisations and whole
industries that have not considered this enough or have made incorrect and
damaging assumptions. As a consequence they have failed to optimise social
impact and often destroy it.
Throughout this presentation I am working at the level of organisational
strategy. I take a resource based view of the organisation. This means that each
organisation has a unique mix of resources with which to try and achieve its
objectives. When you think this through you may conclude you need a different
mix (some gained, some lost, different proportions) in order to achieve optimal
social impact.

3. YOUR ORGANISATION
Unless you are starting from scratch, your organisation already has
some resources.
Resources include – people, knowledge, equipment, buildings,
processes, clients, reputation, good will etc.
They are tangible and intangible, easy to quantify and difficult.
They will be different from the perspective of each stakeholder
and I guarantee that you don’t have an accurate understanding of
them.

4. YOUR ORGANISATION
SOCIAL IMPACT
Organisations utilise their resources more or less effectively to try
and bridge the gap to the social impact they are trying to achieve.
There are already assumptions at play though which influence this
whole approach – sometimes with limiting effects.

5. YOUR ORGANISATION
SOCIAL IMPACT
There is what I call a “deficit model” which starts with the assumption that
through its everyday business the organisation has a negative social impact.
This comes from commercial businesses seeking to off-set the harm that they
inherently create through their business model. Logically if what they do is bad
(and they will not cease or change those activities) then they must do
something different and visibly “good” to offset that negative.
Think of a weapons company sponsoring an orphanage in Africa and the
tensions in this thinking become apparent.

6. YOUR ORGANISATION
SOCIAL IMPACT
If charities and third sector bodies mimic this mind-set they fall victim to a
significant error.
They miss the opportunity to understand in depth how far their day-to-day
activities carry them in trying to reach the objective of optimising their social
impact. This is where the focus of thought and effort should be rather than on
secondary activities. Charities should not need to offset their core business in
order to create “good”.
Let me put this plainly - if by doing something different to what your charity is
intended to do you create more social value – you are in the wrong business.

7. YOUR ORGANISATION
SOCIAL IMPACT
I’m going to work through how a “social benefit” model (as opposed to the
deficit model just described) functions as a starting point for considering social
impact.
I’ll show this in theory and then illustrate it from the social housing sector in the
UK. I’ve witnessed this sector first-hand and the illustrations are real. This is not
the only sector where this model might be used to increase social impact.

8. YOUR ORGANISATION
SOCIAL IMPACT
STRUCTURAL

9. YOUR ORGANISATION
SOCIAL IMPACT
STRUCTURAL
Structural value is what the core
resources of your organisation generate.
It is the inherent value of what you do.
This is where you create most social
impact and where the greatest potential
resides for increasing that impact.
It is fascinating that organisations will
often “discount” this impact. They
measure and worry over secondary
activity while remaining
unsighted on the
impact of their principal
activity.

10. YOUR ORGANISATION
SOCIAL IMPACT
STRUCTURAL
Structural value is what the core
resources of your organisation generate.
It is the inherent value of what you do.
This is where you create most social
impact and where the greatest potential
resides for increasing that impact.
It is fascinating that organisations will
often “discount” this impact. They
measure and worry over secondary
activity while remaining
unsighted on the
impact of their principal
activity.
In the social housing example this is
the impact of providing a number
of good quality homes at below
market rate to those who would
not otherwise be able to function in
the housing market.
The social housing sector has not
provided and communicated a clear
valuation of this social impact.
For one housing trust
this was calculated to
be at least 1:7, an
exceptional rate of
return.

11. YOUR ORGANISATION
SOCIAL IMPACT
STRUCTURAL
Many housing providers, influenced
by the “deficit model” participate in
events to be more “socially
responsible”. In one this involved
the entire workforce going out for a
day to cut down undergrowth or
paint community buildings.
Planning for the day consumed
many more days from a large
number of staff.
Even brief consideration
of this shows it to be
“social irresponsible”
There was no consideration of the
opportunity cost of not undertaking
the usual activities.
If these other activities were of
more or equal value then the
provider must be failing in its core
activity. If less, then they are
destroying social impact. Any “team
building” or “community presence”
argument fails the same test.

12. YOUR ORGANISATION
SOCIAL IMPACT
STRUCTURAL
COMPLEMENTARYThese are not essential to your
structural activities but instead
complement them. It is likely that
others in your industry will
provide some or all of them.
You can stop or start while still
delivering your structural impact.
They are examples of “enlightened
self-interest” on behalf of the
organisation. They create social
impact in their own right but this
will be at a lower rate or scale than
your core activity.
Too often they
consume a
disproportionate
amount of time and
resource.

13. YOUR ORGANISATION
SOCIAL IMPACT
STRUCTURAL
COMPLEMENTARYIn social housing examples include;
Youth work, anti-social behaviour
teams, benefits advice workers,
back to work advisors.
While tenants benefit from better
environments and increased or
more secure income, so the
housing provider also sees reduced
complaints, repairs and more
secure income.
These activities are
mistakenly understood
as where “social
impact” and “social
responsibility” is
created.

14. YOUR ORGANISATION
SOCIAL IMPACT
STRUCTURAL
ADDITIONAL
This describes a form of activity not
currently undertaken in most
organisations and where it is, is not
formally structured and evaluated.
This is exploratory, research-based
and quantified activity. Its purpose is
to challenge accepted wisdom
about the resources required and
the structural and complementary
activity to achieve the overall
objective.

15. YOUR ORGANISATION
SOCIAL IMPACT
STRUCTURAL
ADDITIONAL
Measures for success would be:
That the impact of structural and/or
complementary is significantly
transformed and increased.
New complementary activities are
identified.
New ways to create greater social
impact than the current structural
activity are identified ( >1:7 for the
social housing example).

16. YOUR ORGANISATION
SOCIAL IMPACT
STRUCTURAL
ADDITIONAL
For example, mental health needs
of some tenants is an enduring
and unmet challenge. Why not
resource an exploration of how
social housing provided with a
mental health paradigm might
work? How would the structural
and complementary be changed
by the learning? How much might
the social value increase?

17. YOUR ORGANISATION
SOCIAL IMPACT
STRUCTURAL
ADDITIONAL
This is R&D in how better to create
social impact. It should challenge the
way things are done and offer new
paradigms.
The intention is to better leverage
resources (including new) for greater
impact through structural activity.
For industries not renown for
innovation this is free space to
explore, invent and create
exceptional impact.

18. YOUR ORGANISATION
SOCIAL IMPACT
STRUCTURAL
ADDITIONAL COMPLEMENTARY

19. This presentation highlights the detrimental
impact of charities and others adopting the
deficit model and not focussing on how they
best create social impact through structural
activity.
It argues that in the “social benefit” model
creating value through complementary and
additional activity must demonstrate worth
in securing or exceeding that of the
structural impact.
Additional activity is proposed as a
structured, researched and quantified
approach to innovation that drives increasing
social impact through revised and refined
structural activity.

20. I hope this has been useful and
informs a reconsideration of how you
create and perhaps destroy
Social Impact.
Dr Julian Westwood
julianwwd@gmail.com