Social return on investment (SROI) is a metric adapted from the traditional return on investment (ROI). SROI is used to measure social, environmental and economic gains that result from an investment, as opposed to the strictly monetary gains measured by traditional ROI. This new, more inclusive measurement captures a broader set of impacts given that it identifies those impacts beyond simply financial or business ones, putting often intangible concepts into a more tangible form – the dollar.
Rebuilding Together Seattle recently participated in an impact analysis with our affiliate network. Rebuilding Together affiliates collaborated with Ecotone on an SROI impact analysis, building upon previously conducted impact measurement, analysis and stakeholder surveying work, to monetize the overall social value of every dollar invested in Rebuilding Together and its affiliates across the country. The monetization process was done conservatively to avoid the risk of overclaiming impact and to consider impacts made that cannot be attributed to Rebuilding Together services.
To derive the SROI ratio, Ecotone combined evidence of impact with the estimated costs and monetized benefits of Rebuilding Together projects. Ecotone then identified the key stakeholder groups to whom those impact benefits accrued and utilized a benefit-cost ratio to communicate social value creation.
They determined that each dollar spent in service to our mission can conservatively generate $2.84 worth of social value with the healthcare system and individual homeowners being the largest beneficiaries.
Click here to download the report and learn more.
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