Reports Database

The focus of this Social Return on Investment (SROI) study is Community First (Moray)’s Handyperson Service (HPS). This service works through local volunteers to provide a service to older people, people with disabilities or other long-term illnesses and other vulnerable groups who need help with small repairs in their home. The study has asked what social value is created for stakeholders as a result of running the HPS, and using volunteer effort to do so.

Workwise aim to successfully develop and train people with mental health problems in a genuine business environment to encourage self-esteem and independence through work, and thus contribute to their quality of life.

Carmichael Centre for Voluntary Groups (CCVG) was set up in response to the expressed needs of smaller community and voluntary sector organisations. It was originally established in the late 1980s as the Community Services Project 2 , before being founded as CCVG in 1990. It is the country’s first and largest shared services centre for the community and voluntary sector, with a slogan of “building stronger charities nationwide”.

Its vision is for “a future where charitable, community and voluntary organisations are empowered and enabled to help all people to have access to the range of supports they need to lead fulfilling lives” and its mission statement reads: “Carmichael Centre is a dynamic learning environment which builds stronger charitable, community and voluntary groups nationwide by providing the shared services, targeted training, good practice and governance support they need to build effective and sustainable organisations.”

Between June and October 2013, Auckland Museum featured Moana – My Ocean, a major exhibition exploring New Zealand’s unique marine environment. The exhibition followed a journey through five marine zones: Auckland’s east coast; the Hauraki Gulf; mid-water; the Kermadec Trench; and, finally, the marine life of the Kermadec Islands. By transitioning through these zones, exhibition visitors made an immersive and sensory journey from shallow to deep water, temperate to subtropical climates, light to dark, the familiar to the unfamiliar. They encountered extraordinary underwater worlds and learnt about human relationships with those diverse aquatic domains.

The SROI analysis provides strong evidence that Auckland Museum’s Moana – My Ocean exhibition created, or is likely to create in the future, significant social, environmental and economic value, for a wide range of stakeholders.

The Healthwise project, based at Goodwin Development Trust in Hull has requested a SROI forecast of its activity over a 12 month period, April 2010 to March 2011.

Healthwise aims to increase the knowledge, understanding, awareness and information about health issues for those people who attend courses which focus on leading healthier lifestyles. Participants undertake a basic level of training (Level 1 – Introduction to Health Issues) and at this point become known as Health Champions. They then have the opportunity to undertake Level 2 training (The Role of the Health Champion) and can choose to develop their skills as trainers by taking part in a Train the Trainers Course (CIEH – Level 3 Award in Training Skills and Practice) – all courses are free to the Health Champions, and travel and childcare is reimbursed for those taking part.

People who take part in the project also get 26 weeks of support from the Healthwise team, which can take the form of phone calls, e-mails and meetings, offering advice and guidance and further information about other training opportunities or relevant local events.

The project aims to encourage people to share the knowledge they have gained with friends and family, signposting people to support services within the city such as the Stop Smoking service, Action for Change, MIND, etc. Volunteering opportunities are provided for people who take part in the course, as well as the opportunity to work closely with the local Primary Care Trust (PCT) and become actively involved in decision-making processes and shaping service delivery across the city.

Shoreditch Trust was established in 2000 under the Government’s New Deal for Communities programme, to work to address severe disadvantage in the Shoreditch neighbourhood, south Hackney. It aims to help individuals, families and communities improve their quality of life by focusing on programmes that identify and address the root causes of exclusion and inequality.

Since 2000 the Trust has delivered over 400 projects. In its commitment to deliver meaningful change it established Blue Marble Training (BMT) as a food training programme. BMT seeks to address worklessness and adult skills deficiencies by offering various learning programmes including the delivery of an industry specific work based training programme. This programme targets individuals that are marginalised in society to provide them with a platform to develop careers in the catering and hospitality industries.