Social Return on Investment (SROI) provides a principled approach that can be used to measure and account for a broad concept of value. SROI measures social and economic change from the perspective of those who experience or contribute to it.
Through the use of financial proxies, it is possible to identify and apply a monetary value to represent each change that is measured. In this way the overall impact of an activity can be calculated, and the value generated compared to the investment in the activities. This enables a ratio of cost to benefits to be calculated. For example, a ratio of 1:6 indicates that an investment of £1 in the activities has delivered £6 of social value.
Examples of evaluative SROI analyses that we have published include:
- Overview of the Social Return on Investment Analyses carried out for five projects funded by the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal, managed by Capital City Partnership, Aug 2026
- Forecast Social Return on Investment Analysis of Midlothian Together for Positive Change
- Social Return on Investment Analysis of the Intensive Family Support Service in East Lothian
- Social Return on Investment Analysis of Maximise! (Edinburgh)
- Evaluative Social Return on Investment Analysis of West Lothian Council Intensive Family Support Service
- Evaluative Social Return on Investment Analysis of the ‘Making it Work for Families’ in Fife
- Welfare Advice and Health Partnerships in Dundee City Council, 2026
- Financial Inclusion Support in Dundee schools, 2026
- Cosy Kingdom - an energy and debt advice service in Fife, 2024
- Access to Welfare Advice in Schools, 2021 - recognised by the Scottish Government in its 2025 report ‘Learning from 25 Years of Preventative Interventions in Scotland’.
We can provide accredited training in SROI/social value.