Companies Not Measuring Their Community Impact

Community investment, shared value and corporate responsibility may be rising in popularity, yet Australian organisations could be spending up to $280 million a year on initiatives whose impact they can’t – or simply don’t – measure, according to recent research.

The research conducted by global consulting firm Karrikins Group found that, while 94 per cent of those surveyed – across marketing, sustainability/CSR, corporate affairs and HR  –  agreed that measurement was important, only 33 per cent of companies measured the effect their community impact had.

The survey found that roughly a quarter of companies did not measure the reach of their community investment activities and over one-third of companies barely considered their ability to measure impact when choosing investments.

“Community investment is currently nowhere near as ‘strategic’ as we like to think it is,” Chief Creative Officer of Karrikins Group, Dom Thurbon, said.

“Too many community strategies, despite real and genuine effort, still do not align with and address the major business challenges that their organisations face.

“When they do purport to align, they are not adequately measured. This limits their strategic value.”

The research findings have resulted in the publication of a perspective paper, Strategy and Measurement – Towards Lead-Practice in Community Investment.

Thurbon said the paper incorporated the findings from the research survey engaging 39 corporate responsibility leaders from companies in Australia and New Zealand across a range of sectors, and conversations with select senior leaders from both the commercial and community space .

“We believe that business can be a real force for positive change,” Thurbon said.

“We hope this paper helps practitioners to increase the business value and social impact of community investments.”

The paper is available for download here.