Framework For Social Impact Goes Online

A new framework designed to help assess and guide the activities and investment decisions of social purpose organisations and funders is now available online.

Developed by Social Ventures Australia (SVA) the free framework, SVA Fundamentals for Impact, launched on Tuesday.

SVA CEO Rob Koczkar said the framework would provide “a common language” for social purpose organisations and funders who were trying to understand what made an organisation impactful.

“In our work across the sector over the last 15 years we have observed that, despite their best attempts, many funding and social purpose organisations struggle to clearly assess and articulate their effectiveness, and it’s hampering their ability to improve their impact,” Koczkar said.

“The SVA Fundamentals for Impact offer a practical framework to help leaders answer critical questions about how their organisation is performing, and applying the framework can help them create a clear pathway towards improvement.”

The framework, specifically designed for the social sector, draws international research and evidence and 15 years’ practical experience in the Australian social sector.

Koczkar said the framework outlined 15 organisational characteristics for effectiveness which focus on more than internal capability to include client centricity and engagement with the larger ecosystem.

He said the framework was designed to drive collaboration and impact in the social purpose sector.

“The SVA Fundamentals for Impact also highlight the importance of organisations contributing to shared, system wide goals – whether this be increasing the availability of appropriate housing for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, or empowering First Australian young people to be leaders and changemakers in their own communities,” Koczkar said.

 “At SVA we want to work with our partners to help them be more client centred, be run more effectively and, critically, be more engaged in driving systems change. The Fundamentals for Impact will help us do that and we hope to see them become both a resource and rallying call for measurable change.’”

Koczkar said the free online resource would help guide social impact leaders to measure their impact and guide decisions around future improvement.

“The SVA Fundamentals for Impact offer a practical framework to help leaders answer critical questions about how their organisation is performing, and applying the framework can help them create a clear pathway towards improvement.

“There are many applications for the SVA Fundamentals for Impact. A new CEO could use them with their leadership team to identify areas for improvement, or a funding organisation could use them to ensure their resources are aligned to their mission.”

The SVA Fundamentals for Impact are available for download as open source material under a Creative Commons license.