Social return on investment : standard guidelines

This paper presents ten standard guidelines for social return on investment (SROI) -- quantitative summaries of companies’ social and environmental impacts, actual or projected. The authors contend that the absence of standards for such assessments has resulted in efforts to estimate companies’ environmental and social impacts that are not comparable or reliable, and are thus of limited use to those who seek to more completely understand the impact of business on society and the environment. Using data and examples from 88 real business plans, we discuss common errors in such assessments and recommendations for standardization. Using these standard guidelines would make SROI metrics more comprehensive, credible, and useful for entrepreneurs, managers and analysts to use to maximize positive social and environmental impact alongside financial returns. It would also increase the adoption of this framework by investors to compare the social impact of different companies within industries.