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DCU Changemaker Schools Network

SROI Report 2024

SROI (Social Return on Investment) report with NUIG and UNESCO

 

( 2020-2023): Three Year Research Project with NUIG Galway yielded excellent results:

 

The DCU CSN engaged with the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre in Galway in the SROI process:

 

Report of findings:

 

Outcomes most valued by participants

 

 

As a result of being involved in the DCU Changemaker Network, the most valued outcomes achieved by children, teachers and school leaders as a result were an:

  • Increase in their level of empathy
  • Increase in their feeling of social inclusion
  • Increase in active citizenship / civic engagement
  • Increase in feeling of responsibility
  • Increase in their sense of pride
  • Increase in their self-confidence
  • Increase in their sense of achievement

 

Total Social value and Return-on-Investment Ratio

 

 

  • We found that the total social value generated for project participants was €5.1m with a total cost of €302,000 over three years.

 

  • The social return-on-investment ratio is, therefore, 1:17. This means that for every euro of investment in the DCU Changemaker Network, there was €17 of social value created for participants.

 

May 2024

Social Return on Investment (SROI)

Social Return on Investment (SROI)

 

 

 

 

Exploring the Social Value and Return on Investment for the DCU Changemaker Network 

 

Authors: Cormac Forkan, Tanja Kovacic, Caroline Fahy, Annemarie Shalloo, Brendan Dolan, Tim Goodspeed, & Pat Dolan.

UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre, University of Galway. May 2024

 

   
   

Notes on Calculating the Value Map:

To translate the well-defined outcomes into a monetary figure, an Irish ‘anchor’ was developed to feed into the SROI calculation.  At the Fund level, self-confidence was found to be one of the key individual contributors to wellbeing and was directly the most common well-defined outcome at a Fund Level.  Multivariate regression analysis was carried out.  The model was found to be significant, explaining 40.5% of the variance in quality of life. In cooperation with Tim Goodspeed, the evaluation team performed the overall calculation of self-confidence as an Irish anchor.  This calculation included the following steps:

 

  • The average household income in Ireland was used as a base for this calculation.  The household income of €43,552 from 2019 was applied, which corresponded with the Education Fund evaluation timeline (CSO, 2019).

 

  • Due to the lack of an Irish coefficient of lottery versus income effect on life satisfaction, the UK’s coefficient was selected (Fujiwara, 2014). This value is 1.103.

 

  • Self-confidence was selected as the anchor variable of interest.  The Beta value for self-confidence in the regression was 0.217 (the Beta value consists of the degree of change in the outcome variable for every 1 unit of change in the predictor variable).

 

  • The following formula was used to calculate the Irish anchor: 43,552-e[ln(43,552)- (0.217/1.103)]=7,778.  Therefore, we found that the value of self-confidence as an Irish anchor is €7,778.  This is a national average based on the sample in the NPWDS data. This figure represents the increased amount of income someone would need in a year in order to get the same increase in their happiness, wellbeing or quality of life that they experienced as a result of increased confidence.

The value of self-confidence as an anchor is €7.778.  Based on this anchor, the monetary values for other outcomes were calculated.  The specific values for this project are included in the Value Map.