Friday 24 November 2023 1:21 pm | Updated: Wednesday 04 September 2024 10:59 am

Measuring the impact of CSR on business and the community

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UK organisations are increasingly using their CSR or ESG budget to support the communities surrounding them, either because this aligns with their mission or because there are expectations from employees and consumers. With mounting public scrutiny of these initiatives and tight budgets, organisations are trying to find ways to measure and demonstrate their impact both on business outcomes and on the community.

We’ve been helping clients create and measure meaningful social impact for over 25 years. To demonstrate the effectiveness of CSR or social ESG programmes, we always start by determining the programme’s goals, from a business perspective and from a stakeholder perspective. Then, we identify key performance indicators that go beyond the number of people reached and that can tell us if the programme has made the change it set out to make. Here are some KPIs you should consider:

Measures of business outcomes

Employee Satisfaction Index + Employee Turnover Rate
With 90% employee motivation and loyalty in companies that are purpose-driven and 70% of the workforce screening employers for purpose, it is clear that corporate environmental and social responsibility is crucial for employee engagement.

Customer Retention Rate + Revenue Growth Rate
Customers and investors increasingly screen companies for their social and environmental impact. Purpose-driven companies grow more than their solely profit-driven counterparts.

Social Media Engagement
This is a good measure of a company’s visibility and reputation. You can use social media platforms to raise awareness of your social impact.

Assessing community impact

The indicators used to measure the impact of a social programme will depend on the programme’s specific goals. Imagine a toothpaste manufacturer has designed an educational programme with the goal of improving children’s oral hygiene. They might want to measure not only the number of children participating in the programme, but also changes in habit and knowledge, such as:

How many times a day did participants brush their teeth before and after taking part in the programme?
How much did children know about oral hygiene before and after the programme?

By measuring these KPIs at the beginning and at the end of the programme, the company will be able to demonstrate the change that has occurred and tell the story of the difference they’ve made.

How will you measure your organisation’s social impact?

Now that you know which metrics to use and how you can calculate the effect of your corporate social impact initiatives, we hope investing in your community becomes easier. If you need help researching your community’s needs, measuring and reporting the impact of your programmes, you can always reach out to us at EVERFI from Blackbaud and get our expert support.