IV. Measuring and scaling social impact/ Case study Free Geek Toronto

Question 1

Free Geek Toronto Case General

Answer 1

• Work integration social enterprises = Organizations that supports long-term unemployed individuals with skills, training and counselling to be reintroduced in the job market (this is their social mission)
• Social and environmental mission should be complementary -> Free Geek Toronto Environmental mission = cut costs to sell products at accessible price helps social mission = provide people with disabilities with job opportunities
• But (!) one should be dominant -> otherwise no clear prioritization (confusion)

Question 2

Free Geek Toronto Case Business Model Canvas

Answer 2

• Customers: Consumers that wan electronic devices at reduced prices (either can’t buy them or don’t want them)
• Beneficiaries: individuals with employment barriers (training, routine, responsibilities, stability, independency)
• Value proposition: Electronics at accessible prices/ Environmental impact/ Social mission
• Key Stakeholders: Social workers, Donors (financial and electronics), Environmental associations, Customers, Charity organizations, Employees
• Revenues: Provided by customers who buy low-priced electronics, Donations

Question 3

Strategical and pathological deviation

Answer 3

• Strategical deviation = Deviation from mission in order to get resources, exploit opportunities, Address shocks
• Pathological deviation = Failure of achieving the social mission
• Managing tensions properly avoids mission drift and mission stickiness
• Perfect balance might imply addressing stakeholders demand only partially -> Real organizations deviate continuously
• Guardrails to signal whether SE is drifting too much

Question 4

Free Geek Toronto KPIs

Answer 4

• Social KPIs = 1. Number of marginalized individuals/ 2. Employment rate after training/ 3. Training hours/ 4. Social return on investment
• Commercial KPIs = 1. Revenues from sales/ 2. Customer satisfaction rate/ 3. Costs
• Hybrid KPIs = 1. ROI on training/ 2. Number of devices sold/ 3. Financial donations/ 4. Electronics donations

Question 5

How to improve Free Geek Torontos performance?

Answer 5

• Strategy Volunteers = Pro -> 1. Free labour 2. Reinforcement of social mission/ Con -> 1. Risk of mission stickiness 2. Coordination costs 3. Conflicts with paid workers/ How to manage -> 1. Careful selection of volunteers 2. Tasks specialization 3. Socialization on identity
• Strategy Production efficiency = Pro -> 1. Financial independence 2. Skills development 3. Reinforcement of mission/ Con -> 1. Risk of mission drift 2. Production over training 3. Risk of short-term orientation/ How to manage -> 1. Definition of goals 2. Formalization of procedures
• Strategy both = Pro -> Flexibility/ Con -> 1. Coordination cots 2. Complexity/ How to manage -> 1. Identity definition 2. Formalization + Collaboration

Question 6

Automatic Social Impact- Market Hybrids (Samaschool)

Answer 6

• Beneficiaries are clients that pay for a social service at reduced price
• Financial sustainability = Easy/ Risk of imbalance = low
• Board monitoring on: clients segmentation, mission
• KPI: operational KPI, regular validation of consistency with the mission

Question 7

Automatic Social Impact- Bridging Hybrids (Cotopaxi)

Answer 7

• Clients are not equal to beneficiaries/ But creating value for customers leads to increased value for beneficiaries
• Financial sustainability = Moderately difficult/ Risk of imbalance = Medium
• Board monitoring on: clients segmentation, mission (advocates of beneficiaries in the board)
• KPI: operational KPI, regular validation of consistency with the mission

Question 8

Contingent Social Impact- Coupling Hybrids (Samasource)

Answer 8

• Clients are not equal to beneficiaries/ Value creation for beneficiaries requires to engage in extra activities
• Financial sustainability = Difficult/ Risk of imbalance = High/ Most exposed to the risk of pathological imbalance
• Board monitoring on: clients segmentation, impact activities (advocates of beneficiaries in the board)
• KPI: operational KPI, impact KPIs
• Requires extra activities in order to have social impact

Question 9

Contingent Social Impact- Blending Hybrids (Ananda)

Answer 9

• Beneficiaries are clients who pay for a service/ Social impact requires additional intervention
• Financial sustainability = Moderately difficult/ Risk of imbalance = Medium
• Board monitoring on: clients segmentation, impact of activities
• KPI: operational KPI, impact KPIs
• Requires extra activities in order to have social impact

Question 10

How to measure social performance- Upward and Downward accountability (Beneficiaries)

Answer 10

• Applying for grants
• Accountability towards founders
• Promoting best practices
• Legitimize S.E.
• Show impact

Question 11

How to measure social performance- Mission Impact

Answer 11

• Which social activities are working best
• Choosing which activities implement in the future
• Comparison of different potential models/activities
• Best scaling strategies

Question 12

How to show Theory of Change

Answer 12

• Inputs (Mission) -> Activities (Mission) -> Outputs (Impact) > Outcomes (Impact) -> Impact (Impact)/ Control to Meaningfulness
• Inputs = Used resources (human, financial, material, cultural)
• Activities = Actions to be taken in implementing a program
• Outputs = Direct results of the activities (concrete deliverables)
• Outcomes = Benefits of the target population (e.g. direct results on served
  population’s situation)
• Impact = Effects on the root causes of the problem