From data input to reporting, this hypothetical case demonstration will walk you through the steps to utilize the SROI calculator.

Scenario

Opened in January 2016, Listen With Heart is a social enterprise restaurant whose mission is to empower the hearing impaired by offering them job training and opportunities.

As of the end of December 2019, a total sum of $5,000,000 had been invested into the operation. Sources of the investment encompassed initial capital provided by the founders, government grants, and donations from the public.

Within the investment period, the restaurant hired 8 hearing-impaired individuals as line employees at an hourly rate of $60. In addition, a manager who was also experiencing hearing impairment was hired at an hourly rate of $200. For each line employee and the manager, the working hours totalled 9,360 (9 hours per day x 1040 days).

As regards the on-the-job training, a 100-hour skills enhancement program was offered to each of the line employee at the start of the employment.

The restaurant had also distributed 500 boxed meals to the underprivileged elderly, with a view to serving the needy in the neighbourhood. Each boxed meal was worth $25.

Finally, 2 line employees were interviewed during a program on the radio as they shared stories of Listen With Heart with the audience. The interview lasted for 20 minutes.

Fill in the general information of the project.

The user will need to answer two questions before entering information in “Social Return”:

1. What are the social outcome(s) generated by the restaurant?

2. Who are the corresponding target beneficiaries?

Five outcomes are identified in this hypothetical case, with hearing-impaired individuals and the elderly being the two primary target beneficiary groups.

1. Increasing the income of hearing-impaired line employees.

2. Enhancing the employability of the hearing-impaired line employees by providing them on-the-job training.

3. Increasing the income of the hearing-impaired manager.

4. Raising public awareness on the well-being of the hearing impaired via the radio interview

5. Distributing free boxed meals to the elderly people  

After gathering information for each outcome (please see below), the user can to proceed to “Social Return”.  

1st Outcome

Increasing the income of line employees

• Choose “People with disabilities” as the target beneficiary.
• Type “8” as the number of target beneficiaries reached (number of line employees hired).
  
• Choose “enhance income” as the type of social outcome.
• Choose “service and sales workers” as the financial proxy, with the proxy amount being “$60” (hourly rate).
• Type “9360” as the number of units provided to each target beneficiary (number of working hours for each employee).

To account for the second outcome, click the “+” button.

2nd Outcome

Enhancing the employability of line employees

• Choose “People with disabilities” as the target beneficiary.
• Type “8” as the number of target beneficiaries reached (number of line employees who received training).
  
• Choose “enhance employability” as the type of social outcome for the on-the-job training.
• Choose “job training program” as the financial proxy.
• The calculator automatically provides the proxy amount of “$110” (worth of each hour) for reference, where the amount is retrieved from some commonly used sources.
• The user may input the reference amount if s/he sees the amount and corresponding sources reasonable.
  
• Type “100” as the number of units per target beneficiary (hours for each employee).

3rd Outcome

Increasing the manager’s income

• Choose “People with disabilities” as the target beneficiary.
• Type “1” as the number of target beneficiaries reached (number of manager).
  
• Choose “enhance income” as the number of target beneficiaries reached.
• Choose “managers and administrators, professionals and associate professionals” as the financial proxy, with the proxy amount being “$200” (hourly rate).
• Type “9360” as the number of units per target beneficiary (total number of working hours of the manager).

4th Outcome

Raising public awareness

• Choose “People with disabilities” as the target beneficiary.
• Type “1” as the number of target beneficiaries reached since the entire population of the group would benefit from the increased public awareness.
  
• Choose “public awareness” as the type of social outcome.
• Choose “radio interview” as the financial proxy.
• The calculator automatically provides the proxy amount of “$158000” (per 10 minutes) for reference, where the amount is retrieved from some commonly used sources.
  
• The user may input the reference amount if s/he sees the amount and corresponding sources reasonable.
• Type “2” as the number of units provided to each target beneficiary (20 minutes / 10 minutes).

5th Outcome

Distributing free boxed meals to the elderly

• Choose “Elderly” as the target beneficiary.
• Type “500” as the number of target beneficiaries reached (number of elderly people reached).
  
• Choose “living cost” as the type of social outcome.
• Choose “food” as the financial proxy.
• The calculator automatically provides an proxy amount in reference to some commonly used sources.
  
• Since the exact proxy amount is known to the user, change the proxy amount to “$25” (market price of each meal).
• Type “1” as the number of units provided to each target beneficiary (number of meal enjoyed by each elderly person).

After filling in all the information in “Social Return”, click “Calculate”.

Results

• The total amount of social return at the end of 2019 December (the end of period of investment) is $6,656,817.51 (present value).
• The ROI estimate is 1:1.33, indicating that for each $1 invested, it yields $1.33 monetized social return.
• The breakdown of results by (1) type of target beneficiary, (2) type of outcomes, (3) year, and (4) forecast is also available.