Issues in evaluating the distinctive contribution and impact of the ‘third sector’

1. Issues in evaluating the distinctive contribution and impact of the ‘third sector’ Malin Arvidson Stephen McKay Domenico Moro

2. Contents • Researching the third sector workforce • Frameworks for evaluation of Third Sectors Organizations

3. Distinctive features: employment and workforce • Small size (2.6% of employment) and uncertainty about boundaries • Importance of volunteering as a labour input • Role of philanthropy … but also contracts from public sector

4. How many people does the sector employ?

5. Employees - distinctiveness • Percentage of workers in the VCS rises quite strongly with age (Proportion of workers in the VCS in 2008)

6. Employees - distinctiveness • Percentage of workers in the VCS according to their education. (Proportion in 2008)

7. Employers - distinctiveness • Many part-time jobs (2008)

8. Growth of the sector: 1997-2010

9. Under-employment

10. Industries affected by the recession-Private • These are suffering the most

11. Industries • Health, social work, education and real estate cover 93.5% of VCS employment • Using the SIC 92 classification • In 2008, of 100 workers in VCS • 62 were working in health & social work • 13 were in other social / community • 10.5 in education • 8 in real estate

12. Growing industries all with strong VCS presence are still growing

13. … within these industries VCS is doing better than private sector. Relative growth of selected industries from Q1 2007 to Q1 2010

14. 2. Framework for evaluation • Ideas of value • Created, instrumental, and intrinsic value • Theory of change approach • Cost-Benefit analyst approach • Value for money • Efficiency • Savings

15. Social Return on Investment (SROI) • General move from input/output focus • Now: outcome, impact and theory-of-change approaches • ‘value for money’, savings, and added value are important concepts • The project Measuring Social Value is behind SROI UK, funded by OTS, running from 2008-2011

16. Social Return on Investment (SROI) In relation to an organisational evaluation: • an adjusted cost-benefit-analysis • allows for social, environmental and financial values to be appreciated The SROI project is envisioned to contribute to: • reducing inequality • preventing environmental degradation • improve well-being

17. SROI: Strengths Strengths: • ideally engages stakeholders that come from very different backgrounds • clarifies the organisation’s theory of change • encourages better understanding of concepts such as drop-off, deadweight, and attribution

18. SROI: Weaknesses Weaknesses: • based on imprecise ideas about pricing and savings • does not recognise the different dimensions of ‘value’ • leaves ample room for discretion and manipulation

19. TSRCwww.tsrc.ac.uk Existing papers • Paper 28: The growing workforce in the voluntary and community sectors, Domenico Moro and Stephen McKay • Paper 27: Impact and evaluation of the third sector, Malin Arvidson • Paper 26: Business or the Third Sector, Andrea Westall • Paper 25: Value and the Third Sector, Andrea Westall • Paper 14: Economic analysis and the third sector, Andrea Westall

20. TSRC Forthcoming papers • Stephen McKay and Domenico Moro, Recession and the ‘third sector’ Workforce consequences, TSRC Working Paper • Stephen McKay and Domenico Moro, Is job satisfaction really higher in the voluntary sector? A longitudinal analysis. TSRC Working Paper • Stephen McKay, Domenico Moro, Arvidson, M. and F. Lyon; The promises and problems of SROI, TSRC Working Paper • Stephen McKay, Domenico Moro, The economic value of volunteering, TSRC Working Paper • Rebecca Edwards, Graham Smith and MilenaBüchs (forthcoming) Mainstreaming the Environment: The Third Sector and Environmental Performance Management, TSRC Working Paper • Arvidson, M. and F. Lyon (forthcoming) Reporting social impact: practices, processes and power, TSRC Working Paper