Visualizing Social Return on Investment: A Case Study

Social Return on Investment (SROI) offers a way for not-for-profit organizations to account for impacts that are difficult to monetize in a traditional cost benefit or return on investment analysis. While SROI account for non-monetized costs and benefits, it can be difficult to represent these factors next to a traditional return on investment rate. This case study SROI of a youth summer program uses data visualization to highlight both the monetized and non-monetized impact of a program. The SROI was completed using data on program costs, staffing, activities, and desired outcomes. Additional data was collected through participant and alumni surveys, as well as a qualitative video story project. Monetized benefits were found by assigning dollar value to participants’ educational and training opportunities, the income earned by participants over the course of the summer, and volunteer hours provided to community partners. Significant non-monetized benefits include participant work experience, mentoring relationships, leadership experience, volunteer experience, and supportive peer relationships. The community also benefited from increased volunteerism and leadership roles taken on by program participants. The summary report of these findings uses data visualization principles to show both the monetary return on investment and the additional benefits for participants and the community. This approach can help to convey a program’s impact to stakeholders and funders, and is a way to bridge quantitative and qualitative analyses of program effectiveness