Demonstrating value for money through a Social Return on Investment (SROI) analysis
The challenge
Blue Light Victoria (BLV) is a not-for-profit organisation delivering community outreach, positive youth development, and mentoring programs for disadvantaged young people aged 10-25 in Australia.
To communicate its value to stakeholders and potential funders, BLV needed a robust, credible, and evidence-based picture of how its programs create social impact and provide value for money.
How we helped
We conducted a Social Return on Investment (SROI) analysis covering BLV’s four main programs for young people. SROI is a form of economic evaluation that measures the social impact of programs (expressed in money terms) compared to the resources they require. It focuses on including hard-to-quantify outcomes that are often missed in traditional approaches like cost-benefit analysis.
We leveraged BLV’s existing theory of change, program logics, monitoring data, and past evaluation reports to complete the SROI, making sure we used all the work BLV had already done. We supplemented this with some additional data collection and a scan of key peer-reviewed and grey literature so the SROI was rigorous and evidence-based.
The SROI methodology centres programs stakeholders. We engaged key external, independent stakeholders for each program through stakeholder panels and one-on-one interviews and used their insights to corroborate, refine, and enrich the analysis.
Looking forward
The SROI allowed BLV to demonstrate the value of their work to key audiences, in terms of a core SROI ratio: the dollars of social value created compared to the investment required. As well as our Full Report, our public-facing Summary Report ensured BLV could communicate the results easily and clearly.
“The Lighthouse team are professional, collaborative, and an absolute pleasure to work with. They took the time to truly understand our organisation and the communities we serve, which is reflected in the depth and quality of their work. Their thoughtful approach, responsiveness, and commitment to meeting deadlines have made them a trusted partner. We value their ongoing support of Blue Light Victoria as a charity and look forward to continuing to work together to demonstrate and strengthen our impact.”
Client: Blue Light Victoria
2025