In Australia, we have come a long way in establishing social impact measurement as a professional discipline. The formation of SIMNA to share knowledge and foster this emerging practice has been an important part of this change. But we also recognise that one of the best ways to learn is to connect with our colleagues around the world, and what better place to connect than for the SROI Network’s conference titled “Social Value Matters” in Milan, Italy, during summer!

The SROI Network is a network just like SIMNA. And just like SIMNA, the SROI Network is nothing without its members. SROI Network members are scattered all over the world, and each practitioner or investor believes that we need to account for the value that is being created (or destroyed) by our investments. SROI is a framework with a set of guiding principles, so each individual practitioner or investor brings their own specific professional and cultural frame of reference as to how to apply SROI.

The conference was a melting pot (literally and metaphorically). There were practitioners and investors from around the world: all over Europe, USA, Canada, China, Japan and five Australians! Some of the most important organisations in impact investing and social value were there too including Acumen Fund, New Philanthropy Capital and nef. For the whole program, please see the Social Value Matters website. There were robust discussions that were sometimes technical or academic, other times practical, but always intense and with a sense of urgency (what can I do now!). Some of the challenges identified include:

• What is the best place to start to account for value?
• How rigorous is good enough for an SROI analysis or report?
• Given SROI is fundamentally about equity in our society, how can we make this mainstream and move people to action?

The structure of the conference allowed group discussions throughout the two days, which is necessary in an emerging field like this. (We need to know that we are at least speaking the same language before we can solve the problems of the world). In the final session, the key themes that had emerged were shared with everyone. It is a distillation of where we are at, as a society, in our ability to meaningfully account for the things that matter most. The most important themes to emerge were:

• Standardisation of approaches, outcomes, indicators etc. is critical to gaining more traction, but this needs to be informed from the bottom-up
• We need to share the good, the bad, and the ugly, if we are to really learn about what works
• The long term focus is to change policy, regulations and the law to achieve systemic change; and the short term focus is on improving rather proving

These are messages that I am sure resonate with social impact or SROI practitioners and investors in Australia. Let’s make sure we keep these themes in mind as we go out about making Australia a better place through more effectively measuring and accounting for the changes that matter most.

Simon Faivel, July 2014