services
Alice Jones Impact Consulting offers support and expertise to organisations at all stages in their social value journey,
helping them to more effectively plan, deliver, and measure social value.
Social value is a journey
I often hear this statement, as people work through the steps towards improving their social value and capturing their impact. It implies several things: You have to start somewhere – take the first step. You learn from taking action, and get better and more mature in your social value understanding and practices over time. It takes time to embed and build a wider foundation across your organisation. And there is no perfect solution – it’s about finding out what works for you. Officially, we call this the social value management cycle – plan, do, assess, review (click here to see my visualisation of the social value cycle).
Alice Jones Impact Consulting aims to support you on this journey, with practical expertise and support at each stage.
plan
Having a clear vision of what you want your impact to be is the first step in making it happen. I offer the following services to help organisations better plan for social value:
Theory of Change: A widely-recognised approach to help organisations define their long term vision and the steps that will help them get there. This process includes engaging with stakeholders (be that staff, commissioners, customers or beneficiaries) to understand what local needs are and how you can best make a difference, and then mapping out how to get there. I provide clients with a visual summary of their Theory of Change to clearly communicate your goals to staff and stakeholders.
Build an outcomes framework: The Theory of Change process helps define a set of outcomes, which provides a framework for identifying and measuring progress in each area. These outcomes can be aligned with other outcome frameworks that may be relevant, such as the National TOMs or government Social Value Model. Relevant indicators are assigned to each outcome to help measure change.
Social Value Strategy or Policy writing: I support organisations to clearly set out and communicate their priorities and plans by producing a Social Value Strategy or Policy.
build
Long term success in delivering social value comes from building good social value practices and embedding them in day-to-day business. To support this, I provide:
Staff engagement and communications: Success depends on bringing people along with you, so that there are social value champions at all levels and across all teams. I provide support to build engagement and communicate the key messages with staff and stakeholders.
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Building data collection tools: Another essential social value practice is tracking and monitoring your progress against your social value goals. A Social Value principle is to 'understand what changes', and this can only be done through gathering outcome-focused information from those who have been affected. I help organisations build the data collection tools to gather the information they need, using their own systems that are familiar and available to staff. The type and focus of the data and information is tailored to each organisation and their target audience - I have wide-ranging expertise in a range of data collection tools, such as health ratings, wellbeing scales, skills and personal development, financial wellbeing, etc.
Telling the stories: To really get to the 'social heart' of what we're doing, it's essential to tell the stories of change that demonstrate the personal impact on the people who are supported. I help organisations to ask the right questions and gather the stories of how people's lives have been impacted.
impact
Measuring the impact of your social value work in a credible and consistent way is essential in demonstrating the real value that you are delivering. I am an expert in this area, as an accredited Level 3 Advanced Practitioner with Social Value UK. Within this area, I offer:
Social impact assessment: I provide bespoke social impact assessments, drawing on the Social Value International Principles, to evidence and value the impact that a project or organisation generates as a result of their social value activities. Each assessment is tailored to the organisation and their specific outcomes and impact. Impact assessments include collection and analysis of robust outcomes-focused data, as well as case studies and stories of change. The assessments draw on the latest best practice in social impact measurement, including Social Return on Investment, wellbeing valuation, local economic impact, cost-benefit analysis.
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Social impact reporting: I support organisations to produce reports that are accessible and engaging, and clearly convey the central messages to a wide-ranging audience. This includes one-off project reports, annual social value reports, and ESG reports. My reports are visually engaging, using infographics, charts, pictures and text to combine the key data insights and real-life examples and stories.
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For examples of AJIC's social impact assessments and reports, click here.
Consulting
Whether you're just getting started with social value and want some support with your first steps, or you're making progress on your social value journey but would like some specific support, I can provide ad hoc, light-touch or regular social value support. Examples of the type of consulting support I can provide include:
Social value in procurement or tendering: If your organisation buys goods or services from others, you may be thinking about how you could generate additional social value through your supply chain. I support organisations to develop their own social value criteria in procurement exercises, and also support their suppliers to be part of their social value journey.
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Or you may be a business that is bidding for a contract or framework agreement, that requires you to provide a social value proposal. I support organisations, including SMEs, to develop their social value proposal - including support and training on using social value systems such as the Social Value Portal (National TOMs) system; developing quantitative and qualitative responses, and writing a supporting Social Value Policy.
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Workshops and training: I can provide group workshops or training sessions for stakeholders (e.g. Board, executive team, suppliers and partners) and staff, covering topics such as introduction to social value, consultation or engagement sessions, training on social value measurement etc.
Research, analysis, insight: I am a professional researcher, and can provide research into specific topics to provide you with evidence-based insight, to shape and inform your social value decisions.