A Guide to Social Return on Investment (Revised)

A Guide to Social Return on Investment (Revised) is a foundational practitioner manual designed to help social enterprises, non-profit organizations, and social investors measure and account for the broader social, environmental, and economic value created by their activities. Written by Jeremy Nicholls, Eilis Lawlor, Eva Neitzert, and Tim Goodspeed, and published by Social Value UK (formerly The SROI Network), this guide presents a standardized, step-by-step methodology for calculating Social Return on Investment (SROI). The framework guides users through six key stages: scoping the analysis and identifying key stakeholders, mapping outcomes through logic models, evidencing outcomes and assigning financial proxies, establishing impact by accounting for deadweight, displacement, and attribution, calculating the SROI ratio, and reporting and embedding findings into organizational decision-making. By translating social and environmental outcomes into monetary values, the guide enables organizations to demonstrate impact, optimize resource allocation, and enhance accountability. This open-access guide serves as an essential instructional and practical reference for students, academics, and professionals in social entrepreneurship, non-profit management, community economic development, and impact evaluation.