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Global Social Impact Analysts Association partners with Social Asset Measurements Inc to facilitate a national conversation on impact analysis

The Social Impact Analysts Association (SIAA), a global body that connects and supports professional social impact analysts has partnered with Social Asset Measurements (SAM) to facilitate a national conversation on impact analysis. Given the growing interest in analyzing social impact, and its nascent stage of development in Canada, it was deemed that there was an opportunity to establish SIAA Canada.

SIAA Canada will focus on convening discussions with Canadian impact analysts on key issues affecting impact measurement within the Canadian context. As a starting point, SIAA Canada will discuss key issues in Canadian impact analysis, such as:

• Barriers and strategies for engaging with impact measurement in a bilingual environment;
• Challenges to impact measurement in different domestic contexts;
• Opportunities and best practices for addressing these barriers through Canada-specific impact measurement.

In order to convene these discussions, SAM and SIAA have invited various Canadian experts on impact measurement onto an Advisory Group. The Advisory Group has a range of impact measurement professionals focusing on both qualitative and quantitative impact measurement. These organizations and individuals include:

Organization Affiliates

• Charity Intelligence, with representation from Greg Thomson

Since 2006, Charity Intelligence has worked to find the most effective charities across Canada to give donors information that will help inform their giving decisions.  Charity Intelligence has recently released a report on the current state of social results reporting by Canadian charities and is working to determine the best ways of measuring social impact.

• Social Asset Measurements, with representation from Anshula Chowdhury

Social Asset Measurements Inc. is Canada’s leading provider of software based impact measurement solutions for non-profits, for-profits, and the public sector. SAM also provides consulting services to organizations to assist them in developing and implementing measurement systems.

Individual Affiliates

• Viola Dessanti Senior Analyst, Research and Evaluation in the Performance and Strategic Initiatives Department at the Ontario Trillium Foundation. Viola has recently led several projects to move the Foundation’s performance measurement agenda, including leading the development of outcome indicators for the new OTF Strategic Framework; developing and implementing a plan to track and demonstrate the economic and SROI of the sector; and leading the evaluation of the Future Fund and Community Capital Fund programs.

• Simon Anderson, Manager of Western Canada at Social Asset Measurements. Prior to joining Social Asset Measurement, (SAM) Simon worked with Human Resources and Skills Development Canada where he focused on the Canadian social finance landscape and was awarded a Deputy Minister’s Award for Excellence in Policy Development. With SAM, Simon works with organizations to develop and implement impact measurement systems.

• Kate Ruff is a PhD Candidate in Accounting at Schulich School of Business, York University.  Her research focuses on the implications of different approaches to measuring and reporting social results. Prior to returning to school, Kate was the lead researcher at Charity Intelligence Canada (Ci), responsible for developing methods for assessing the social impact of charities. She has worked as a consultant to non profits, and social enterprises in Canada, UK and Nepal, specializing in evaluating double bottom line organizations. Kate has a B.Com from McGill University and a MSc. from the London School of Economics.

• Erica Barbosa Vargas, Social Finance Officer at The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation. Erica is leading the Social Finance strategy at McConnell, which includes defining the frameworks of assessment and evaluation, the metrics for impact and complementary tools for impact investing.  She is also involved in the development of indicators for the Sustainable Food Systems initiative using a bottom up approach with the assistance of Social Asset Measurements; exploring the implementation of Impact Reporting  & Investment Standards and developing customized metrics where needed; and testing PULSE as a reporting and aggregation tool. In addition, Erica has extensive experience working in impact and policy evaluation in international development, particularly in relation to poverty reduction, education and economic development.

For further information, please contact Anshula Chowdhury at 647.606.4787.

Social Asset Measurements Inc. is Canada’s leading provider of software based impact measurement solutions for non-profits, for-profits, and the public sector.
With a clear focus on research and product development, Social Asset Measurements has led the way in providing cutting-edge tools for impact measurement such as the Ira Impact Reporting & Management Suite, the leading Canadian software product for Social Return on Investment reporting and management. In addition, with the support of the National Research Council of Canada, SAM has created the Sabita Indicator & Financial Proxy Database. For further information, please visit www.socialassets.org.

Extract taken from Social Asset Measurement Inc. website here.