Social Impact Measurement

Rationale

To earn public trust and guide decision-making, social innovation must be measured, not just for performance, but for learning, accountability, and systemic change. Yet most countries lack robust, standardized tools to capture the social value of innovation. Where measurement exists, it is often fragmented, project-based, or donor-driven. This objective aims to create meaningful, participatory, and policy-relevant frameworks for assessing impact at national and global levels. By fostering common indicators and adaptable tools, GCSI can help governments track what truly matters.

Key Insights

Few formal frameworks

Few countries have formal frameworks for measuring social innovation at a national level.

Localized and disconnected

Impact measurement is typically localized and disconnected, often led by NGOs or donors without links to policy or budget decisions.

Public sector cost savings

Portugal expressed interest in connecting innovation outcomes with public sector cost savings

Practical measurement

Participants stressed the importance of making measurement practical, not overly technical — and ensuring it reflects values like equity, dignity, and sustainability, not just numerical outputs.

Understanding ROII

Countries want to understand return on innovation investment (ROII) and use it to better make the case internally for supporting social innovation.

Proposed Actions

1. Co-Create a Global Social Innovation Impact Framework

GCSI will participate in a consultative process to develop a flexible framework that includes:

Core indicators aligned with the SDGs and local goals;
Modules for economic, environmental, and social impact dimensions;
A participatory design process that includes civil society and grassroots voices;
Adaptable formats for low-resource settings or data-scarce environments.

2. Develop National Measurement Toolkits

Working with ministries, national statistics oﬃces, and ecosystem actors, GCSI will:

Create country-level measurement blueprints with real-world data sources;
Support pilot testing in diverse administrative contexts;
Oﬀer public training materials and onboarding programs;
Integrate tools with the Knowledge and Practice Hub.

3. Build a Repository of Use Cases

This includes:

Documenting how countries link social innovation to cost savings or administrative reform;
Sharing examples of frameworks used by countries, cooperatives and other social innovation actors;
Producing open-access reports and case briefs in plain language.

4. Support Capacity-Building and Local Evaluation Systems

GCSI will oﬀer support for:

Impact literacy programs for government staﬀ and community leaders;
Cross-border mentorship for public oﬃcials and data teams;
Peer learning on embedding social value metrics into procurement, licensing, and regulation.

Expected Outcomes

Facilitate cross-border learning on relevant impact frameworks in at least 5 countries by Year 3.

Deployment of pilot measurement toolkits in 5 national or regional contexts.

Compilation of 25+ documented use cases of measurement for public value.

Strengthened national capacity to measure, fund, and legitimize social innovation based on outcomes.

Tangible integration of measurement into policy design, budgeting, and evaluation cycles.

Summary

Measurement is not about proving — it’s about improving. This objective helps governments and communities move from anecdote to evidence, enabling smarter investments, inclusive learning, and long-term legitimacy. By grounding innovation in real outcomes, GCSI will elevate the role of impact as a driver of strategy, not just an afterthought.

Objective 4: Social Impact Measurement