The Social Impact Framework
WHISE measures our impact through our Social Impact Framework. The Framework is the “other side” of our Strategic Goals, and guides how and what we measure.
Impact measurement allows us to see how we make a difference, make ourselves accountable for our work and be relevant to our partners, funders and community.
Four Key Areas of Impact
Women and girls are free from gender-based violence through primary prevention.
Mobilise partners, communities and stakeholders to prioritse work that promotes gender equality.
Promoting and celebrating optimal sexual and reproductive health.
Building capacity and capability of the regional prevention workforce.
We have been able to report on a number of ‘outputs’ as well as ‘outcomes’. Together, these two measures describe achievements and how we have influenced WHISE’s four key areas of impact.
Our outputs show “activities undertaken during the reporting period, such as number of webinars and number of attendees.
Our outcomes show the “level of performance or achievement that occurred because of the activity an organisation provided. Outcome measures are a more progressive indicator of effectiveness. Outcomes quantify performance and assess the success of the process.”
The distinction is important as WHISE wants to measure what we do, and what we achieve.
We also use the social value methodology...
Now more than ever, not-for-profit organisations are being asked to show tangible indicators of the value of their work. Through a much-welcomed scholarship from Australian Social Value Bank (ASVB), WHISE is able to measure if activity, work and our Social Impact Framework/theory of change is creating social value.
WHISE reports social impact in a range of ways. In addition to reporting against our Social Impact framework, we also use the methodology of social value as provided through the ASVB. The ASVB is the largest bank of methodologically consistent and robust social values ever produced in Australia, putting a wellresearched economic value on the improvement in wellbeing of Australians.
Throughout this report we highlight social value returns against the outcomes of our social valuation using the ASVB model and approach. To support this, our end of year accounts also contain Social Impact Valuation Statements for each project assessed this financial year. This year’s report details the social value of a discreet set of projects delivered across the period and does not include all activities of the 2020-2021 Business Plan or operating budget. The methodology, however, is consistent across all the projects and the ambition is to continue to measure and improve the valuation and social impact of our projects to consistently show the importance of primary health promotion.
The ASVB measures the activity of WHISE by assessing our evidence and evaluation against pre-populated values for social outcomes from public data holdings such as the Wellbeing Valuation method from data gathered through the HILDA (Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia) and Journeys Home surveys. Values are estimated using the same consistent and robust valuation methodology that is one of the endorsed methods used by international organisations and OECD governments. Furthermore, the methodology evaluates primary values (values of outcomes to individuals) and secondary values (values to the state/government, e.g. tax revenues).
Access further information on the methodology and ASVB.
Key definitions in reporting:
- Benefit Cost Ratio – The benefit-cost ratio gives an intuitive insight into the effectiveness of the
program, where b = benefits and c = costs. A cost-benefit ratio of greater than one indicates that the
program creates more social benefits than it costs. - Net Benefits (reported with deadweight adjustment) – The net benefit is simply net benefits = b – c
- Total Cost for WHISE to deliver the activity (reported adjusted for opportunity cost and optimism
bias).