Open Access Article SciPap-908
The Social Return on Investmen: The Case Study of Community Cultural Centre
by Miriam Šebová 1,* iD icon

1 Faculty of Economics, Department of Regional Sciences and Management, Technical University of Košice, Němcovej 32, Košice 04001, Slovakia

* Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Abstract: The paper examines the method of the Social Return on Investment (SROI) which is increasingly drawn to evaluate the social impacts of programs or projects in nonprofit or public sector. SROI helps to understand the „social value“ generated by these activities and compares it with „the costs“. The conceptual framework of SROI is based on similar principles as CBA (cost-benefit analysis). It tries to quantify and monetise the social value into financial values, which result in an SROI coefficient. The most important phase of implementation of SROI is the application of „Theory of change“. It has to enable the understanding of the impacts of the analysed activities on the stakeholders. The paper is focused on the theoretical routes of SROI, there are described the main features of the method and also discussed its limitations. In the second part of the paper is introduced the case study – SROI Analysis of the community cultural centre in Košice. This case study is the first application of SROI analysis in Slovakia.

Keywords: Evaluation, Sroi Analysis, Impact Measurement, Social Impact, Culture

JEL classification:  L3 - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise,   R58 - Regional Development Planning and Policy

SciPap 2018, 26(1), 908

Received: 14 August 2017 / Accepted: 4 January 2018 / Published: 5 April 2018