When people hear ‘social value', they often picture a business writing a cheque, giving up a day of volunteering or providing a contribution that can be recorded and reported. I used to think about it in similar terms. Several years and around 4,000 matches later, I think about it differently.
There absolutely is a transactional piece to this. There is an exchange – but it's based on what Adam Smith called hundreds of years ago ‘flexible specialisation.' The exchange between businesses and community organisations on relative strengths and weaknesses – the businesses resource and obligation but lack of local knowledge, on one hand. The need for resource and local knowledge of community organisations on the other.
But the biggest thing I have learned is that a partnership starts with the transaction and rarely ends when a community project is completed. In many cases, this is where it starts. We have seen relationships grow beyond one or two matches, with businesses and community organisations developing a better understanding of each other and finding new ways to work together.
This has changed how I think about where the value sits.
My observation is that the steady drip of resources into our community sector and into our communities can build resilience in our communities, making them less vulnerable – to all sorts of things, including dangerous ideologies.
To the earlier point about exchange, community organisations understand their communities in a way that others can't. They know the people they support, the challenges they face and what would make a difference. Perhaps most importantly, there is genuine empathy and trust.
Businesses bring resources, but those resources become more useful when they are channelled into community projects underpinned by that empathy and trust.
I think this is where we sometimes get social value backwards. The conversation can start with what has been provided: how much money was donated, how many hours were volunteered, or how much a contribution was worth. These figures matter. They help demonstrate what has happened and give authorities a way to report on delivery. But they do not tell the whole story.
My observation is that the steady drip of resources into our community sector and into our communities can build resilience in our communities, making them less vulnerable – to all sorts of things, including dangerous ideologies.
At The Hamlet Wigan CIC, for example, JJH Contractors Ltd helped improve the physical environment for young adults with additional needs. The work included improvements to pathways, roofing, bathrooms and access into the building. The value was that it helped create a safer and more accessible space for an organisation delivering life skills, confidence and independence.
At Lowton Community Hub, electrical expertise is helping create the infrastructure for Slice of Hope, a youth pizzeria designed to give young people opportunities to learn and develop.
These projects show that the most valuable resource a business can offer is not necessarily money. It can be expertise, time, equipment, partnership or access to something a community organisation could not otherwise reach. Sometimes it is training young people in interview skills, and it can be helping someone unemployed for eight months find a route into work.
At Match My Project, we have learned that the relationships behind a project matters enormously. Trust develops when organisations know who they are working with, understand what each other needs and have a reason to come back.
For me, social value is about creating the conditions for these partnerships to happen and develop. It means connecting the resources businesses have with the knowledge and experience already sitting within communities, then giving those relationships the opportunity to grow.
I believe that is where social value is heading. We will see more focus on the partnership itself, the outcomes it creates and the relationships that continue beyond an individual project. The opportunity is to move the conversation from what was given to what was achieved, and from one-off transactions towards partnerships that create lasting value for communities.
Dan Ebanks is co-founder and chief executive of Match My Project
