The worked example – indicators
Look at the Impact Map for Wheels-to-Meals on page 103: the blue section shows
you how the columns for indicators has been completed.
The indicators for some outcomes were quite straightforward. For example, the
outcome ‘fewer hospital admissions’ has a simple indicator: number of hospital
admissions.
In other cases – healthier residents, for example – indicators needed to be identified
to measure the outcome described. In this case, Wheels-to-Meals chose an objective
indicator (‘fewer GP visits’) and a subjective indicator (‘number of residents reporting
improved health’). The subjective and objective indicators support each other.
Checking your indicators
Now that you have indicators that are relevant to the stakeholder and scope, you need
to check that they are not only measurable but that you will be able to measure them
within the scope and the resources you have set.
Stag Stag
If you are completing a forecast SROI report you need to check that you could
e
reasonably measure your indicators in future. If you are doing an evaluative SROI
e
 
analysis, you need to check the cost of collecting information about outcomes that have
happened, if the information is not available. This can be expensive as it can involve
surveys of people who are no longer involved with your organisation. If, for example,
a survey is not possible, one of the recommendations is likely to be to change the way
you capture information in future.
Sometimes your stakeholder will only achieve the outcome they seek later on, when
they are no longer working with you. You will need to maintain contact with your
stakeholders to make sure you capture this and that you therefore have indicators
that are relevant to your stakeholders. This can be done through postal and telephone
surveys and can be limited to a representative sample. You may need to provide a
financial incentive for your stakeholders to respond.
Measure what matters
A common mistake here is to misinterpret what we mean by measurable. A basic
principle of SROI is to measure and value the things that matter. Measurability
means expressing the outcome indicator in terms that are measurable, rather
than finding an indicator that is easy to measure.
Avoid the trap of using inappropriate indicators just because they are readily
available. If the outcome is important you will need to find a way to measure it.
A guide to Social Return on Investment 
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