Social Return on Investment (SROI) assessment
Social Return on Investment is a methodology that converts the social outcomes of a project into financial value you can communicate and decide on.
- Total outcome value
- Would have happened anyway
- Due to others
- Fades over time
- Net value
- Investment
Illustrative figures
Social Return on Investment (SROI) is a method that converts a programme's social, environmental and economic outcomes into financial value and compares it with the investment. The result is a ratio: 3.2 : 1 means every 1 baht invested creates about 3.2 baht of social value.
Read the full summary
NXT Consulting Group carries out SROI assessments following Social Value International principles for government agencies, social enterprises, universities and organizations running CSR and ESG programmes. Each assessment defines the scope and stakeholders, builds an outcome map linking activities to the outcomes that actually occur, values outcomes with referenced financial proxies, adjusts for deadweight, attribution, displacement and drop-off, discounts to present value, and tests how sensitive the result is to key assumptions. Data comes from stakeholder surveys and interviews. NXT is registered as a juristic-person consultant with the Ministry of Finance Consultant Database Center in the Research and Evaluation (RE) field, and NXT's own work includes an SROI assessment of a unit under the Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University.
- SVI
- Following Social Value International principles
- 50+
- Projects the team has evaluated with SROI in two pieces of work, including DMIND
- 4 adjustments
- Deadweight, attribution, displacement and drop-off
- RE
- Registered consultant, Ministry of Finance, research and evaluation
How an SROI assessment works
- 01
Scope & stakeholders
Identify who is affected and which outcomes matter to the decision.
- 02
Map the outcomes
Link activities to the outcomes they actually produce, with supporting evidence.
- 03
Monetise the value
Use defensible financial proxies to convert social outcomes into numbers.
- 04
Adjust for impact & calculate
Net out deadweight, attribution, displacement and drop-off, discount to present value, then compute the SROI ratio with a sensitivity analysis.
What is adjusted before the ratio is calculated
The value reported should be the part the programme actually caused, so these four parts are taken out first.
Deadweight
What would have happened even without the programme
Attribution
The share due to other organizations or factors
Displacement
Effects that only moved from one place to another
Drop-off
How much the effect fades each year after the programme
Thai financial proxies with sources anyone can check
Before valuing outcomes, pick values from a bank where each one links to the page with the figure, with the source text, the year it refers to and a confidence grade for the source. Also available as a CSV.
Work out an SROI, step by step
Walk through the six stages of an SROI with the worked example from NXT's workshop "SROI for everyone", or enter your own project, in the full six steps or in a simple version of three steps that asks short questions. The figures beside you update with every change.
Set the scope and count the inputs
Say what you are evaluating, for whom and over what period, then count everything that goes into the project, money and non-money alike.
Worked example: 40 farming households take part for one year, with 8 composting workshops, 48 green markets at the hospital and 20 young people running an online vegetable shop.
Total inputs 600,000 bahtInputs are spent in year 0, so they are not discounted.
Helper: value volunteer time
350 baht a day ÷ 8 hours ≈ 44 baht, within Thailand's minimum wage range of 337–400 baht a day
Volunteer time is an input, not an outcome.
Questions about calculating SROI
- What is the SROI formula?
- SROI is the present value of impact divided by total inputs. Each outcome's value is its quantity times a financial proxy, less deadweight, displacement and attribution, applied layer by layer. Later years fall by the drop-off rate and are discounted to present value. Net SROI is present value minus inputs, divided by inputs.
- What is a good SROI ratio?
- There is no international threshold. Above 1 : 1 means the social value exceeds the money spent, but the credibility of the assumptions matters more than the number. NXT's screening guide: below 1, rethink the design; above 4, recheck the assumptions.
- Which discount rate should I use?
- Use your agency's or funder's rate if there is one. This tool defaults to 3%, as in the workshop example; the HM Treasury Green Book uses 3.5%. Always state the rate and test sensitivity.
- Can this calculator replace an SROI report?
- No. It gives an estimate for learning and planning. An SROI report needs real stakeholder data, checked assumptions and a transparently documented sensitivity analysis.
This is an estimate for learning and planning, not a verified SROI report. A real evaluation listens to stakeholders, uses real data and discloses every assumption.
Method from A Guide to Social Return on Investment (Cabinet Office / SROI Network, 2012) and the Social Value International principles. Content and worked example from NXT's workshop "SROI for everyone".
328 Thai proxies with their sources are in the financial proxy bank
Who SROI is for, and when to use it
Public agencies
Needing to report a project's value to leadership, budget holders, or the public in concrete, comparable terms.
Social enterprises
Wanting to show social impact to investors or funders with numbers that can be checked.
Corporates & ESG
Measuring the return of CSR/ESG programs systematically, to guide investment and communicate to stakeholders.
What an SROI assessment delivers
The previews below are mock-ups of the formats, not client work.
Outcome map
Activities, outputs and outcomes linked, with evidence
Valuation table
Financial proxies, sources and every adjustment, line by line
Sensitivity analysis
The range of the SROI ratio when key assumptions change
Executive report
Results, limitations and recommendations for boards and funders
SROI work NXT has delivered
Examples of NXT's own engagements.
SROI evaluation of a unit's performance
The unit gained a defensible SROI figure and evidence base for reporting and future investment planning.
The team's SROI work also includes the DMIND application and projects under ETDA's electronic transactions plan: more than 50 projects evaluated across the two.
Common questions
Insights on this topic
What Is SROI? Formula, Worked Example, the 8 Principles and Assessment Steps (2026 Guide)
Read
How Many Survey Responses Make Results Reliable, and How Many Interviews Are Enough? (A 2026 Sample Size Guide for Business)
Read
Project Evaluation: Steps, the CIPP Model, Logic Models, OECD/DAC Criteria and a Worked Example
ReadOur people in this area
Piyamin TrithipcharoenchaiManaging Partner & Co-founderCo-founder of NXT, working across strategy, research and organization developmentView profile
Asst. Prof. Dr. Charuk SinghapreechaAdvisorDirector, Center for Socio-Economic Impact Assessment and Economic Possibility Study for Research Project, Faculty of Economics, Chiang Mai University · former Dean, Faculty of Economics, Kasetsart UniversityView profile
Supawit TipkanjanaratConsultantB.A. in Marketing, Chulalongkorn · formerly Senior Analyst, Vitamins Consulting & Research, and Consultant, JenosizeView profileBook a 30-minute call
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