How do social enterprises actually use impact measurement to make decisions on their business strategies and approaches?

Abridged excerpt from book “51 Questions on Social Entrepreneurship“.  

Impact Measurement

Mission-driven companies use, information about impact measurement gained in applying for a certification or seal is used in company operations and decision-making. An example of this is Ben and Jerry’s, which used information about impact measurement from their B corporation certification to make decisions along their supply chain. Once they were able to quantify their social impact, they sought suppliers who also shared their values.

Impact measurement can help a company or organization align with entities that also share their values and commitment to impact. By doing so, an entire industry can create social impact as whole, through the collective effect of independent and incremental decisions.

In the immediate or most initial way, measuring social impact can create an independent success benchmark by which a social enterprise or entity can gauge its own progress.

This is an abridged excerpt from the book, “51 Questions on Social Entrepreneurship” by Neetal Parekh. You can learn more and buy the entire book—which is told as a story of three aspiring social entrepreneurs and which dives into key aspects of social entrepreneurship including defining the space, legal structures, securing funding, and measuring impact at 51questions.com