You told us, we listened
Our members and networks are the driving force behind Social Value International. It is through supporting and working in collaboration with members that we advocate for a wider adoption of social value and impact measurement and management.
Which is why it is so important to us that we offer the very best membership to all our community.
You told us ….
Earlier this year, we sent a survey to all of our members to find out why you joined Social Value International, what you like about the membership, what you’d like to see more of, and how we can improve.
This stakeholder feedback has been invaluable to us and has helped us develop a new membership strategy that we believe will ensure long-term support to our members across the world.
In our survey, we asked you why you joined Social Value International, and you answered:
To learn SROI and how to apply the methodology
To become an Accredited Practitioner
To become a leader in Social Value and IMM
To build skills and knowledge
From this we learnt that building your skills and knowledge, learning how to practically apply the methodology and receiving recognition for achieving your personal and professional impact goals are all important factors in why members join.
And when we asked you what benefits you have found most useful throughout your membership, you told us
Webinars: 63% of respondents
Conferences (Social Value Matters): 59.3% of respondents
Training: 51.9% of respondents
were the most useful benefits for you.
Other commonly used services included the Practitioner Package (33.3%), the Practitioner Status Pathway (25.9%), workshops (25.9%) and report assurance (22.2%).
Whilst feedback regarding membership was overall positive, some members told us that they were not 100% sure on how they could utilize the benefits of membership and struggled to feel connected to the organization and the wider membership.
So, in order to know how to improve these benefits, we asked you what you would like to see more of and you told us:
Practical examples of how to embed social value into your organisational activities: 63% of respondents.
Webinars: 63% of respondents
Networking opportunities: 59.3% of respondents
Peer-to-peer learning and support: 59.3% of respondents
Many respondents also told us you would also like to engage with online workshops (51.9%), individual accreditation (51.9%), more in-depth training (48.1%), an improved members area (40.7%) and working/thought leadership groups (40.7%).
We also asked you about the price point of membership, and whether you felt the membership was accessible to you. For organizations, we seem to have got this right, but for individuals some changes needed to be made.
We listened…
Your feedback has helped us better understand how we can support our members, where we are getting it right, and how we can improve and today we are excited to launch 2 new updates to the membership!
1) From today, we will be tiering the price of our individual membership. Whilst your feedback tells us the price is right for members in high income countries, it remains inaccessible for many members of our global network. SVI are committed to ensuring all our services are as globally accessible as possible, and so we will offer a tiered pricing structure to our individual membership based on World Bank Country Classifications.
Individual Membership with Social Value International will now cost individuals in:
Low and Lower Middle-Income Countries £15
Upper Middle-Income Countries £30
High Income Countries £50 (remaining the same)
We also want to ensure the price is accessible to students, and so will be requesting students email us so we can assess their unique circumstances and offer a membership that’s right for them.
2) From today, we will also be restructuring the way in which we offer and frame the benefits of your membership. Instead of the old structuring of benefits (“get involved”, “save money” etc), we will be supporting our members through 6 clear pillars of engagement which we hope will make it much clearer how we support members, what the benefits are, and how our members can get involved.
These 6 new pillars of membership support are:
Engagement and Collaboration - We work collaboratively with our members and global community under the shared goal of changing the way the world accounts for value. Our membership provides the global community a space to share knowledge, experience, challenges, solutions and create the standards for best practice.
Skills Building and Professional Development – We offer our members the opportunity to increase knowledge, improve skills and enhance professional competence meaning they can improve the impacts of the organisations they work with.
Empowerment – We work to enable an engaged community that can drive forward opportunities for action and ensure that our members have the power to influence and change decision-making.
Visibility - We amplify our members’ voices by offering them a platform to demonstrate their knowledge and commitment to social value and increase their visibility through various national, regional, and international communication and engagement opportunities.
Network Development - We work with our members to develop global and regional networks that can support the growth and development of our international community.
Events and Conferences – We host events and conferences that provide an opportunity to convene Social Value Leaders and our international community to drive forward innovation and best practice.
As well as these 2 updates, as a result of your feedback, you will see a number of changes to the membership service taking place over the coming months, including:
A brand-new members area! We have been working hard to develop a new members area that will facilitate networking opportunities, peer-to-peer learning and support, and improved members-only learning opportunities. This is designed to support both members of SVI directly, but also members of our wider Joint Member Network community and we believe it will transform the way we engage with one another.
Changes to the way we deliver the Level 1: Social Value Associate to make it easier for you to start your professional pathway and receive the international recognition for your work. Updates on this will be coming out in early August.
An increase in the number of webinars and online discussions, which we commit to hosting at least once a month. We also want to ensure members have the chance to learn from each other and so will be expanding opportunities for members to deliver webinars.
We will be working with our members and partners to build a library of case studies and practical examples of how you can measure and manage your social value. If you are interested in helping us shape these case studies or have a case study to share, please reach out to our Director of Impact Adam Richards.
Improvements to the Practitioner Package (which is being re-branded as the E-Learning Zone) to support your learning.
A brand-new website. We understand that the current SVI site makes is difficult you to understand the benefits of membership or how to engage, and so will are launching a brand-new website next month.
We will also be working with our Global Networks and Partners to support the development of training to meet your needs.
As well as the changes to membership benefits, and the way in which we will support you and engage with you, Social Value International has also adopted a number of organization commitments which make us accountable to our mission and our members:
Be Inclusive – We are committed to a culture of inclusivity to ensure that all voices are heard, respected and valued equally. Throughout our organisation and membership, we ensure and expect mutual respect, dignity for all and equality of opportunity.
Be Collaborative – We commit to working in partnership with our members, and all others who share our vision, to create communities that actively participate in the direction of the movement.
Be Transparent – We commit to being open and honest. We will lead by example and be truthful of our successes and our failings.
Be Brave – We commit to taking calculated risks and pursuing new opportunities when they help us to achieve our mission. We are bold to call out others when appropriate standards have not been met.
Be Professional – We commit that everything we do is to the highest standards. Wherever we work we will do so with honesty, integrity and excellence.
Be Responsive – We commit to engaging, listening and acting. By being inclusive, collaborative, transparent, brave and professional, we will lead and adapt to achieve our mission.
To find out more about the changes we are making to your membership benefits, how to get involved, and for a demo of the brand-new members area, register for the upcoming webinar with Becca and Lukia on 10th August at 10AM BST.