Social Impact

In its broad definition, social impact aims at measuring
the consequences of a human activity in the
context in which it is designed, developed, and
implemented. The origin of the concept may be
dated back to the end of the 1960s, when some
agencies and organizations started to analyze the
consequences that large scale interventions, like
main infrastructures or plants, had or might have
on the equilibrium of the environment.
In terms of the work of nonprofit organizations,
social impact is a relatively new concept,
descending from the fact that, over the last
decades, its definition moved toward a concept
regarding the search for tools for planning projects
and evaluating initiatives and actions which
have important positive impacts on people’s lives,
communities, countries, or society in general.
Therefore today social impact deals with the definition
of tools and instruments for demonstrating
and accounting the impact of social programs and
projects developed by nonprofit organizations
with respect to their institutional social mission
and mission-related goals. Nowadays the real
challenge regarding social impact is the search,
by nonprofit organizations, for valid tools and
techniques for social impact assessment, measurement,
and communication, both at an ex ante level
in planning new projects, initiatives, and so on
and at an ex post level, when it is necessary to
demonstrate and “account” that the socially
responsible planned action has given the expected
results in terms of positive impacts upon the target
and/or in general on people’s well-being.