Write a commentThe Brain Injury Foundation has recently been independently audited by the Rural Community Network using the Social Value Engine model. The results of the audit show that in the year ending March 2020 BIF generated £1,424,493 of social value across the Southern Trust. This means that for ever £1 BIF invested in its services the value to our community was just under £7. This was all achieved without government funding.
Frank Dolaghan, Chair of BIF explained “Putting a social value on the work of an organisation is a relatively new way of assessing the impact that organisation has and of measuring the value which is generated by it’s services. BIF was fortunate that our administrator, Olive Hawthorne and I were selected to participate in the programme run by Rural Community Network with the Halifax Foundation. This entailed attending several training workshops, rigorously analysing our data on services and participation and having a number of visits from the programme assessor, Conor McGale of RCN. “
Olive Hawthorne outlined that the process meant BIF had to identify a number of outcomes on which we could be assessed and we chose: Active inclusive and safe, well run, well connected, fair to everyone, thriving and well served.
The assessors then used an extremely comprehensive database of publicly available research statistics from across the UK which show the costs of providing services and then calculated that, for example, the impact of our social and recreational activities was £635,000 and the value of the contribution of our volunteers in our was over £91,000.
Frank concluded “The committee of the Foundation is delighted with the affirmation of our work which this audit provided and point out that this investment was achieved without any Government funding. The results of the audit coincide with the results of our own annual satisfaction survey among our members which recorded very impressive scores of over 90% across all our measures. BIF is owned and managed by our members who are all brain injury survivors and carers so they need to be congratulated for the huge difference their volunteering is making to the lives of both brain injury survivors and carers across the Southern Trust.
BIF looks forward to using the results of both pieces of research in our ongoing fund raising efforts and were thrilled to receive the following testimony from one of our funders in response to our social value audit. Michael Hughes, Head of Building Sustainable Communities at the Northern Ireland Community Foundation said “This is a hugely impressive report. I never cease to be encouraged, amazed and inspired by the work of the Brain Injury Foundation and its unswerving commitment to the involvement of its members in how the group is run and what activities can make a difference to the quality of life for people with an acquired brain injury and those of their families.”
BIF’s fundraiser Daryll Galloghly is currently working on a new fund raising project which is a charity golf day at Mayobridge Golf Course on Friday 18 September. Anyone interested in entering a team with the chance of winning £5000 for a hole in one or who could provide sponsorship can contact Daryll on 30839943.
