Island Council
Orkney Islands Council
Evidencing cultural investment value
Orkney Islands Council used the Social Value Engine to translate cultural investment data into tangible social value metrics, building the evidence base needed to sustain long-term funding for community programmes.
Orkney Islands Council struggled to demonstrate the value of its cultural investments. By customising the Social Value Engine, the team translated qualitative and quantitative data into tangible social value metrics, bolstering the case for ongoing funding. This evidence-driven approach has also fostered innovative community initiatives, enhancing accountability and long-term impact.
"The engine allows us to use collected data meaningfully. It's now central to our reporting and has been warmly received by our councillors."
Dr Emma Gee
Arts Officer, Orkney Islands Council
The challenge
Cultural and arts investment is notoriously difficult to justify in purely financial terms, yet Orkney Islands Council needed to demonstrate to elected members and funders that its cultural programmes were delivering measurable community benefit alongside positive experiences. Without credible social value evidence, programmes faced budget pressure and funding uncertainty.
The solution
The council worked with the Social Value Engine to build a customised approach, with the framework specifically tailored around the council's own values and priorities. This captured both quantitative participation data and qualitative wellbeing outcomes, translating them into tangible social value metrics using the platform's validated proxy library. The resulting SROI analyses gave decision-makers clear, defensible evidence of what cultural investment was returning to the island community.
Key outcomes
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