SWEE-SUM LAM, WEINA ZHANG AND GABRIEL HENRY JACOB (2015). “THE MISPRICING OF SOCIALLY AMBIGUOUS GREY STOCKS”. FINANCE RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 13, 81-89.
IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND SOCIAL PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
For social organisations to be effective, they need to understand the social impact of their activities.
ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL ENTERPRISES: AN EXPLORATION OF THE METHODS AND CRITERIA USED BY IMPACT INVESTORS AND PHILANTHROPISTS IN ASIA
Frank Roeland Hubers
This study explores how social investors in Asia measure the social impact of their investments. It contains two main sections. The first section provides an overview of the literature on social impact measurement, with a specific focus on impact assessment for social enterprises. The second section explores how investors and foundations measure and report on their social impact. Relying on publicly disclosed data, like corporate websites, evaluation reports and annual reports, I analysed the standards and practices of 77 investors and foundations. The organisations in this sample all make decisions about the allocation of funds — whether these are grants, equity or loans — to social-purpose organisations. The organisations are either grant-making foundations or impact investors that invest in social enterprises, and are operating in Asia.
A PILOT STUDY ON SINGAPORE’S SOCIAL ENTERPRISES: CHARACTERISTICS AND PERFORMANCE
Achsah Ang, Swee-Sum Lam and Weina Zhang
With the increase in sources of seed funding and publicity from beneficiaries in recent years, stakeholders in the social sector, especially donors and policymakers, are more seriously considering social enterprises as a potentially viable response to meeting social needs in the community. However, legitimacy issues persist, raising barriers to funding, sustainability and success for social enterprises. To gain a better understanding of the characteristics of social enterprises and their performance, the Asia Centre for Social Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy (ACSEP) conducted a pilot study on Singapore’s social enterprises between October 2014 and May 2015. We evaluated the extent to which these enterprises align with the five defining characteristics distilled from the Community Consultative Circle hosted by ACSEP in July 2014. Our study identified several areas for improvement for social enterprises in the sample group, including information disclosure, corporate governance, social performance measurement and sustainable growth. Although the sample size is quite limited in this pilot study, we hope that our findings may still provide some implications for the social sector at large, particularly with regard to the development of the sector, the state of social enterprises, and the attendant training and development needs of social enterprises and the sector.
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF SOCIAL SERVICE – EVALUATION OF PILOT PROGRAMME
Swee-Sum Lam and Pauline Tan
The case follows National Council of Social Service's journey to provide leadership and direction to its grantees as well as its members in the area of programme evaluation. It focuses on the evaluation processes of two pilot programmes and include the learnings and challenges. It also looks a new funding model piloted on one of the programmes.
INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP (ISSE) 2017
Keynote speech, plenary session, four papers
Proceedings
YMCA – ADAPTING THE BALANCE SCORECARD FOR NON-PROFITS
Ruth Seow Kuan Tan and Pauline Tan
YMCA of Singapore is a volunteer-based Christian organisation that seeks to serve and impact all members of the community through it programmes, services and enterprises. One of its youth development programmes is University-YMCA (Uni-Y). Uni-Y has service clubs in the local universities. The aim of Uni-Y is to groom youths to be socially responsible as well as empowering them to be community champions with a passion to serve the community. To measure the success of Uni-Y, YMCA needs a performance measurement framework. This case seeks to adapt the balanced scorecard for use in the non-profit sector
TSAO FOUNDATION – A CATALYST FOR CHANGE
Achsah Ang and Swee-Sum Lam
Tsao Foundation, a leader in the eldercare sector, was founded as an operating foundation by the late Mrs Tsao Ng Yu Shun. Under the leadership of Dr Mary Ann Tsao, who is also the granddaughter of the founder, the Foundation aspired to create the environment where older people could age in place, thereby seeing itself as a voice for their needs. The Foundation began by seeing things that people did not see, and creating the services that had not yet existed with the goal to demonstrate a model that could work in the Singapore context. By positioning the Foundation as an advocate of how society should value older people, Dr Tsao was effectively a catalyst for change in the Singapore socio-economic landscape. Celebrating the Foundation's 20th anniversary in 2013, it was an apt time to review its performance and assess if and how it has been delivering the desired social impact - a society for all ages that supports active ageing, values the contributions of older people, and provides for a secure old age.