Proposed Approaches to Social Impact Measurement in European Commission legislation and in practice relating to EuSEFs and the EaSI

The Single Market Act II states that “the Commission will develop a methodology to measure the socio-economic benefits created by social enterprises. The development of rigorous and systematic measurements of social enterprises’ impact on the community ... is essential to demonstrate that the money invested in social enterprises yields high savings and income”. The Programme for Employment and Social Innovation also foresees, in its third axis (Microfinance and Social Entrepreneurship), that the implementation reports to be sent to the Commission by financial institutions and fund managers also report on the results in terms of social impact. The GECES sub-group on Social Impact Measurement was therefore set up in October 2012 to agree upon a European methodology which could be applied across the European social economy.