From activity to impact

What is our social value?

Since 2017, The Foundation have been working with PricewaterhouseCoopers UK (PwC) to understand the societal level impact of the Award. Together we have developed a robust methodology to measure this. Our pioneering research estimates that in 2020, The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award had an impact of £400m across 129 countries and territories.

76% of the impact created by the Award was experienced by the 129,000 young people who completed an Award in 2020. Award participants benefit from impacts such as improved mental health and wellbeing, and improved physical health and fitness, by regularly taking part in their Award activities. Meanwhile, 17% of the impact was experienced by the Adult volunteers who support young people around the world to complete their Awards, and 7% of the impact went to charitable and community causes, as Award participants committed to giving their time to support local, national and sometimes even international causes.

To find out more about these findings, see our Building the Future report.

The global findings presented in the Building the Future report reflect the global presence of the Award, and the impact that it had in 2020 for young people, adult mentors and wider society. The COVID-19 pandemic presented significant challenges for the Award in 2020, as it did to people and organisations across the world. Despite this, the findings in this publication demonstrate that the Award network continued to reach new participants, provided support to young people and stakeholders, and delivered a significant global impact.

Our most recent work on Social Value

While the Award’s framework is the same across the world, there are differences in the way it is delivered, how the adults are involved, the magnitude of change young people experience in their lives, and so on. All these contextual factors affect the valuation and makes each country’s social value analysis unique to that country. Therefore, the results should always be interpreted within its national context. If you would like to know more about the social value analysis of an individual country, please contact their national office.

Bermuda, Canada, Czech Republic and New Zealand and Australia are just some of the countries where we have recently conducted social value analysis. Read on to find more about social value of the Award in these countries:

Social Value in Bermuda

In 2020, over 100 young people achieved a Bronze, Silver or Gold Award and 25 adults supported their Award journey in Bermuda. The social value generated through the activities and involvement of these young people and adults is estimated at $932,000. For each $1 invested in the Award, $2.45 was generated. Fiona Holmes, the Development Director and Karen Simmons, the Programme Director reflects on their first experience of social value analysis and how this will impact their work in Bermuda.

“Undertaking the Social Value Impact Analysis has been a game changer for Bermuda in how we are able to demonstrate and report on the impact and outcomes of the Award. We have just received the results and already we have included some of the findings in our national newspaper, in donor appreciation letters, and funding applications. The results enable us to quantify the success of the Award framework. We can now say that almost one million dollars in social value was generated in 2020 through the delivery of the Award framework and that a further two and a half million dollars is estimated in future value, due to the 2020 cohort of Award Holders’ continuation of their personal development activities over their lifetime. Our Social Value Impact research is leading the way for Bermuda charities, helping us to quantify and report on results, and enabling us to demonstrate how we are making a positive difference in our community, one participant at a time.”

See some of the 2020 social value results of The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award – Bermuda in the Impact Report they share with their donors as a thank you.

Social Value in Canada

In 2020, over 2,600 young people achieved a Bronze, Silver or Gold Award and over 1,200 adults supported their Award journey in Canada. Through involvement of these young people and their adult mentors, the Award generated $18.6 million of social value. For every $1 invested, $3.5 in social value was generated. Victoria Selano, the National Director of Fundraising and Development at The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award – Canada shares how their social value analysis helped them to start conversations with corporates and government about funding opportunities. 

“We are extremely grateful for the work and support of the Foundation to illustrate the social value of the Award in Canada. This research has been critical in showcasing the value our framework plays, not only for young people, but society as a whole.

The feedback we have received from our donors has been overwhelmingly positive and has helped to quantify their philanthropic investment. Even more exciting is the interest we are seeing from government agencies, corporations, and major financial institutions around how they value this type of research. It has opened the door to start conversations to cocreate sustainable partnerships with major donors such as Scotiabank Canada, RBC as well as Provincial and Federal levels of Government. We now have research tools that align with their impact and giving strategies, providing insight into how their investment makes a deeper impact beyond the Award.

With government agencies, the Social Value research has enabled us to begin conversations around incorporating the Award into the education agenda through whole grade entry and on a Federal level, it illustrates how the Award framework contributes to the youth agenda around volunteerism, health and wellness, as well as employability. We have been weaving this research into all of our external communications to demonstrate how the Award framework is a vital contributor to building a stronger Canada on a variety of levels.”

Please contact [email protected] for more information about Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award – Canada’s most recent social value results.

Social Value in the Czech Republic

In 2019, 800 young people completed the Award, with the support of 650 adults in the Czech Republic. Social value analysis of 2019 shows that for every Kč 1 invested in the Award, Kč 3.23 in social value was created. Tomáš Vokáč, the Executive Director of The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award – Czech Republic explains the importance of supporting anecdotal evidence with hard data to tell the story of the Award’s impact.

“It is highly important these days to show not only great stories of thousands of young people who dramatically benefit from participating in the Award scheme, but also present significant data highlighting why the programme is so impactful and useful for a younger generation and also for adults, teachers and volunteers. A tool which we currently have in our hands, Social Impact Measurement of DofE (SROI), is a real breakthrough for our Association in terms of advocacy of our activities worldwide. Having hard data, exact figures and clear outcomes and impacts from our SROI we can become a genuine leader of non-formal education and a role model of the organisation operating in non-profit sector. There are only few charity organisations over the world that are able to have such robust evidence for their activities.

After having released Czech DofE SROI in our country, many key stakeholders from a corporate, public and state sector have been excited by our work. Moreover, thanks to the research our expert position in the field of education has risen immensely as well. I would like to express my gratitude to all of our colleagues from the Association who contributed and created such an amazing tool and recommend other NAOs undertaking their research as soon as they can.”

See the 2019 social value results of The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award – Czech Republic in their Annual Report.

Social Value in Aotearoa New Zealand

In 2019, around 3,500 young people achieved an Award with the support of 400 adult mentors in New Zealand. Their social value analysis revealed that for every $1 invested in the Award, $4.63 in social value was generated. Karen Ross, the National Director of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Hillary Award in New Zealand shares how their decision to social value analysis impacted their strategy and partnerships.

“The decision to commit the Award in Aotearoa to the Social Value Impact Analysis work has a been a business changing decision.  The data and scrutiny provided within the results has been a major part of growing partnerships and relationships in a highly successful manner. It’s been a pilotable and active ingredient in our lobbying of government and peak body agencies and, we have used the lens it provides it our strategic plan and business analysis refresh.  Often research and attention to this detail is seen as an add on or too much work; think again, it’s essential, enlivening, challenging and a game changemaker.  Whaiwhia te kete mātauranga – Fill the basket of knowledge”

See the 2019 social value results of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Hillary Award in New Zealand in their Annual Report

Social Value in Australia 

The Award creates certain habits and behaviours that last a lifetime. Therefore, the social value analysis also looked at the social value that can be attributed to the Award after a young person completes their Award journey. As a result of continued volunteering, regular physical activity and practice of a skill into the future, it was estimated that there are additional future benefits amounting to AU $6,800 per Award holder on average.

For more information about the social value of the Award in Australia and to see the full report click here.

Find out more about our earlier social value model and evaluation work in conjunction with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), via our joint publications: Changing lives in the changing world.