On Tuesday 9th July, at Fondazione Collegio Carlo Alberto in Turin, the key players of social innovation gathered to discuss about the importance and the benefits of evaluating social impact on the occasion of two different events.

During the morning, Torino Social Impact in partnership with Social Value Italia held a conference concerning the process of evaluating social impact from the perspective of great donors. Speakers from the main italian philantropic organisations, foundations as well as public and private institutions – Camera di commercio di Torino, Università Cattolica di Milano, Human Foundation, Impresa Sociale Con i bambini, Fondazione Zancan, KPMG, Fondazione Unipolis, Fondo Beneficenza Intesa San Paolo, Fondazione Alta Mane, Fondazione Sviluppo e Crescita CRT- shared their experiences and methods. 

From the different speeches a series of commonalities emerged: first of all, the problem of establishing a standard for evaluation, since each project has its own peculiar content and context. Thus, considering those features in the process of evaluating social impact has been pointed as the primary best practice. Secondly, most of the speakers highlighted that the process of evaluating social impact can be a useful tool for donors: for example, to consider the scale and quality of their actions, to reflect critically about their operations, deducing both their mistakes and achievements; moreover, to strengthen the relationships with the partners.

In the afternoon, Torino Social Impact and Social Impact Agenda per l’Italia presented the position paper “Progettare l’Innovazione Sociale: impact investing e fondi UE” curated by Pwc and Human Foundation. The object of this second debate was, instead, the importance of social impact oriented investments by public administrations, considering the potential of their actions on the local territory. Representatives from the European Commission and some of the key stakeholders from the Piedmont region – Camera di commercio di Torino,  Regione Piemonte, Finpiemonte, Fondazione CRT, Compagnia di San Paolo, Legacoop Piemonte, Confcooperative Piemonte Nord – stressed the need to foster partnerships between the public sector, companies and the human capital represented by local organisations and citizens, to create and manage innovative solutions for social issues.