At 180 Degrees, everything we do is aimed at maximizing our long-term social impact.
Social impact means working for the good of others not yourself, thereby creating systematic social improvements. Conceptually, social returns are the benefits that accrue to other stakeholders (that is, the difference between the aggregate benefits that are created and the realizable benefits to the value creator).
Since being established, 180 Degrees has:
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Provided over $100M worth of consulting services
These services are provided to non-profits and social enterprises that would not be able to afford the high consulting fees charged by traditional consulting companies.
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Helped >2000 socially-conscious organizations
We help these organizations to overcome challenges they’re facing and to operate as effectively as possible. 96.8% of the organizations we work with say that they would work with us again and would recommend 180 Degrees to other organizations.
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Provided over 2.6 million hours worth of consulting services
To put this in perspective, this is equivalent to a person working full-time for 1354 years.
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Trained >12,000 future social impact leaders
University students who are selected as 180 Degrees Consultants get professional training in important areas (such as non-profit management, social impact measurement, and ethical decision-making). They also get hands-on experience consulting for non-profits and social enterprises. As a result, a large number of consultants say they are now more likely to financially support non-profits and social enterprises, and are more likely to consider a career in the social sector. In this way, 180 Degrees trains the next generation of future leaders.
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Produced numerous articles, tools, and journals to help socially-conscious organizations achieve their full potential
We don’t want our clients to be the only organizations that benefit from the insights we have gained and best practices we have learned over the years. As such, we publish an annual journal called 180Review, various tools to assist leaders of social-sector organizations, and articles that contain expert advice.
Social Impact Measurement:
We rigorously quantify our impact since in the game of social impact, method trumps money. Social inputs are no more correlated with social outcomes than financial inputs are correlated with financial outcomes.
We measure and track our two main social impacts on our custom-made online management platform called Compass.
Social Impact 1: Leadership Development
Every social impact leader (that is, consultant) in our program provides comprehensive feedback. This feedback is used to measure:
- Whether participants changed career plans to be more socially focused
- Whether the charitable contributions of participants changed in quantity and/or composition
- Whether participants have a greater understanding of the challenges facing non-profits and social enterprises
- Whether participants are more confident in their leadership ability and better prepared to take on leadership roles focussed on achieving social outcomes
- Whether participants would recommend 180 Degrees Consulting to others
Social Impact 2: Improving the Effectiveness of Non-Profits
We use an approach we call “social impact triangulation” that involves weighting the results of three different measurement approaches. This gives a lower-bound, upper-bound, and a best-estimate impact. These three approaches are as follows:
- Measuring Actual Outcomes (weighted the most): We calculate improvements to the social outcomes of our clients, for a sample of our clients. This is done by monitoring changes in KPIs at 6 and 18 months.
- Measuring the Value of Outputs: After each project, we ask clients “Given what you now know, what is the maximum amount you would have hypothetically forgone in donations to have received the consulting service?”
- Measuring the Value of Inputs (weighted the least): We calculate the labor hours of consulting provided, and give a monetary value based on equivalent work at other consulting firms.
Using this method, we have provided at least $100 million worth of value to non-profits and social enterprises to date.
Another way we keep track of our impact is by asking every client whether they would recommend 180 Degrees to other organizations. In 2015-2016, 96.8% of clients said they would.
