Measuring and/or Estimating Social Value Creation: Insights into Eight Integrated Cost Approaches
In the field of philanthropy, there is currently a great deal of enthusiasm for applying ―business principles‖ and ―investment analyses‖ to decisions about funding nonprofit organizations and programs. As Lynn A. Karoly, Ph.D., Senior Economist with the RAND Corporation states, ―the ‗discipline‘ associated with these hard-nosed business management approaches is perceived to be a useful antidote to the often emotional appeals‖ that accompany funding decisions in philanthropy and policy discussions and decision-making in the public policy arena.1 These approaches all integrate measures of cost in their calculations of the relative benefits of funding a particular program or organization.
