Kamran Diaz is a Trustee at Signpost Stockport for Carers
https://www.signpostforcarers.org.uk/ and a member of the Stockport Accounting for Social Good Network. Here he shares with us some of his thoughts about using some of the social accounting tools….
I am a trustee at a Stockport-based charity and we are looking at how social accounting can be used to help us define the kind of organisation we are now and want to become in the future. So far, this experience has been rewarding and at times overwhelming too, especially at the beginning, because you’re not sure about how to approach this challenging journey. But whatever route you decide to take, there is one key thing to remember – engage with your stakeholders. This is one of the most important things I have learnt by attending Give2Gain’s Accounting for Social Good Network.
The idea is to listen to different views and to reach a consensus so that your key messages – in relation to your vision, mission, objectives, values and activities (VMOVA) – will be clearer and more connected, and that will reflect through your everyday work, your policies, plans and funding applications. Sounds pretty simple right? Of course, nothing of any true value comes that easily. So be prepared to think things through – the learning curve on the social accounting journey can be quite steep, but the benefits are clear to see once you bring people on board and engage with them.
A good place to start is to ask yourself what you want to achieve through this process and why? For example, our charity wants to demonstrate that we are placing stakeholders at the heart of our plans and that we are being accountable to those people that we help.
By involving stakeholders in this way, we can:
- Implement a joined-approach to strategic planning and governance, so that everyone is working together towards meeting shared organisational goals.
- Validate our approach with our service users by giving them an opportunity to identify the matters that affect them the most, and a chance to come up with potential solutions.
Once you make a start, keep up the momentum, make the process your own and continually engage with your stakeholders – as they say, it’s good to talk!
Want to know more about Signpost Stockport for Carers? Please visit https://www.signpostforcarers.org.uk/
Social Audit Network SAN 