The Social Impact Pledge asks public sector organisations across Scotland to commit to increasing their social impact by making a public commitment to change their current operations or policies. This should be something that they are not doing currently and haven’t done before. They can make up to three commitments as part of their pledge.

It can be as simple as opening up spaces and sharing resources for community use or as ambitious as working with local organisations, groups and communities to help create the conditions that enable people, places and communities to act on what matters to them.

What is ‘social impact’?

Social impact can be difficult to define. It is often understood as the effects on people and communities that happen as a result of an action, activity, project, programme or policy.

A common way to think about social impact is to consider it as the change that happens for/to people as a result of an action or activity.

In this context, social impact is about the positive contribution that public bodies and other public sector organisations can make to the local communities in which they operate.

You can find out more about social impact and how to measure it on our Evidencing Impact page.


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