SAS 800 Supporting incubators of social enterprises

Social Audit Standard (SAS) 800
Supporting incubators of social enterprises
(SAS 800 should be read in conjunction with the “Preface to the Social Audit Standards” and “Framework
for the Social Audit Standards”, issued by the ICAI)

SECTION I – INTRODUCTION

Objective and Scope

1.10 This Social Audit Standard relates to the thematic area of “Supporting incubators of social enterprises”. The Standard aims to provide the Social Auditor with the necessary guidance about independent impact assessment engagement of Social Enterprises supporting incubators of social enterprises that are working in the field of science, skill development, finance, technology, engineering and medicine, and the audit steps and procedures that should be applied while conducting the social impact assessment. The Standard sets out the minimum requirements to be followed while conducting impact assessment. Laws or regulations may establish additional requirements which should be followed as applicable.

SECTION II – PROCESS OF SOCIAL AUDIT

Data Collection

1.20 The stakeholders that may be approached for obtaining data may include:

• Direct stakeholders e.g. Incubate Social Enterprises and Research Development Projects
• Target population/ beneficiaries and stakeholders of the direct stakeholders
• Indirect stakeholders e.g., Funding entities, Government and related institutions, media agencies, academic institutions, professional groups (legal, accounting, compliance, etc.)
• Monitoring Agency
• Staff (full time/part time employees, consultants, etc.)
• Board of advisors/trustees/directors
• Key officials of the reporting entity

The overall activity of conducting a survey and collecting sample data should be reviewed in terms of the following factors to assess relevance and reliability:

> designed by an in-house team or external specialized agency

> conducted by an in-house team or external specialized agency

> coverage: number and types of Social Enterprises in the Incubator and/or research development projects.

Desk Review

1.30 The Social Auditor should conduct a desk review of existing documents to gain further insight into the evaluation procedure and impact assessment. Such documents, about Incubators of Social Enterprises and/or Research Development Projects, may include the following:

• Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)/Contract between the reporting entity and the Incubatees and/or Research Development Projects
• Knowledge materials (reports, articles, videos, case studies, caselets, etc.) shared with Incubatees and/or Research Development Projects
• Feedback (testimonials, ratings, recommendations, etc.) provided by Incubatees and/or Research Development Projects
• Enrolment data for training/workshops and/or convening programmes designed for Incubatees
• Periodic performance reports highlighting achievement/outcomes against pre-defined targets
• Scope of work for Research Development Projects

Social Audit Standards

• Advertisement – leaflets/newspaper/social media
• Photographs of trainings/workshops and/or convenings
• Curriculum Vitae/Resume of faculty/trainers/researchers/professionals curated to conduct trainings/ workshops and/or convenings and build knowledge materials (reports, articles, videos, case studies, caselets, etc.)

Inspection and Personal Interviews

1.40 Besides desk review, the social auditor should also consider conducting physical inspection and personal interviews to get a first hand assessment of impact.

Evaluation Questions

1.50 The social auditor should review the evaluation questions addressed through Questionnaires, In-depth interviews and Focused Group Discussions to assess the responses received from various stakeholders and to understand what has changed. This would help the Social Auditor in forming his views on the following aspects:

• Did the Incubatees attend the training/workshops/convenings, have access to knowledge materials, and receive advisory services on strategy, fundraising, programmes?
• Do they think differently after the training/workshops/convenings, knowledge?
• Did they learn something they did not know?
• Did they use/apply the knowledge and gain from it?
• Did the learning/knowledge they received translate into noticeable change or impact in their approach/business model?
• For Research and Development Entities – did the amount and duration of funding sufficient to meet your research requirement?

Such questions, in relation to Incubators of Social Enterprises and/or research and development projects in the field of science, technology, engineering and medicine, funded by the Central Government or State Government or Public Sector Undertaking or any agency of the Central Government or State Government, may cover the following aspects:

(a) Needs of the Incubatees or Research Development Projects:

• Whether the support services (trainings/workshops/convenings, knowledge materials, advisory services etc.) were found to be consistent with the needs/challenges of the Incubatees?

(b) Quality of support services

• How was the quality of training/workshops/convenings, knowledge materials, advisory services imparted to incubatees?
• Were the incubatees satisfied with the support services that they received?

(c) Effectiveness

• Have the support services improved the knowledge, programme delivery, decision-making ability, governance of the incubates participants?

(d) Suggestions / Feedback

• What were the constraints or challenges faced in providing support services to incubates?

Key Metrics for Evaluation of Project / Program

1.60 The Social Auditor should review the project/program documents to frame the evaluation criteria for assessing impact. Such key metrics may be collated from base-line, mid-line (monthly/quarterly) and end-line assessment (if available), respectively at the beginning, middle and end of the reporting period/project/program to effectively understand and evaluate the impact.

The evaluation of the project/program information would facilitate the Social Auditor to assess:

• What would have happened to social sector incubates or Research development projects in the absence of the support services (workshops/trainings/convenings, knowledge materials, advisory services, etc.)
• How much have the support services from Incubators contributed to the changes that are evidenced?
• Is there any unintended negative impact that happened due to the offerings made by Incubators?

Such information, about supporting incubators of social enterprises or Research Development Projects, may include the following points in respect of the beneficiaries covered under the survey:

• How was the evaluation of applications to the Incubators done?
• What assistance did the incubates receive in creating a sustainable, scalable & profitable business model?
• What was the nature of physical infrastructure and value-added support services provided by the incubator?
• Did the incubates receive access to network of mentors who would provide sector specific knowledge & real-world practical guidance?
• Did the Incubator provide trainings and mentorship to entrepreneurs?
• Did the incubator enable access to prototyping facilities, test beds, markets, and pilot implementation for the product/services?
• Did the incubator provide guidance on building business plans, facilitating investments, building networks etc.?

Assessment of Evaluation Criteria (Illustrative Key Performance Indicators)

1.70 The Social Auditor should identify the combination of quantitative and qualitative evaluation criteria against which the impact has to be assessed.

Such criteria for supporting incubators of social enterprises or Research Development Projects may broadly include the following aspects:

SECTION III – ASSESSMENT OF CHALLENGES, AND LIMITATIONS

Challenges/Areas for improvement

1.80 The Social Auditor should identify the challenges faced by the stakeholders and the areas for improvement based on the suggestions and feedback received from them, which might influence the impact assessment. Some of the examples of commonly faced issues about supporting incubators of social enterprises or Research Development Projects may include the following:

• Attribution of impact between the Incubator and the Incubatee.
• Relatively higher experiment failure rates in research and development projects.
• Unavailability of adequate funds among non-profit entities for availing support services from ecosystem entities
• Mismatch in the expectations from the start-ups from the incubator.
• Paucity of resources at the incubator to support the identified pain points of the Incubatee
• Limited availability of phase-wise fund utilization data from Incubatees and Research and Development entities.

Any significant issues observed during the assessment, that may influence the user of the impact assessment in decision making, should be highlighted by the social auditor in the social audit report.

Limitations of the assessment

1.90 The Social Auditor should identify the inherent limitations of the evaluation process which might influence the impact assessment. Some of the examples of supporting incubators of social enterprises or Research Development Projects may include the following:

• Indirect nature of the services provided e.g. research and other knowledge products widely disseminated, policy changes impacting wider population groups
• Cases of no-response in case the questionnaire is not administered in person
• Some of the questions being skipped by the respondents and remaining unanswered
• Non-availability of respondents after completion of the workshops/trainings/convenings, advisory services, etc.
• Change in contact details of respondents due to which they could not be contacted

Any significant limitations observed during the assessment, that may influence the user of the Impact Assessment in decision making, should be highlighted by the Social Auditor in the social audit report.

SECTION IV – APPENDIX

Taxonomic classification of areas and sub-areas for social objectives
(relating to Supporting incubators of social enterprises)

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