When organisations invest in online community platforms, they're investing in much more than technology. They're improving access to services, encouraging volunteering, strengthening local relationships, and helping more people take an active role in community life.
These outcomes are vital, but they are not always easy to measure.
Why digital analytics are not enough
Most organisations rely on standard digital analytics such as website visits, clicks and page views. While these figures can show how people are using a platform, they do not explain whether someone found the support they needed, discovered a new opportunity, or became more connected to their local area.
To understand real impact, we need to look beyond traffic numbers and focus on outcomes.
What social value really means
Social value refers to the wider social, economic and environmental benefits created through an investment or service.
For place-based community platforms, this could mean helping residents access local support services, reducing loneliness through stronger connections, increasing volunteering, promoting jobs or training opportunities, and improving relationships between organisations and the communities they serve.
These changes can have a lasting effect, but if they are not measured, they can easily be overlooked.
Why it matters
For councils, charities, housing providers and community health partnerships, social value reporting helps answer a simple but important question: what difference is this platform actually making?
Having clear evidence of impact can help organisations track progress, strengthen funding applications, meet sustainability goals, build trust with partners, and make better decisions based on what communities need most.
How Made Open measure social value
At Made Open, we believe organisations should be able to understand the real value their platform creates. Our approach combines recognised national frameworks with real platform data to create a balanced and practical model for measuring participation and community engagement.
This includes frameworks such as the National TOMs Framework and the Global Value Exchange, alongside platform data such as searches, registrations, sign-ins, enquiries, volunteering hours, participation levels and service contacts.
By bringing these together, we can produce credible estimates of the value each platform is creating.
A transparent and practical model
Social value is not an exact science, which is why transparency is so important. We only assign value where there is a clear and reasonable link to meaningful outcomes. We use proxy values carefully and conservatively, and we focus on trends, relative impact, and the direction things are moving in rather than claiming false precision. We can also adapt our reporting approach to reflect local priorities, ensuring results are realistic, useful and trustworthy.
Clear social value reporting
Customers on our Community Enterprise plan receive quarterly social value reports that provide a simple and consistent view of platform performance. These reports highlight how people are using the platform, the estimated value being created, emerging trends over time, and the kinds of outcomes being achieved.
For more information or to see a sample social value report please get in touch.