Social Value Portal (SVP), the world’s leading authority on social value measurement, has announced the launch of the Global TOM System™.
The first ever social value measurement standard specifically engineered for multinational organisations, it enables users to transform scattered social impact activities into an auditable and financially robust ESG based data stream.
With more than a decade of experience in social value measurement, evaluation and reporting, SVP has helped unlock social value across more than 10,000 projects and facilitated the delivery of over £56 billion in social value in the UK.
Using the proven principles embedded in the UK’s social value TOM System™, the launch of the new global tool addresses a critical challenge facing multinational organisations: how to maintain rigorous measurement standards while respecting cultural differences and country-specific priorities.
“The Global TOM System provides organisations with the unique opportunity to quantify their social value in terms that leadership teams will understand and stakeholders can trust.” said Guy Battle, co-chair of the Global Social Value Taskforce and founder of Social Value Portal.
The new system draws on multiple global data sources from authoritative bodies including: the United Nations, World Bank, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the International Monetary Fund to ensure robust global comparability. This data is used alongside national data sources including peer reviewed academic research and national government statistics in order to reflect local economic conditions, social priorities and cultural contexts.
The Global TOM System not only allows organisations to quantify their impact locally in their national currency, but also uses the International (Social Value) Dollar, as defined by the World Bank, to allow organisations to report and compare their impact globally across all the territories where they are active.
The system operates across four core themes: Work (opportunity for all), Economy (inclusive growth), Community (empowering communities), and Planet (safeguarding and restoring our world) but with the ability to add measures and themes to reflect local priorities and cultural differences.
Battle continues, “The UK has spent more than a decade embedding social value into the very fabric of procurement so we have seen first hand, the profound, holistic gains that come from robust measurement and reporting.
“Social value is no longer about compliance, it’s about value creation and gaining competitive advantage through quantified social impact data and this is something our global and local members already take advantage of.”
Early adopter buy-in
Developed and overseen in collaboration with the Global Social Value Taskforce, the new tool is already in use by larger organisations such as ISS, (who have plans to measure across 60 operating markets), and Amazon, which is implementing the system throughout its global supply chain.
Margot Slattery, global head of social sustainability and inclusion at ISS and co-chair of the Global Social Value Taskforce added, “As a global business, we needed a tool that could hold us to the same high standards across every market, while still allowing us to focus on what matters most at a local level.
“Implementing the Global TOM System across our organisation has transformed our ability to strategically measure and report our impact in terms that are meaningful to our stakeholders, no matter their location.”
The system is currently available in the UK, Ireland, France, Spain, and Australia, with immediate plans to expand worldwide, including: Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, and Japan.
As part of the launch, SVP has developed a Global Social Value 101 Guide that: expands on the principles of global social value, provides guidance on subjects ranging from what metrics to select to how to report the results effectively, and shares examples of best practice. Download a copy.
The launch of the new Global TOM System has been announced today at the annual Social Value Conference, a hybrid event that concludes this evening in Birmingham, UK, with the Social Value Awards.
Further information about the Global TOM System can be found here.
