Geneva Global, Inc.

Client Achieves Clear Understanding of Grant Impact Through Proprietary Measurement of Social Return On Investment (SROI) and Direct Connection to Changed Lives

In the first years that Geneva Global Inc. was in business, we were changed by the experience of a highly successful entrepreneur and investor. He had been giving millions of dollars annually, over many years, to causes important to him on several continents. All the while, even he, with so many resources at his disposal, had no way of knowing what difference his giving made.

Yet this was a professional, a person who knew that some investments gain while others don’t, but that you could at least measure those ups and downs, daily. The difference between the markets and philanthropy was clear: research, due diligence, transparency, accountability.  All of these seem like heady terms, yet they represent simple common sense when it comes to assessing the value of an investment of any kind. And to this donor, his philanthropic giving was an investment.

At Geneva Global, common sense means SROI: social return on investment. We didn’t invent the term, but we take it very seriously. We provide solutions to challenges like the one that our businessman posed, starting with our due diligence process and metrics, establishing measurable impact benchmarks for any project that receives funding. Once a project receives funding through a Geneva Global donor, we follow up with each grant to monitor success and determine actual results. Throughout the process, Geneva Global collects photographs and testimonies from the individuals impacted. How their lives have changed.  How communities have been transformed as a result of a grant.

Recently, Geneva Global compiled a multi-year granting report for the very client we refer to, reflecting the results of his grant portfolio and the impact of Geneva Global’s grant management services. The client could see at a glance, and in-depth, the measurable difference his giving made over several years, helping to improve millions of lives. Hard numbers came with dozens of photos and stories of individual lives changed. The donor was connected – practically, and viscerally.

To make that connection even more concrete, Geneva Global staff recently accompanied this donor on a trip, to see first-hand the programs his funding enabled, and the lives his giving had changed. This generous giver no longer wonders what difference his giving makes. He can measure the results of it. He can see clearly the life-changing impact his generosity has made, for millions of individual lives.