Good school meals offer 600% return on investment

Written by Osbert Lancaster

Wednesday, 21 January 2009 14:45

There aren't many opportunities for a 6:1 return on your money at the moment, but East Ayrshire's school meals programme is one of them. East Ayrshire Council's healthy, unprocessed, local and organic school meals have won many awards, and now our study demonstrates the benefits in financial terms.

Footprint Consulting, with Haldane Associates, used Social Return on Investment (SROI) methodology to calculate that the extra £71,000 spent on East Ayrshire's 'Food for Life' school meals last year (compared with 'normal' school meals), created over £500,000 of economic, social and environmental benefit for stakeholders.

The £500,000 worth of benefits from the Food for Life school meals are in line with the objectives of East Ayrshire Council and other stakeholders, and contribute to the achievement of East Ayrshire's Single Outcome Agreement.

Any study that aims to put financial value on non-financial benefits like a better health and a greener environment has to make many assumptions. Varying these assumptions - sensitivity analysis - suggests the value of the return is unlikely to be below £3 for every £1 invested.

Calculating the social (and environmental) return on investment can help you: understand how your project is delivering benefit to society and the planet; communicate those benefits effectively; and plan future developments to get the best from limited resources. It's not the only tool, and it's not right for every situation, but we think it's pretty useful. Get in touch if you'd like to find out more.

Download the report The Social Return on Investment of Food for Life School Meals in East Ayrshire, 12 Dec 2008 from these links:

Summary Report: