DIY Guide to Social Return on Investment
- 1). Establish which non-monetary benefits (or drawbacks) an investment will bring you. If you are looking into investing in hog futures but you keep a kosher kitchen, for example, a negative social return will accompany investing in a meat you personally do not eat for religious reasons.
- 2). Assign a dollar value to the social returns. This value can be arbitrary because social returns are personal. Basically, ask yourself how much you would pay for the non-monetary benefits, and add this figure to your returns. For example, buying a house near a ski resort can either return standard capital by allowing you to rent it out or speculating on a price rise, or it can carry social capital by encouraging you to go skiing more often because you always have a place to stay. To calculate the true value, assess how much this privilege is worth to you.
- 3). Add or subtract your dollar values from your standard cost/benefit analysis to come up with the true value of your investment, whether you plan to make a standard investment, charitable donation or career decision.
Source...