Learn 10 great examples of social impact to help inspire you. Through the lens of specific social impact examples, we can explore how different initiatives drive social change, addressing challenges and creating opportunities within societies.
Table of Contents
Key Takeaway
Social impact encompasses both positive and negative changes within communities, affecting health, well-being, and relationships. By understanding different examples of social impact we can learn new ways of creating a better world. We see how actions can address specific societal challenges, enhance lives, and change people’s lives for better.
Introduction
From tackling climate change to reducing inequality, organisations worldwide are stepping up to make a tangible difference in people’s lives. This shift towards creating meaningful social impact is transforming industries and communities. In this blog, we explore 10 inspiring examples of social impact, highlighting how different initiatives are not just addressing immediate challenges, but are also laying the groundwork for sustainable change.
What is Social Impact?
Social Impact is the emergent change in a community, connected to an action. Social impact encompasses both the positive and negative effects on people’s health, well-being, and relationships.
J-P Crofton
If you would like to understand more about what social impact is (both positive and negative please read this blog.)
Examples of Social Impact
Examples of social impact can be seen in successful community development projects, educational programs that increase access and quality, health interventions that reduce disease, and environmental efforts that restore ecosystems.
Example 1: Tom’s
Tom’s: As well as for every pair of shoes sold, TOMS pledged to donate a pair to a child in need. They also give 1/3 of their remaining profits to good causes including supporting access to grass roots mental health initiatives.
Why I believe Tom’s is a great example:
Tom’s have made their social impact central to their marketing and identity.
Example 2: Water Aid
Providing Clean Drinking Water: Organisations such as Water Aid have given clean water access to 28.5 million people and decent toilets to 29million people. Allowing many many people to live happier healthier lives.
Why I believe Water Aid is a great example:
Access to clean water is a clear constraint on living happy and healthy lives. By focusing on a change that can be managed and understood they have a model that can be easily scaled to help many people.
Example 3: Build-On
Building Schools in Underserved Areas: Build-on has 2597 schools allowing for the education of 340219 children giving a new generation the capabilities to live happier lives. Constructing schools in societies without educational infrastructure empowers future generations. Education is a powerful tool for social transformation.
Why I believe Build-On is a great example:
Build-on is building people’s capability for future development, meaning that their changes have the opportunity to create a virtuous circle of growth and development.
Example 4 Movement to Work
Job Training for the Unemployed: Movement to work in the UK has partnered up with big business and helped create 175,000 opportunities since 2013 with more than 89% of young people going on to secure employment or go on to further education and training.
Why I believe Movement to Work is a great example:
The first step is the most important one. Once people get on a new path it opens up a world of opportunities.
Example 5 Farm Together
Tree Planting for Air Quality Improvement: Planting trees is vital to our future in fighting climate change and providing a better environment for us all. Planting trees in communities improves air quality, reduces pollution, and contributes to climate change mitigation. For example, FarmTogether focus on sustainable agriculture and reforestation.
Why I believe Movement to Work is a great example:
In the endless pressure to build more houses and roads (Induced demand means there will NEVER be enough houses or roads) by planting trees we are investing in our environmental future.
Example 6 Grameen Bank
Microfinance and Women’s Empowerment: Grameen bank pioneered Microfinance giving small loans to entrepreneurs, often women in developing countries. These loans enable them to start or expand businesses, improve their families’ lives, and contribute to local economies. It gives people with ideas the ability to change lives.
Why I believe Grameen Bank is a great example:
Too often social impact means doing things to other people. The example of Grameen bank shows that often the best way is to empower people to do it themselves.
Example 7 Submittable
Brands Committed to Change: Submittable actively support local and global communities through meaningful initiatives.
Why I believe Submittable is a great example:
If we want to spread social change we need to make sure that it is in organisational normal. Not a rare nice to have.
Example 8 Biolite
BioLite: Providing sustainable energy solutions for rural communities, BioLite has given access to renewal energy to people across 23 countries in Africa and Asia helping more than 7million people access green energy.
Why I believe BioLite is a great example:
In today’s technology driven world lack of access to technology is driving further inequality and disadvantage. But the cheapest solutions are making the climate emergency worse. So we need to make the right thing to do the easy thing to do.
Example 9 Inside Out Project
Art for Social Change: Art can be a powerful and inspiring tool for social impact and social change. Initiatives like the Inside Out Project use large-scale portraits to raise awareness about social issues and promote empathy creating more than half a million portraits of people in 152 countries.
Why I believe Inside Out Project is a great example:
These projects highlight the different perspectives on life people have. It also helps people find fulfillment through self-expression.
Example 10 Médecins Sans Frontières
Giving vulnerable people access to experts; Médecins Sans Frontières: (Doctors Without Borders) provide critical assistance during emergencies helping communities with their expertise when they are in their most need.
Why I believe Médecins Sans Frontières is a great example:
When the structures that we rely on in society are taken away. These can be turning point that many never recover from. Médecins Sans Frontières help people at their most critical time of need when things can escalate incredibly quickly.
What are the Different Types of Social Impact?
Social impact means a lot of different things to a wide range of people. There are wide range of things to which social impact give meaning and intention. It refers to the effect of any activity on the social fabric of the community and well being of the individuals and families. It can encompass a wide range of areas including, health, education, economic development, environmental sustainability, and social cohesion. Each type of social impact can have positive or negative outcomes.
What is Positive Social Impact?
Positive social impact is any action that brings about beneficial changes or improvements to communities and society as a whole. These impacts can be seen in various areas such as education, health, economic development, and environmental sustainability. Positive social impacts can address societal challenges, promote well-being, enhance quality of life, and ensure equitable opportunities for all individuals.
What is a Negative Social Impact?
Negative social impact refers to actions that result in harmful effects on communities and societies. These impacts can emerge in various domains, such as social, economic, environmental, and health-related areas. Negative social impacts often exacerbate societal problems, contribute to inequality, damage community cohesion, and degrade people’s quality of life.
Why The Positive vs Negative Social Impact Distinction is Misleading.
Social impact is typically categorised as either positive social impact or negative social impact. In reality this is naive and misleading. Any positive social change may be negative to some people. Either from reacting adversely to the intervention or the intervention is at their expense.
An Example of Mixed Social Impacts
An example of a positive social impact that may result in negative impacts: redistribution of wealth from rich to poor is negative for some wealthy individuals. As a result they may form or fund political parties directly to promote their interests. That may in turn have negative social impacts. At the same time negative social impacts can have positive impacts. For example people with disabilities as a result of poor healthcare may in turn create people with disabilities who inspire others in their lives by overcoming challenges.
Simple Positive Social Interventions Can Sometimes Create Negative Impacts.
A positive social impact might seem straightforward: more access to education or healthcare, for instance. However, these initiatives can sometimes lead to a dependency on external aid or disrupt local economies if not carefully managed. For instance, when free shoes were distributed in communities where local cobblers rely on shoe-making for their livelihood, the result was a decline in local businesses. This is known as a ‘cobra effect’. This nuanced understanding helps us see why monitoring social impact with holistic approach, which considers long-term sustainability and feedback from the community, is essential.
How You Can Make a Social Impact?
Anyone can make a social impact. Use your skills knowledge and ability to benefit a community you care about is part of living a fulfilling life. I’ve created a complete guide to making social and community projects here.
How to be a Social Impact Leader.
Social impact does not just happen. It requires leadership. Someone to understand the challenges and take the initiative to make a difference. Creating social leadership requires a journey of creating the knowledge and skills use. To help I’ve created a complete guide here. The more social leaders we have the better. We can all make a difference to the people we care most about.
Examples of Social Impact Leadership
I’ve created a guide here with great examples of social impact leaders who’ve made a difference and we can learn and be inspired by. Stating why i think they are inspiring and what we can learn from it.
Conclusion
The diverse initiatives we’ve explored illustrate the powerful examples of creating social impact. From microfinance to sustainable energy, these efforts demonstrate how thoughtful interventions can enhance lives and foster sustainable development. Embracing both the challenges and opportunities, we can use these as examples of inspiration for how we can create a better world.
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