October 15, 2024

Springpod, a leading education technology platform, is excited to announce a strategic partnership with GIST Impact, a pioneer in impact data and intelligence. This collaboration will transform how organisations measure, evaluate, and communicate their social impact by combining Springpod’s innovative work-based learning experiences with GIST Impact’s industry-leading Power SROI (Social Return on Investment) platform. This cutting-edge solution will offer organisations unprecedented transparency and precision in tracking, evidencing and communicating their social impact, giving them a competitive edge and driving meaningful social change.

Addressing the growing importance of social impact

In today's business and policy landscape, social impact has moved from being a ‘nice to have’ to a critical factor in decision-making. Governments, investors, and stakeholders are increasingly holding organisations accountable for their broader societal contributions. In the UK, new public procurement frameworks place significant emphasis on social value as a key criterion in awarding government contracts. Demonstrating measurable social impact is no longer a box-ticking exercise; it’s central to building trust, winning contracts, and remaining competitive in modern markets.

As a result, organisations are under growing pressure to provide robust, evidence-based insights into the social and environmental value they create. However, measuring social impact is often a complex and challenging task—many organisations struggle to translate qualitative benefits into quantifiable data. That’s where the partnership between Springpod and GIST Impact steps in, providing a solution that simplifies and elevates how social impact is captured, understood, and reported.

Combining data with actionable insights

At the core of this partnership is GIST Impact’s innovative Power SROI tool, connected to Springpod’s work-based experience platform. To date, Springpod has supported over 600,000 young people by helping them take their next steps with newfound confidence built on the development of hard and soft skills. Springpod’s insight reports have long provided clients with data detailing the success of their career and education programmes. Now, with the integration of GIST Impact’s Power SROI capabilities, Springpod’s partners will be able to easily translate programme outcomes into measurable social and economic value.

This integration brings significant advantages to employers seeking to understand and demonstrate their social impact. The dashboard will display data collected from Springpod's programmes and calculate the associated social impact using GIST Impact’s science-based SROI methodology, providing higher resolution insight into regional impact, framework alignment and UN SDG value creation. The result is a user-friendly, dynamic tool that turns complex social impact data into digestible, actionable insights.

Sam Hyams, CEO of Springpod, commented on the significance of the partnership:
"As the focus on social impact intensifies, our partners need reliable, clear metrics to demonstrate the value they bring to society. Through our work-based learning experiences, our partners have already supported hundreds of thousands of young people. Through this partnership, our partners can now measure and articulate this social impact in a meaningful way."

Social impact as a key to winning government contracts

The demand for organisations to clearly demonstrate their social value has never been higher, especially in the realm of government procurement. Governments are increasingly looking for partners who can prove that their operations benefit society, whether through job creation, environmental sustainability, or community engagement. The UK government’s Social Value Model, for example, encourages suppliers to quantify the positive impact of their services on society, with 10-20% of evaluation criteria in tenders often based on social value evidence.

By leveraging this partnership, organisations can now demonstrate their compliance with these criteria in a clear, credible way. GIST Impact’s integrated Power SROI platform enables them to deliver quantifiable evidence that clearly shows how their programmes benefit people and communities—boosting their chances of securing government contracts and ensuring they stay competitive in a rapidly changing market.

Sam King, SVP Corporate of GIST Impact, said:
"We’re thrilled to be collaborating with Springpod in utilising Power SROI to equip companies with the data and insights needed to measure the social impact of skills development. In doing so, together we’re proudly supporting companies in articulating their efforts in quantifiable terms to promote and advance social value initiatives.”

A future of data-driven social impact

This partnership signifies a shift towards a future where social impact becomes less opaque. By harnessing the power of data, organisations can prove their social value and take strategic steps to enhance their contributions. As businesses and public sector organisations alike are pushed to align with social goals, the Springpod and GIST Impact collaboration represents a game-changing opportunity to drive positive change for young people’s career education while creating social impact and maintaining competitive advantage.

About Springpod

Springpod is a leading online platform that empowers students to demonstrate their potential through work-based learning experiences in order to join the best-fitting employers & universities. Universities and employers use Springpod to engage the next generation of talent while contributing to meaningful social outcomes.

For more information, visit: partners.springpod.com

About GIST Impact

GIST Impact is a leading impact data and analytics provider, and has been measuring and valuing corporate impacts for over 16 years. With a team of 100+ scientists, engineers, data scientists and environmental economists, GIST Impact works with the world’s largest companies and investors, offering market-leading impact platforms and impact datasets on over 15,000 companies. 

For more information, visit:gistimpact.com

For Power SROI, visit:gistimpact.com/power-sroi/

Enquiries:

For Springpod:
Oscar Crickmer
B2B Marketing Manager
Email:partners@springpod.com

For GIST Impact:
Karan Peer
Head of Human and Social Capital
Email:info@gistimpact.com