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Jonathan Coburn

Jonathan Coburn
Jonathan has worked in the social enterprise field for 23 years as a developer, strategist, researcher and impact evaluation specialist. Over the period his focus has been on enabling social enterprises to grow and demonstrate their impact in a robust and balanced way. He started his career in the community economic development field, helping to get new social ventures off the ground and supporting enterprising non-profits to transform their culture and impact. He has gone on to support the social enterprise sector in a variety of roles, including as director of a national research agency. Creative and driven, he founded Social Value Lab in 2010, establishing it as an international Centre of Excellence for Impact Measurement. With Social Value Lab, he has led teams that have researched and evaluated pioneering new approaches to social enterprise development. Much of his work at Social Value Lab has centred on finding simpler and better ways to measure social enterprise performance and impact, and supporting others to do the same. He continues to work with frontline social enterprises as well as the supporting cast of governments, national and international agencies, foundations and investors.

Recent Posts

Stop Wasting Time on Social Impact Measurement

Posted by Jonathan Coburn on June 6, 2018

So, let’s start with something we can all agree on.

All social enterprises exist for the simple and overriding purpose of creating a positive social impact (to change society for the better).

If this is what drives us, then surely, it’s important that we are able to describe, measure and communicate this impact. At least, that’s how the argument goes. Not least to help figure out if our work is well targeted, if we are helping beneficiaries in the best way possible and, ultimately, if we are making good progress in achieving our intended impact.

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