What is the value of your impact on society?

Sam Vionnet is the author of the book Impact Thinking and the founder and CEO of Valuing Impact. The impact measurement consulting company uses innovative methodologies, data, and expertise to help organizations and businesses integrate the value of human, social, and natural capital into decision-making processes and corporate strategies.

Sam says impact valuation is a means of capturing the interaction of businesses and their investment with society and monetizing it. They’ve developed an accounting framework clients can use to better understand and manage the more complete value that their businesses deliver to society.

In this episode, we chat about the ideas behind the book, Valuing Impact’s approach to accounting for material benefits, and what it takes to get started on the journey to uncovering the value of your company’s impact on society.

Here are some of the key topics and takeaways you’ll appreciate in this episode:

• Impact valuation is a methodology that allows companies to measure and quantify the social and environmental impact of their activities. It helps companies understand the value they create for society beyond financial profits. 
• The utility of money varies across different countries and income levels, and impact valuation takes this into account.
• This field of impact valuation is evolving and is pushing companies to account for more than just their environmental impacts. Valuing Impact accounts for social impacts at different parts of the value chain as well.
• Impact valuation builds on the existing LCA methodology and adds a layer of monetization so that the information becomes financial (think monetary units vs. metric tons). That's a language that the CEO and CFO will understand and perhaps be more inclined to act on.
• Your product’s environmental and social impacts often go well beyond the things you can see at the product’s finished stage and can be difficult to measure and account for. Look to experts for help.
• Companies can use impact valuation to prioritize their material impacts and make more informed decisions.
• Transparency and clear communication are essential when sharing impact valuation results.