Abstract
This Social Return on Investment (SROI) report aims to understand, measure, and value the impact of food rescue in Aotearoa New Zealand. AFRA commissioned the report. It focuses on three case study organisations representing the key food rescue models operating in Aotearoa New Zealand:
• Satisfy Food Rescue (SFR) Christchurch – Community Hub (collects, stores, sorts rescued food. Food is picked up by or delivered to recipient organisations)
• Just Zilch (JZ) Palmerston North – Free Store (collects, stores, and distributes rescued food directly to food recipients via a ‘retail store’ setting where food recipients select food free of charge)
• Good Neighbour (GN) Tauranga – Mixed model (community hub and additional components, e.g., community kitchen, community gardens).
SROI is a framework that aims to understand, measure, and value the impact of an organisation’s activities on various stakeholders. It uses qualitative and quantitative data to tell the story of how change is being created and experienced. Monetary values represent outcomes enabling a ratio of benefits to investment to be calculated, specifying the amount of social, environmental, and economic value created for every $1 invested. The evaluation period for the analysis was the 2020/2021 financial year. This SROI is a forecast analysis, providing a benchmark SROI ratio for future evaluation of food rescue in Aotearoa, New Zealand. It is also the first SROI study to measure and value the impact of multiple food rescue organisations in Aotearoa, New Zealand.