Not everything that counts can be counted

This question cannot easily be captured in numbers. Measuring impact as a knowledge and advisory organization requires a different approach; Antea Group does not deliver a tangible product with directly measurable results. Our value lies in enabling better decisions for our clients, more sustainable solutions, and sharper approaches to societal challenges.

Social Return on Investment (SROI) helps us make visible the societal value we create for employees, clients, partners, society, and the planet. At the same time, caution is needed to avoid greenwashing or overestimating our impact. Because how do you measure the added value of projects that affect people and society? And should all value even be expressed in monetary terms?

The conversation behind the numbers is at least as important: where do we make an impact, for whom, and how can we strengthen it? We therefore use SROI as a learning and dialogue tool, asking questions such as:

• Where do we consciously invest additional time, expertise, or budget?
• Which stakeholders experience value from that investment?
• Which effects can we substantiate with data?
• And where must we acknowledge that the value is real, but current measurement tools fall short?

Three concrete cases illustrate how Antea Group creates societal value—beyond profitability—by deliberately investing time, expertise, and resources:

1. The innovation platform gives employees space to develop ideas into better solutions and more efficient processes.
2. The sustainability fund generates direct societal value by making expertise accessible to NGOs and social organizations.
3. The strategic proposal fund strengthens societal impact even before projects begin, by prioritizing quality and sustainability in strategic decisions.

Through Antea Group's innovation platform, employees are encouraged and supported in developing innovative ideas that better address client needs and societal challenges. The value of this platform emerges on multiple levels:

• Employees gain ownership, learning opportunities, skill development, and intrinsic motivation.
• Clients benefit from faster, better, or more sustainable solutions.
• Antea Group strengthens its innovation culture, employee engagement, and retention.
• Society benefits indirectly when ideas translate into more sustainable client projects.

Our SROI analysis shows that the societal benefits of the innovation platform likely outweigh the resources invested, especially when ideas lead to more efficient or automated processes, or evolve into full-fledged products and services that address client needs.

Through the sustainability fund and pro bono efforts, Antea Group provides knowledge, expertise, and financial resources to projects that drive sustainable systemic change. We ensure this by evaluating applications based on five criteria:

1. ESG impact, meaning sustainable value creation in the areas of environment and climate (Environmental), people and society (Social), governance and collaboration (Governance).
2. Strategic fit with Antea Group’s sustainability ambitions.
3. Substantive involvement to avoid acting solely as a funder.
4. Collaboration with partners that strengthen each other to increase impact.
5. Learning and exemplary value to further make our own organization more sustainable.

The SROI of this case is simple but powerful:

• NGOs and social organizations gain access to high-quality knowledge that they would otherwise find difficult to afford.
• Their end target groups also benefit from better or higher-quality projects.
• Employees derive meaning and engagement from societal goals and projects in which they can apply their expertise.
• Antea Group itself learns through collaboration with not-for-profit organizations, civil society, and often citizens. These provide new insights into societal needs, strengthen our connection with different stakeholders, and help us further sharpen our expertise, approach, and services.

This case shows that societal impact does not always start with large programs or substantial budgets. Sometimes it begins with the conscious choice to make expertise available in places where it would otherwise not or hardly be accessible. In this way, a limited internal investment can lead to significant societal added value.

The strategic proposal fund gives colleagues extra time and resources to invest in proposals for projects with high societal or strategic value, even when the commercial success rate is uncertain.

The central idea: societal impact does not only arise after the award or execution of a project. It already begins in the concept and design phase, when choices are made about quality, sustainability, innovation, and long-term value.

• Public and semi-public clients receive better proposals and higher substantive quality.
• Citizens and users of these public projects benefit in the long term from better public investments, for example in space, water, mobility, or energy.
• Employees gain room to work on substantive quality and sustainable solutions, rather than solely on price or the short term.
• Antea Group strengthens its strategic positioning, reputation, and long-term relationships.

This case perhaps shows most clearly what SROI is about: not all value is financial, and not all societal value can be easily added up. But that does not make it any less important.

This exercise confirms what we suspected: the societal value of our project activities is broader than financial return. Traditional ROI remains relevant, but does not tell the full story.

By consciously not attaching a monetary amount to our SROI, the focus shifted to what truly matters: that the dialogue around it is at least as valuable as the number. SROI helps us, internally and externally, to have the conversation about impact and to ask the right questions. Not only: “What does this cost?” or “What does this yield financially?”, but also: “For whom do we create value?” and “Which choices do we consciously make as an organization because they are societally relevant?”

This is necessary. Today, organizations are not only assessed on what they deliver, but also on how they contribute to the society in which they operate. For Antea Group, this means continuing to invest in knowledge, innovation, and collaboration that go beyond financial gains. True return is not only measured in what an investment yields for the organization, but also in what that investment makes possible for employees, clients, society, and our living environment. And that is what drives us: guiding our clients toward relevant solutions for an ever-changing world.