The Multiple Value Proposition of a Social Project

One of the most important questions that needs to be answered in conventional and commercial project development processes often is “what is the value proposition of this project, service or product?”.

In the case of Virtual Environments, Social Projects and Collaborative Development, it is important to define the value proposition of the Collaboration Space from different angles:

• Value to the Community or Society.
• Value to Provider.
• Value to the End User.

In addition, there are two other values that often need to be clearly defined:

• Value of Participating, in the case of interactive environments.
• Value to End Beneficiary, when different than the End User.

These value propositions should reflect tangible and specific benefits for the actors they relate to, not just broad affirmations such as “improving the quality of the service” but clearly indicate how this has a significant impact for them.

To better illustrate this, we will again take the Collaboration Framework for the Reuters Digital Vision Fellowship at Stanford University as an example. The Collaboration Framework seeks to provide a virtual space and a set of tools that enable the participating fellows to showcase their projects and ideas, communicate with other people and allow those interested to volunteer and collaborate with them. All this should also generate awareness and recognition for the program and attract potential funders and support.

Map of actors, stakeholders and ecosystem for our example.

Note that the examples below don’t talk about “offering a technology, product or service to the public”, for their availability is not a value by itself until properly put to use in a process that generates a clearly identifiable and significant impact that generates value for those involved or intended to serve.

Value to the Community or Society 

The greater picture of the project and how it improves or changes the current situation for all those directly or indirectly involved. The global benefits and impact for all the actors and ecosystem it is a part of.

Typical examples are: 

• Communication among stakeholders is facilitated and promoted through the creation and provision of a low-cost widely available service.
• The availability of a knowledge repository and record of initiatives easily accessible to everyone promotes the generation of new knowledge and solutions to social needs.
• The needs of the community are better addressed through collaboration and active participation of stakeholders.
• Collaboration is promoted and improved by improved communication and access to information and tools.
• Social stability, technological innovation and human development are promoted through increased commercial exchange and opportunities.

In our DVF Framework example, the Value to Society would be:

• Promotion and support of social entrepreneurship initiatives by serving as a repository, exchange and collaboration hub for knowledge, ideas, initiatives, social entrepreneurs and volunteers around the practical applications of Information Technologies for Human Development.

Value to the Provider

What motivates the ones funding, driving, enabling, creating and running the initiative? Is it profit, support for a product, customer support, branding, entering new markets, securing markets, market research, etc.?  

In our example, the provider is Reuters Foundation and management of the Digital Vision Fellowship. The value of the Collaboration Framework for the program would be:

• Generate awareness about the program through giving the public access to its current initiatives and activities, updated frequently and directly by the users.
• Attract donors, funders and support for the program.
• Increase the satisfaction levels and achievements of participants.
• Keep better track of those participating in the program (fellows).

Value to the End User 

What the project is actually about. This is the traditional value proposition: What is it that we do better or different than others and our “public” likes and benefits from?

• Increased profit margin by having access to specific information.
• Being able to get support from a group of experts or other people.
• Reduced steps and time to accomplish specific tasks and processes.

In our example, the end users are the fellows themselves.

• Centralized hub with quick and easy access to all the information and updates about the program deadlines, updates and activities.
• Ability to update their projects and profile information and attract volunteers and sponsors.
• They can keep a journal of their advances, ideas and actions.
• Collaboration groups for their projects or around areas of interests.

Value to the End Beneficiary 

When the end user is not the end beneficiary, but delivers a service or initiative to serve others, we then need to consider the value proposition of our project.

If our project is about providing a service for teachers, we can benefit from defining how this translates into value for the students. Or if our project is about improving the activities of management, we should answer the question of how this translates into value for the employees and even for the customers.

• Students get better response and guidance from the teachers to their questions and specific needs in the learning process.
• Consumers get better support by costumer management personnel having access to a knowledge base of other costumers’ issues and defined guidelines.
• Increased competitiveness, improved efficiency and effectiveness and simplification of processes by using the service provided.
• Increased income and better life conditions through the creation of new opportunities for growth and development.

In our example, we have two main end beneficiaries: social entrepreneurs and local stakeholders.

• Social entrepreneurs benefit from having access to a rich knowledge repository and by being able to get in touch and collaborate with other people (the fellows) working on similar issues.
• The local stakeholders should benefit from the projects that serve them being more relevant, better structured and with a larger vision that guarantees a significant impact for them.

Value of Participating

In the case of interactive environments, it is not enough to have a value proposition for the end users. Often and left to their own devices, users become passive members of the virtual environment, benefiting from its services and not necessarily giving back to it or improving it with their participation. The success of an interactive space and collaboration framework is closely linked to the participation level of its members. 

So we should define specific benefits for instead of just being a member (which is often mandatory), looking at information and being a recipient of services, to actively participate.

Examples are: 

• Generating recognition and awareness.
• Enabling other people to meet you.
• To be able to customize and extend or improve the services received.

In our example:

• Blog posts from the fellows are portrayed on the front page of the Fellowship website.
• Their posts and profiles are also actively indexed by RSS feeds aggregators and search engines.
• This generates increased awareness and enables more people, including potential sponsors and volunteers to find them, learn more and contact them.