# STATE OF SOCIAL PROCUREMENTBeyond Compliance: Measuring Social Impact in Procurement Transforming data into meaningful change across value chains. ## Overview In a corporate context, impact measurement has evolved from being viewed primarily as a compliance-requirement to a strategic driver of operational performance, business resilience, and long-term value creation. Increasingly, corporate leaders are recognising that proof of impact is not optional; it is central to credibility at C-suite, with investors, regulators, and society.One driver of this shift is the growing recognition of social factors as material business risks. As highlighted in Prewave’s contribution to this report, social issues accounted for 18% of global supply chain disruptions between January 2023 and October 2025 — underscoring the need to manage social risks with the same rigour as environmental ones.This urgency is reflected in the emergence of the Taskforce on Inequality and Social-related Financial Disclosures (TISFD), which is building a reporting architecture for social issues akin to Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), marking a move towards integrated measurement across ESG dimensions.In response, businesses are embedding social impact into operational strategies — integrating it across procurement, innovation, and value creation to drive measurable, sustainable change while supporting core business objectives. ## Social procurement as a lever for inclusive growth The diversion of procurement spend to address inequality is a powerful lever available to businesses. With FTSE 100 procurement budgets over 400 times larger than CSR budgets, even small shifts in spend can generate outsized societal value — as shown in the Telos and YSB chapter. Globally, approaches vary. ### High-Income Countries In the Global North, social procurement is often driven by government mandates with standardised metrics. ### Low- and Middle-Income Countries In the Global South, it tends to be community-led and context-specific, with impact co-created through local engagement. Despite these differences, a common principle applies: procurement drives measurable change when social impact is built into strategy, not treated as an add-on. And to unlock its full value, organisations need measurement systems that not only track outcomes but also help articulate the business case internally. ## Existing frameworks and standards for impact As the need for tangible data reflecting their contribution to societal well-being grows, companies are turning to frameworks and standards that bring Social Impact into focus. As well as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), other approaches are being developed such as:B4SI (Business for Societal Impact): Measuring the impact of societal contributions through community investment, business innovation & social procurement.Impact Management Project (IMP): A framework for managing and measuring impact based on five dimensions (Who, What, How Much, Contribution, Risk).GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) metrics: the most widely adopted sustainability reporting standard, offering globally recognised metrics for social performance. ## Why impact measurement matters The real differentiator today is not just what companies invest in, but how they measure, manage, and connect impact to strategy. A data-driven impact framework enables businesses to:Build trust and strengthen social licence by evidencing outcomes to stakeholders — from communities to the C-suite.Drive innovation and performance by embedding insight into decision-making.Demonstrate resilience and sustain access to capital by aligning with emerging disclosure expectations such as TISFD, TNFD, and CSRD.Regulatory developments like the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and S&P’s Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) reflect this shift towards monitoring and evidencing impact over expenditure tracking.Benchmarking trends reinforce this momentum. The B4SI Benchmark shows sustained growth in the number of companies reporting the impact of their community initiatives — rising from 33% in 2014 to 51% in 2024. This reflects a multi-year upward trend in reporting maturity, with growing focus on capacity-building outcomes among community partners and social enterprises.Ultimately, impact measurement helps bridge the gap between social initiatives and business performance — demonstrating contributions to employee engagement, reputation, innovation, and market access. ### Impact measurement in procurement While procurement teams have long addressed social issues like human rights and DEI, the focus is now shifting from risk mitigation to proactive, measurable impact. Leading organisations are using procurement not just to manage compliance, but to drive positive social change aligned with business priorities. ### Shared value This reflects a growing adoption of the shared value approach — where businesses seek to simultaneously uplift the communities in which they operate while enhancing their own competitiveness. ### Business case As organisations mature, the benefits become clear: more resilient supply chains, higher employee engagement, faster innovation, and stronger investor confidence. ### Outsized impact Supporting data from the Charities Aid Foundation’s Corporate Giving Report shows that companies aligned with the B4SI Framework report higher levels of giving and impact than FTSE 100 averages. # Approaches to impact measurement Impact measurement can take various forms, from simple metrics on the number of beneficiaries to complex socio-economic impact studies which can be resource-intensive and difficult to replicate across different programmes. While each method has its place, the fragmentation of approaches can hinder progress. With so many models available, organisations often hesitate, unsure which metrics to prioritise or how to ensure consistency.For businesses seeking to measure impact effectively, focusing on a middle ground with common metrics is often the most practical approach. Aligning impact measurement with annual financial reporting cycles enhances the relevance of data for both internal decision-makers and external stakeholders, making it easier to connect social impact to business performance.Scale of impact measurement approaches © Business for Societal Impact ## Case studies ## Frequently Asked Questions *Common questions and answers* ## Outlook Businesses are moving beyond annual financial statements towards integrated reporting, connecting financial performance with social and environmental value creation. The effective measurement of social procurement initiatives is a vital part of this shift – in response to both internal and external stakeholder pressure, procurement professionals are increasingly required to be conversant in measuring and articulating the impact that they are having. And how this measurement is crucial for maintaining trust, demonstrating credibility, and ensuring transparency in the pursuit of commercial objectives. Moving forward, we would expect to see greater emphasis on the social, economic and environmental impact of supply chains and greater integration of impact measurement frameworks into procurement reporting. This represents a significant challenge for procurement teams, but also an opportunity to demonstrate the enormous positive impact that they can have. ### Our Partners This section has been prepared by Business for Societal Impact. *Partner organizations and sponsors* Last update was made on 13 January 2026.