What we do

Help partners turn intentions into impact

CERISE is a non-profit social innovator and service provider that provides social assessment tools and advisory services to help mission-driven organizations turn intentions into impact.

By drawing on 20 years of expertise

CERISE is a pioneer in social performance management, the managerial practices that translate an organization’s social mission into practice.

Over the last 20 years, we’ve co-created social standards and audit frameworks for microfinance and social businesses that are used by richly diverse partners.

To make sure you make a difference

Because having a social mission isn’t the same as achieving it, CERISE offers a range of tools and services to help mission-driven organizations make sure they make a difference.

Social audits & assessments

 

A social audit is the first step to holding an organization accountable to its social mission—because you can’t manage what you don’t measure.

 

Benefits           

  • Take stock of your social strategy
  • Identify indicators to monitor achievement of your social mission
  • Align policies and procedures with your social goals
  • Report on progress towards your mission

Services proposed by CERISE

  • In-depth social audits for financial service providers, social businesses, financial intermediaries/investors
  • Rapid assessments
  • Off-site “help desk” support for self-assessments using CERISE social audit tools
  • Post-assessment support to prioritize recommendations, implement action plans                   

Typical clients

Financial service providers | Social businesses | Investors, donors, foundations | International networks

 
Audits for financial service providers
Audits for social businesses
Assessments for Impact Investors, Networks
Measurement on  contribution to SDG for all types of organizations

Advisory services & technical assistance

Tailored support to define, refine or implement your social strategy and measure your contribution to change.

 

Benefits

  • Make a positive difference for your partners collecting data with a purpose, meeting your clients’ needs, reacting in the case of unintentional negative impact
  • Generate business insight, being accountable towards impact goals, taking informed decisions, identifying the good partners, reporting on progress

Services proposed by CERISE

  • Strategy redesign based on impact thesis
  • Structuration of mission-driven governance
  • Identification of social indicators to monitor achievement towards social goals
  • Definition of metrics aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals
  • Design and development of social dashboards and reporting formats and protocols
  • Clients’ identification, profiling and analysis
  • Crafting and revision of policies, manuals and procedures to support the social strategy
  • Support for committed, trained and equipped employees

Typical clients

Investors, donors, foundations | International networks

 

 
Advisory services for investors
 
 

Data management, benchmarking and portfolio analysis

CERISE guides its partners to leverage data collection and internet technologies to improve decision-making and impact for beneficiaries.

 

Benefits

  • Aggregate results and analyze partner trends based on CERISE benchmarking databases
  • Define social performance profiles
  • Identify priority areas for improvement and technical assistance strategies

Services

  • Personalized benchmarking reports to compare individual organizations against peer groups  
  • Portfolio analyses to compare an entire portfolio against peer groups
  • Crafting of actionable recommendations for prioritizing gaps and identification of relevant technical resources
  • State of practice reports at country, regional, network levels  

Typical clients

Financial service providers | Social businesses | Investors, donors, foundations | International networks

 

Tool development

CERISE develops assessment tools for mission-driven organizations to measure and manage their social performance.

 

CERISE offers six tools that are freely accessible to users. We also work with partners to develop customized tools based on specific needs.

Social audit tool for financial service providers – Aligned with the Universal Standards for Social Performance Management, Client Protection Principles and Green Index

Social due diligence tool for investors in inclusive finance – A sub-set of SPI4, developed by and for social due diligence and monitoring

Micro-level indicators for SDGs Targets for impact-driven organizations to measure their contribution to the SDGs

Impact-driven investor assessment – Social strategy assessment tool for impact investors

Social business scorecard – An assessment tool for social businesses to drive their performance

Social due diligence tool for investors in social businesses – A sub-set of SBS, co-created with investors for streamlined social business screening