The Psychosocial Account of the Social Added Value of Nonprofit and Voluntary Organizations: A Participatory Study

The psychosocial perspective of the Social Added Value (SAV) is a valuable account of the social impact of Nonprofit and Voluntary Organizations (NPVOs). This is because it recognizes the economic impacts of NPVOs. However, the existing top-down operationalization of SAV still needs the integration of a bottom-up perspective (i.e., NPVOs’ members' perspective).

Following a participatory research approach, the study seeks to complement the existing psychosocial perspective with bottom-up perspectives on SAV.

The study uses concept mapping, a participatory stakeholder-driven process, to generate a framework of SAV on a sample of NPVO managers (N = 105).

The results of the participatory study reveal that the elements characterizing NPVOs’ SAV act in a circuit of benefits comprising the contextualization of the individual in the community and contributing to the lives of people in and around the community. This bottom-up operationalization of NPVOs’ SAV comprises six main benefits, namely (a) state and territory, (b) care and awareness, (c) create and valorize relationships, (d) community and social promotion, (e) well-being and (f) self-determination, and local activation.

The findings of the study provide indications to complement the psychosocial perspective of SAV and its implications for theory and practice. Notably, these findings appear to reflect the ecological perspective of community psychology. As such, they offer a starting point for tailoring interventions to support and promote communities and NPVOs.