Full value

'Full value' is a way of thinking about and appreciating the broader worth of your organisation.

What is full value?

The full value of your organisation includes:

• the benefits that you bring about for your users or cause (your primary impact)
• the difference you make to other people or things, such as trustees, staff, volunteers, funders, local residents, the environment or the economy (secondary impact)
• the experience you create for your users, such as excitement from playing a game, feeling moved by hearing a piece of music or feeling comfortable, relaxed and trusting because of your friendly, knowledgeable and sympathetic staff (primary experience)
• the experience you create for others, e.g. showing your appreciation of donors and keeping them informed, or providing your staff and volunteers with a pleasant working environment (secondary experience).

Valuing experience

Some organisations, such as many working in sport or the arts, concern themselves primarily with experiences and not with impact. They exist to create ‘in-the-moment’ experiences, for example a game of football or a concert. All organisations create experiences, even if they are not the main purpose of your work. These experiences have value in their own right. 

The bad with the good

All organisations create positive and negative impact and positive and negative experiences. Identifying all the impact and experience your organisation brings about will put you fully in the picture about its overall value.

Once you start to explore your broader worth, you will be able to increase your positive value, and develop different types of value. You will also be able to uncover and hopefully improve the less valuable elements of your work.

Don't sell yourself short!

The full value approach is also a great way to promote your organisation's successes to different audiences. Once you have identified your broader worth, you will be better able to communicate the right aspects of your value to the right people in the right way.

Full value, not 'added value'

The full value idea is particularly helpful when thinking about the role of our sector in public service delivery. It is a useful alternative to the term 'added value', which is often used in crude and confusing ways. The full value approach can help potential bidders for public service contracts, user representatives and commissioners to focus on what really matters for each particular service. It can also help procurers choose the best supplier for the job.

Find out more about full value and public services

More on full value

The publication True Colours: Uncovering the full value of your organisation introduces the full value approach. Written by NCVO's Strategy and Impact team, it offers practical exercises to help you identify your organisation's own full value and gives tips on how best to communicate your value to different audiences.

Buy a copy of the True Colours guide

Find out more about impact.