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Making Connections: a social return on investment evaluation of Vantastic

The social value of Vantastic

Vantastic is a transport operator, a charity, a company, an employer. But these descriptors do not tell the full story. At its heart, Vantastic is a connector. It makes connections between people and places.

Vantastic connects people with mobility challenges to the places they need to go, using adapted minibuses and rental cars. It connects children to special schools and adults to day services. It connects older people to healthcare facilities and shopping centres. It enables wheelchair users to undertake journeys of their choosing. In this way, vital social connections are made and maintained: within families, between fellow passengers and with others in the community.

However, this is not all. Vantastic also acts as a connector between partner organisations, their service users and their families. It further connects jobseekers to employment opportunities and people willing to share their time and expertise to volunteering opportunities. And crucially, Vantastic connects public policy with day-to-day practice, facilitating statutory investors to address their goals around issues such as wellbeing and social inclusion in a concrete and meaningful manner.

In its 25th anniversary year, Vantastic wanted to do a robust, independent evaluation of the current impact of the organisation’s services and the extent to which these services continue to meet people’s needs. SROI methodology would be used to describe how social value is brought about and to calculate the depth and scale of changes people experience in their lives. The SROI approach was opted for because Vantastic was already familiar with it, and it aligned with the company’s data-driven culture.

All relevant documentation was reviewed and the views of well over 400 people were gleaned through extensive consultation processes. It was found that an investment of more than €3.5 million was made into the organisation during 2024, comprising earned income, grants, the value of fixed assets, rebates and Board volunteers’ time and skills. These resources were used to undertake a wide range of activities that included planning and reviewing, adhering to regulation, policy implementation, risk management, human resource (HR) management, and management of the Vantastic fleet, as well as the running of the rental and minibus services and dealing with external linkages.

There were generally high levels of satisfaction about these activities, and they delivered measurable benefits to minibus and rental car passengers, their families, the staff within partner organisations, as well as Vantastic’s own staff and Board. It was found that the most valuable outcomes were family members, staff and Board members feeling better able to support the people they cared for in reaching the places they needed to go, that stress around travel was considerably reduced, and that Vantastic members themselves had a greater ability to access places. These were followed by having more disposable income due to money saved on transport, gaining social connections, and family members being satisfied that they had more time to themselves. The final positive outcomes were heightened job satisfaction for Vantastic and partner organisation staff, an increased sense of independence for individual minibus passengers, and greater Board volunteer role satisfaction.

Together, these outcomes delivered almost €15 million worth of social value. Vantastic therefore generated a substantial social return: for every €1 equivalent invested into the organisation, in the region of €4 of social value was created.

Many useful lessons were learned along the way and nine evidence-informed recommendations for the future could therefore be made.