We caught up with Tiia Sammallahti from whatimpact to discuss the evolution of Social Value and how organisations can connect local partnerships with validated, scalable impact.
whatimpact’s National Social Value Marketplace is a nationwide matchmaking platform for government suppliers and VCSEs, who can apply to become partners in delivering Social Value.
The national approach is very important because there is currently a huge trend of creating all kinds of localised listing sites and platforms. This means governments, suppliers and VCSEs have to log into multiple systems, sometimes even tens of systems, in order to find partners. That is not sustainable.
Our national approach allows all social enterprises, charities, community groups, schools and so forth to register. We have put everybody on the map, not only by their postcode but also by their reach and area of operation. We have also mapped all council and borough boundaries.
This makes it very easy to find organisations that are relevant to a specific area. We allow organisations of all sizes and types to join, giving equal opportunity for all types of VCSEs to be found by suppliers. Suppliers can then find partners who suit their capabilities, what they are trying to achieve, what kind of contracts they are running, and where they are running them.
We have also decided to set up a large VCSE Summit for the first quarter of 2026. This will be an inspirational day for VCSEs to join, as well as companies, councils and public sector organisations. It is a VCSE-led inspirational day where we will be talking about the role of VCSEs in public sector procurement and Social Value.
There will be speeches, panel sessions and a celebration of the VCSE sector together with some of our sponsors.
There were a lot of amazing speeches and panel sessions. It is about getting new ideas and getting a feel for what is up and coming.
What Social Value Portal has already proven is that this procurement-led Social Value movement is now moving into the private sector. Large private sector organisations are starting to request Social Value deliverables from their suppliers, similar to what has happened in the public sector.
For example, companies like Amazon are starting to request Social Value from their supply chains. This is a very up-and-coming topic, and one that I would like to hear more about.
💡Explore: Takeaways from the UK's biggest Social Value event
VCSE collaboration is not only related to procurement. It can be corporate social responsibility-led, philanthropic, ESG-driven, or aligned to other strategies.
This trend is global. Technically, our marketplace can operate anywhere. The only thing that would need to be considered is language localisation. The matchmaking mechanism, voluntary management processes and impact reporting are based on international standards and similar processes.
There may be differences between countries in terms of which initiatives are considered important or which causes are prioritised. But companies have always been important supporters of VCSEs for decades, even hundreds of years. That fundamental aspect is the same everywhere.
If you want to get started on your own Social Value journey, explore our Resources for the latest case studies and insights.
Or, to learn how we can help, schedule a chat with one of our experts.