Abstract
This study explores the meaning of social value and social impact from the perspectives of the benefactors—those providing financial support through the use of a loyalty card programme—and the beneficiaries, which are the schools that benefit from this support. The loyalty card initiative grants funding support to schools through purchases made using the loyalty card. The funding assists under-resourced schools with ‘access to education’. Access to education in the Western Cape context includes social issues that affect accessibility of children to education such as inequality, poverty, lack of family structures, and food security. By examining the dual perspectives, the research aims to illustrate the implementation of social impact through corporate sustainability initiatives and the understanding of social value between these two groups. Additionally, this research hopes to highlight best practices that can be adopted within corporate sustainability initiatives to enhance social value. The study employed a qualitative research methodology, applying an inductive model for manual thematic analysis to unpack both perspectives on social impact and social value. The six participants interviewed were from two primary and two high schools, and two representatives from the benefactor. Four themes were identified through the data analysis process, these were, perception of social value; measurement of social impact; perceptions of social impact and social value, and; best practices for social value through the benefactor’s corporate sustainability initiative. The findings will hopefully inform corporate and philanthropic stakeholders on aligning perceptions and practices to maximise corporate sustainability initiatives, thereby contributing to a more comprehensive framework for implementing a social impact assessment plan and achieving social value.