Measuring Economic Impact
Archive services make important contributions to the local economy. Economic Impact is the value generated by an organisation in relation to jobs and spending in the local area. Measuring economic impact usually involves considering expenditure on goods and services, employees, geographical location and the overall impact of an organisation in relation to tourism.
Using economic impact figures is a compelling way to communicate your service’s value to decision makers. This information can be particularly helpful in advocating for your archive within organisations who have an interest in the local economy (e.g. local authorities). Demonstrating the economic impact of your archive service helps to illustrate a return on public investment.
Economic Impact Toolkit
The toolkit is designed to automatically calculate the economic impact of your service. After entering information about your service’s expenditure, the number of employees, volunteers and visitors, the toolkit will generate a combined assessment including a ‘jobs created’ figure, an ‘expenditure’ figure, and a ‘value added’ figure.
Determining the economic impact of your service does not have to be a complicated exercise. Once you’ve gathered the required information, you simply enter the data into the toolkit to arrive at your figure. You can download the toolkit and guidance below.
Economic Impact Toolkit Guidance
Museums Galleries Scotland has produced a worksheet and a helpful video tutorial on using the toolkit. The instructions are also applicable to archives and this additional guidance can be accessed here.
