More Than Just Transport – How a social audit can prove your organisation contributes to a stronger community

This month’s Community Transport Association Journal runs a feature on social accounting and auditing highlighting the action research CTA has been carrying out for Carnegie’s Rural Action Research Programme.

‘In the past 18 months, the CTA has helped 12 organisations across the UK and Ireland to carry out their first social audit. Funding of £36,000 from the Carnegie UK Trust and a further £1,500 from the Community Transport Association Ireland (CTAI) has put community transport managers through training, supported organisations during the process and produced an informative handbook about social auditing for other community transport organisations to draw upon.’

Bryan Myles who leads the Carnegie funded research states:

‘The process itself helps an organisation identify its mission statement and values. A charity needs social objectives as well as financial ones and, although this is quite new for many of our members, it is something we are encouraging.’

Also featured in the same issue is a report by Bryan on the Carnegie supported study visit to Mountain Empire Older Citizens (MEOC) in Virginia in October last year. ‘Bryan in the USA’ is a full and informative account of the community transit service MEOC runs- Mountain Empire Transit and of the organisation itself. One quote from a member of the MEOC staff that has resonated with Bryan and the RARP Service Provision group is: ‘Around here, if you are delivering a service and you don’t provide transport, then you are not delivering the service.’

Both features can be read in full in the CTA journal attached.

A copy of the CTA’s Social Audit Workbook for Community Transport Organisations will be posted here in due course.