Online Tool to Help Practitioners Weigh, Assess and Communicate Investments

Borrowing from an industry sector phrase used to describe a complete view of investment impact, the Economic Development Administration (EDA) unveiled its new Triple Bottom Line tool to help economic development practitioners and investors assess, compare and communicate the potential impact of projects. EDA says the triple bottom line approach can help better align economic development investments with other community priorities to maximize impact.

The tool uses a process called multi-criteria decision analysis to generate a score for three triple bottom line goals: economic vitality, natural resource stewardship and community well-being. Each goal is comprised of performance areas, which in turn consist of measures to help deliver those outcomes. A summary report generates both project information and project scores. The tool also will generate a due diligence report providing a list of items identified as completed, due to be completed, or warranting further attention.

For economic development practitioners, the tool's feature of helping communicate how investments will impact communities and educating stakeholders about processes may spark immense interest in a field where demonstrating outcomes is crucial for securing support. The website promises to let users explore what the tool looks like in practice in the form of case studies soon to be released that represent investments from both rural and urban communities across the U.S.

Having already undergone pilot testing, the tool currently is being beta tested and EDA encourages practitioners to test the tool in their region and provide feedback for improvement. More information is available at: http://www.tbltool.org/ or read the blog post.