Civil society organizations make up the civil society or third sector that exists next to the state and market. The activities of civil society organizations are aimed at achieving public and socially beneficial goals with the intention of improving the quality of life of each individual, especially those from vulnerable groups. In addition to social goals, these organizations also contribute to environmental goals that are also important for the quality of life of each individual. The most common form of civil society organization in the world, also in Croatia, are associations that make up over 90% of civil society. Due to limited financial resources for financing activities, some of the associations have embarked on economic activities or the so-called self-financing activities. Such activities were the basis for the development of social entrepreneurship, relatively new socio-economic phenomena that operate on entrepreneurial principles of profit maximization, which means that it participates in the market by offering its products and services, but their main mission is still social and invests all profits in / or environmental needs. Civil society organizations are of great importance, and it is especially visible in times of crisis, as we are witnessing now. Social innovations such as social entrepreneurship can enable the most vulnerable social groups to become an economic force and instead of costing the state, to the mutual satisfaction, start participating in the labor market as workers and thus fill the state budget. Europe is facing many complex and interconnected socio-economic challenges that the economic crisis has clearly exacerbated. These challenges include youth unemployment, migration, population aging, poverty and gender inequality. Given the entrepreneurial spirit and innovation, the social enterprise is potentially even more important, but in order for these organizations to get the deserved role in society and the economy, it is necessary to find adequate and standardazied way to measure their importance. Therefore, the main interest of this paper is the real importance of measuring the impact of the organization as well as currently developed options and models for measuring the social and economic impacts of civil society organizations, especially social enterprises that produce significant economic value and significant economic value.