Introduction The Argument for Impact Reporting

Non-profits and social enterprises can no longer afford to regard impact measurement as a luxury – it’s a necessity. For grant applications Or catching the attention of the donor Or demonstrating to the donors the returns of their investment Or for the stakeholders A well written social impact assessment report can always make anyone aware (read believe) that it’s not just us, it’s the evidence also which speaks for us. It lends credibility, raises money, and concentrates your strategic strengths.

 A strong report is also concise about what you bring to the party, how you stand out from the crowd. It even asks the ultimate question: What are you doing? Why does it matter? Who benefits? And how can you show the difference you’re making?

 In the first of three blog posts, we’ll guide you through every key element of a thorough social impact report. Part 1 is foundational—ranging from what the purpose of your assessment is, to your theory of change, to your impact metrics framework. In Part 2, the authors discuss qualitative and quantitative data, stakeholder feedback, and ways to include local case studies. In part 3, you’ll learn how to synthesise your findings and how to write up your report so that it’s clear and engaging and you’re get the biggest boost from your social impact assessment tool.

Clear Purpose and Objectives

Your social impact assessment report will begin by stating why the report was made. Are you evaluating one program or your whole organization’s broad mission over the past year? This section hooks readers by telling them what’s coming and why the story matters.

 Write about what time frame of the assessment, what programs / activities covered, and who you intend to reach or serve with the assessment (e.g. your internal leadership, funders, partners, or community). Be clear about what you’re going to do with insights — change strategic planning, update program design, report to investors or foundations, communicate progress to beneficiaries.

 Including this clarity also helps ensure you’ve got your reader’s attention from the very beginning and helps the reader to understand why this sort of report is every bit as important. A good report ties into a larger image. For example, you could explain to readers that your organization will grow its tentacles in the next three years and this document is the baseline for recognizing opportunities and strategic priorities.

You might also tie back the objective section to your company’s mission. This will help encourage readers to connect the report with your larger dedication to your community or cause. If you’re using one of these instruments to conduct social impact assessment, in what way does it assist you? Whether your tool enables data collection and analysis, helps to visualize trends or brings reporting efforts together in a central space, placing it here lets stakeholders know that your approach is organized and powerful.

Change Continuum or Logic Model

Your theory of change is the assumptions and hypotheses behind what you do. It’s a way of thinking about how — and why — your organization believes change happens and what it needs to do in order to get the results it desires.

Begin by thinking of something you want to achieve in the long run — perhaps it’s to eliminate youth homelessness or to raise the financial literacy of young Americans. Then explain the logical progression of steps: inputs (the resources that went into it), activities (the programs or services delivered), outputs (the result, in terms of products or services they received directly, like the number of people served), outcomes (improvements in behavior, knowledge, condition) and long-term impact (sustained changes to systems or communities).

 A visual representation of a theory of change or logic model can enable many nonprofits and social ventures to move stakeholders along more rapidly with the flow of impact. And don’t forget written explanations for the diagram. For example, your theory of change might show how trained community mentors (input) facilitate peer learning groups (activity) that result in higher high school graduation rates (outcome) and eventually deeper life stability (impact).

It also must be matched with your strategic objectives. It’s basically a map of what you’re attempting and why you are qualified to succeed doing it. One of the factors of proving your theory of change also involves having a social impact assessment tool in which connects actions to results and value produced and can be followed over time. Seek out tools that offer flexible frameworks for measuring impact, or ones that allow you to tag data points to an outcome.

 Your theory of change does not have to be perfect. Instead, you should treat it as all amateurs do: as a living model that you update as you learn more and get more evidence about what works and what doesn’t. This is also creating organisational learning as an important element of continuous improvement.

Metrics and Indicators

After you’ve stated your theory of change, you need to figure out the metrics by which you will measure progress. These indicators should be reflective of each stage of your logic model and become the basis of your impact evaluation framework.

Types of Metrics

Metrics can themselves be classified into a number of categories:

• Input measures capture what was invested (e.g., dollars invested, staff hours).

• Output metrics are counts of what you did (workshops delivered, meals served, for example.)

• Output data measures the outputs coming from your activities (e.g., jobs placed, test score improvements).

• Impact measures are primarily concerned with more general, longer-term changes (such as decreases in the percentage of people in poverty, higher graduation rates).
  Make sure that your metrics are actually useful by making them all SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. This approach not only makes accountability better, but allows you to compare how performance unfolds over time, or otherwise to compare program effectiveness.

Do everything you can to disaggregate your data. Funders and partners are ever-more demanding of impact data aimed at proving out that different segments of the population — based on age, or gender, or race, or income level, or geography — are experiencing the desired effect. In other words, if your program works in both urban and rural areas, you might find that your program works better in one or the other. These understandings are critical in order to optimise equity and resources.

The right indicators are not easy to find; it requires careful thought. Does this metric reflect what we truly want to change? Will our stakeholders want it? Do we have the means and the headroom to be able to measure it consistently?

Indicator Justification

And where you can, describe why you are selecting certain indicators. For instance, if you’re measuring “sense of belonging” in a youth mentorship program, explain how that measure connects to long-term educational engagement and decreased dropout rates. Make sure it’s explicit that every metric returns to real results for real people.

This is also where your social impact assessment tool may come into play. A great tool empowers you to tie indicators to impact, automate data collection, display data across multiple dashboards, and streamline reporting. (You can even build logic models and attach metrics to outcomes within the platform to see at a glance how your various programs contribute to your overall goals.)

You should also be ready to report not just on your successes but on the places you have fallen down. One of the ways towards trust is transparency, and admitting limitations, or failures is an act that demonstrates a willingness to learn and to grow. Talk about disparities in results, hurdles you hit or where the results didn’t meet expectations. The offer then ends with a short note about grounding the data the way you’ll be doing (and maybe an aside about how you will be doing that differently).

 Finally, you want to consider the evolution of metrics. It might be that over time you need to reimagine your measurement framework as your programs mature or grow. A customizable social impact assessment tool can support these changes and allow for progress while not losing continuity of data. And in the long run, regular use of a good tool allows you to compare year over year, and show long-term change.

Robust signals do not only help internally for your organisation. They place you outside of that as a trusted partner that is transparent and results-focused. If you’re chasing funding, launching a new partnership or campaigning for policy change, a robust metrics framework made of up-to-date, well-organized data will provide the evidence base you need to argue your case.