Impact reporting

What is impact reporting?

Impact reporting is the process of measuring and reporting on all of the outcomes of an organisation's work - simply put, it is a report on the impact an organisation has made.

The report is a brief summary of the outcomes achieved by an organisation, whether those outcomes are short, medium or long term results.

An impact report can focus on the outcomes of a single project, or can take a wider look at the various activities and projects of an entire organisation.

What are the benefits?

Both small and large groups benefit from releasing impact reports, which inform stakeholders of how a group is achieving their goals and fulfilling their purpose.

Impact reporting will help to direct public focus on to the most positive aspects of their organisation - their ability to effectively achieve their goals.

One of the most important missions for a not-for-profit organisation is to ensure that they have sufficient funding to to ensure they can achieve their aims. For this reason it is vital that an organisation shows stakeholders and the general public that they are successful in achieving their aims.

The process of compiling a report also provides an organisation with a beneficial opportunity to 'take a step back' and assess their intentions and outcomes.

Something to remember

Impact reporting reinforces the need for a group to measure how they are achieving their mission, and act as a reminder that making money isn't the only goal.

A 2001 report, Measuring what matters in nonprofits, spoke about the "bucks and acres" approach The Nature Conservancy took to measuring their success in achieving their mission -- preserving the diversity of plants and animals by protecting the habitats of rare species around the world.

They did this by measuring how much money they raised and how much land they protected - thus the "bucks and acres".

The organisation eventually began to realise that their goal was not just to raise money and buy land, and discovered that while they made lots of money and bought lots of land, they were failing to actually preserve the diversity of plants and animals.

This shows how an inability to recognise how a group is achieving its mission leads to wasted time and resources.

Institute of Community Directors Australia Executive Director Patrick Moriarty suggests groups use his 'logic model' when measuring their impact, with a focus on the long-term outcomes of their activities.

How to prepare better impact reports

The Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO) produced a report outlining 12 key principles to good impact reporting.

ACEVO's Principles of Good Impact Reporting offers two sets of principles; one set helps to explain how organisations should communicate their impact, and the other explains what they should communicate.

Those principles are:

How to communicate yourr impact

Clarity: The reader can quickly and easily understand the organisation through a coherent narrative that connects charitable aims, plans, activities and results.

Accessibility: Relevant information can be found by anyone who looks for it, in a range of formats suitable for different stakeholders.

Transparency: Reporting is full, open and honest.

Accountability: Reporting connects with stakeholders, partners and beneficiaries to tell them what they need to know, and provide reassurance.

Verifiability: Claims about impact are backed up appropriately, allowing others to review. This can range from informal stakeholder feedback to external audit.

Proportionality: The level and detail of reporting reflects the size and complexity of the organisation, and the complexity of the changes they're trying to bring about.

From ACEVO's Principles of Good Impact Reporting March 2012

What to communicate about your impact

Clear purpose

• Why do we exist? What issue are we ultimately trying to tackle?
• What overall impact do we want to have? What change do we seek?
• What impact do our key stakeholders want us to have?

Defined aims

• What are our specific short and long-term aims?
• How does achieving these aims help us achieve our overall purpose/impact?

Coherent activities

• What activities do we carry out to achieve our aims?
• What resources do we use to make these activities happen?
• What are the outputs of these activities?
• How do our activities help us achieve our aims and create change?
• Are our activities part of a coherent plan?

Demonstrated results

• What outcomes/impact are we achieving against our aims?
• What impact are we achieving against the overall change we seek?

Evidence

• How do we know what we are achieving?
• Do we have relevant, proportionate evidence of our outcomes and impact?
• Are we sharing evidence to back up the claims we make?
• Are we seeking feedback, review and input where appropriate?

Lessons learned

• What are we learning about our work?
• How are we communicating what we learn?
• How are we improving and changing from what we learn?
• What has happened that we didn't expect (positive and negative)?
• Are we allocating resources to best effect?

From ACEVO's Principles of Good Impact Reporting March 2012