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“How will I know it’s working?” This is THE question most social leaders get stuck on when they plan new initiatives. The bigger the dream, the harder it is to measure impact. But, the more important it is. So, let’s explore the basics on how to approach this question.

What is Impact?

For our purposes, let’s assume that impact is the same as “social impact”.

Your impact is how much you are moving the needle on the change you want to make in the world. This change is normally expressed in your vision or your dream.

Why is Impact so Tricky?

Social problems are easy to see, yet virtually impossible to solve. How can you know if your small initiative is making a dent? The world’s leading experts on social impact can’t even agree on a definition. So, don’t despair if you have a hard time on how to measure impact. We all do!

How to Measure Impact

Start Early

Think about measuring impact during the planning phase. Design your initiative with impact measurement in mind. Create your vision and mission statements in a way that makes it easier to measure impact later. Make an impact measure a part of your plan’s goals.

Link to Existing Evidence

Lots of experts have researched different parts of social problems and have identified approaches that work. If you use one of those proven approaches, it is much easier to measure impact. Think of it as the transitive law in algebra.

Let’s look at an example. Let’s say your dream is to achieve gender equity in STEM in Nicaragua. The Lancet journal published research identifying inclusive leadership as a driver of gender equity in STEM academia. So, you focus your mission on achieving inclusive leadership in local STEM universities. With this external research, you can measure impact by tracking how many inclusive leaders you have helped put in place.

There are also many sources that identify possible impact measures by project type. These include:

The Impact Genome Project

Sopact – has lots of resources

Mirada Colectiva from the Fundación Banco Popular

Council of Nonprofits – has lots of resources

Analyze your Vision and Mission

Look at every word in your vision and mission to really understand the impact you are trying to make. Is it focused on a particular community? How many things are you trying to change? For whom? How? You might want to measure impact for each element or bundle them into a single measure.

Gather Impact Data and Stories

Hire an Expert Evaluator

Many organizations hire professional evaluators to help them draft impact measures and gather impact data. They can be certified program evaluators or members of professional associations.

Do it Yourself

You can use various methodologies to get data to measure impact. I especially like Acumen’s Lean Data for Social impact approach. They offer free courses on how to cost-effectively measure impact.

Choose measures that speak to you and tell you whether or not you are achieving real change. Keep them simple and relatively easy to put together.

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