The 1st Step to Measuring Impact
So you’re trying to define and measure your impact - or at least you should be. Why? Impact reflects the heart and soul of your organization. It explains to the world how (or if) you’re accomplishing your vision and, if done well, it explains what money does when it comes to you. The trouble is - impact must be precisely defined in order to be effectively measured.
I’ve worked with nearly 200 nonprofits in the last year. Nearly all of them report on their activity. But only a handful actually report their impact. Far too many nonprofits measure impact by volume: how many people took their classes or came to their building, how many businesses used their services, how many animals they helped or meals they provided. That’s not your impact - that’s just your program. Never have I ever heard a nonprofit founder say they wanted to start an organization just to get people in their doors or tally completed tasks on a list. Those numbers reflect outcomes - and those are important too. But outcomes are not why you’re doing this.
Why did that founder start this work? Why do you, nonprofit leader, pour your hours and heart and soul (yeah, I see you!) into this organization? Because you wanted something to change in the world after your programs were completed. My number one tip for defining and measuring impact is to look for the answer in your vision and mission statements.
Do you remember back in pre-algebra when the word problems tried to trick you into answering with the wrong units? They asked you how many pounds of apples you needed to make a pie and then you wrote down the number of apples instead of the number of pounds? That’s what happens when you define your impact with what your organization did (outcomes) instead of what changed after you did it (impact). If your vision is that all pigs would learn to fly, your impact is not how many treats you fed the pigs during training programs or how many training sessions they had or even how many pigs you worked with. Tell me how many pigs flew! Tell me how far they went! (If that’s really your organization’s mission, you get the answers for free. If that’s not your organization’s mission and you need help figuring this out, impact mapping might be for you.)
Impact Mapping is especially important for smaller nonprofits and here’s why: You and I both know you cannot compete with the outcomes of bigger organizations with lots more money. Donors, funders, and volunteers can find an organization with a mission or vision similar to yours that has larger outcomes (more programs, more participants, etc). I also know that very often smaller organizations have a larger impact. Your programs and dollars probably go much further than those huge organizations and the world should know it. Correctly defining impact in alignment with your vision is the key.
If you’re not sure whether you’re on the right track, here are some questions that may help:
If I framed my mission & vision statements as questions, would I be able to provide the answer in the same terms? (The answer to “Did I teach pigs to fly?” is not “I gave them 5,376 treats” or “We worked with 89 pigs this year”. The answer is “Yes, I taught 3 pigs to each fly 12 feet and they are now living their best lives.”)
Does my definition of impact point to what changed in the world because of the work we did?
Can my impact numbers be tied directly to my revenue?
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