Whether your organization is a nonprofit focused on animal welfare, a family foundation that awards grants to organizations serving at-risk youth, an impact investing firm championing renewable energy, or a corporation with several corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, you know that the work you do makes a real difference.
But, as an impact creator, how do you prove the effectiveness of your work to stakeholders? Or, as someone who funds mission-driven work, how do you know your dollars are being put to good use?
The answer lies in a process called impact measurement. In this guide, we'll explore everything you need to know about impact measurement and how you can get started:
Once you master impact measurement, you'll have concrete data on your side, empowering you to make data-driven decisions that shape your organization’s future and the good it does for others. Let's begin!
Impact measurement and management (IMM) is a focus area in the mission-driven space that has been around for decades but is now growing in importance as more and more people recognize its value. So, if you're unfamiliar with it, you're not alone! In this section, we'll bring you up to speed on all the basics you need to know by answering some common questions.
Impact refers to the tangible changes or results an organization generates for its community as outlined by its mission, vision, and goals.
Depending on the nature of an organization's work, it may have an impact on one or more of the following:
To understand and communicate your own organization's impact, you need to evaluate and report on it effectively. That's where impact measurement comes in.
Impact measurement, also referred to as impact measurement and management (IMM), is a process that involves evaluating the effectiveness of an organization's programs, initiatives, and interventions to determine if the organization is delivering its intended results or benefits to its target beneficiaries.
This means going beyond tracking what an organization does daily, like making investments, checking in with grantees, putting volunteers to work, or delivering services, and examining the short- and long-term positive outcomes of the work it's doing.
Let's examine the importance of impact measurement from the perspective of mission-driven organizations and their stakeholders.
Measuring organizational impact is important for:
For the stakeholders who support mission-driven work, impact measurement is important for:
Different types of mission-driven organizations will have different IMM needs. Let's take a look at three core types of organizations to better understand their motivations for measuring impact and how they typically approach the process.
Impact investors manage portfolio companies or funds, typically investing in for-profit organizations with a certain thematic focus, such as the environment, education, or social good.
These organizations benefit from impact measurement in two ways:
By reporting on their own impact, impact investors can continue contributing to organizations building a better tomorrow. Additionally, by understanding portfolio companies' and funds' impact, investors can provide effective strategic support, helping the organizations they support improve their operations and scale up.
Sonen Capital focuses on driving both social and environmental impact, as well as high financial returns, for its clients.
The investment firm recognized the need to not only sell impact-focused investments but also report on the non-financial results of those investments. They partnered with UpMetrics to use data frameworks and intuitive dashboards to highlight their impact insights and provide clients with a way to see the lasting impact their investments create.
Interested in learning more about Sonen Capital's impact measurement journey?
Private foundations, public foundations, corporations, and government agencies may all provide grants to nonprofits.
Similar to impact investors, these organizations engage in impact measurement and management themselves to stay accountable to boards, donors, and communities while also encouraging their grantees to demonstrate the impact they're generating using grant funds.
Enhanced transparency among grantmakers, their supporters, and their grantees allows for better collaboration and learning among all three parties.
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation works in Kansas City and the surrounding area to help people achieve financial stability, upward mobility, and economic prosperity. One way it does this is by providing grants to local organizations aligned with its mission.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kauffman Foundation saw a need to improve its data strategy. The organization began using UpMetrics' IMM platform to set grantees up with a way to define their own success metrics and monitor their impact.
Now, the foundation and its grantees can learn from their impact data to drive even more positive change for the Kansas City community.
Dive deeper into the Kauffman Foundation's IMM story!
Nonprofits rely on the generosity of others to keep their missions moving forward. One way they can prove themselves worthy of continued support is to demonstrate the impact of their programs and services.
By measuring their progress toward the smaller objectives that will get them closer to accomplishing their larger missions, nonprofits can evaluate the outcomes of their initiatives and projects and use that information to make careful decisions about improving their operations.
Since 2000, America SCORES Chicago has provided free after-school and summer programming to youth that combines soccer, poetry, and service learning.
The nonprofit works with UpMetrics to enhance its reporting efforts and more effectively track student engagement and program effectiveness data.
Now, they have easy access to insights on their work that allow them to stay accountable to government funders and school principals. They've also found it easier and faster for their internal team to collect and manage organizational data.
Get more details by reading the America SCORES Chicago case study!
Now that you understand what impact measurement is, the value it can bring, and what it looks like at different organizations, you're likely ready to dive into evaluating your own organization's impact.
Follow these steps to get started:
An Impact Framework is essentially a visual and mental map that helps your team think about impact as something you can measure and leverage. There are three key pieces to a complete Impact Framework:
At UpMetrics, we recommend you begin building your Framework by considering your larger mission and vision in the context of key dimensions of impact:
From there, you'll determine objectives and key impactor indicators that fall under those specific impact dimensions.
In order for your impact measurement efforts to lead to positive outcomes for your organization, stakeholders, and those you serve, you need to know what you want to achieve through the process.
Of course, you want to make headway on your organization's overarching mission, but it will make the process more manageable to break this larger objective into more granular goals.
Here are a few examples of manageable objectives to inspire you:
Similar to key performance indicators (KPIs), KIIs are measurable values that help you see the progress you've made toward your objectives. The KIIs you choose will inform the data collection and analysis steps coming up.
Here are some examples of KIIs:
As you come up with KIIs that align with your own objectives, try to go a little deeper than surface-level indicators. For instance, it may be helpful to track the number of people who enroll in a program, but it may be more informative in the end to track the number of people who complete the program or are retained in the program year after year.
Our impact measurement and management platform allows your organization to put together all the pieces of its Impact Framework. Here's a snapshot of what your Impact Framework could end up looking like:
As you can see, on the UpMetrics platform, you're guided through the process of adding objectives and KIIs and attaching them to specific dimensions of impact.
Want to try it for yourself?
Data refers to the raw facts and figures you need to collect and analyze to evaluate your organization's impact, or, on a more manageable level, its progress toward specific objectives.
You can (and should) use both quantitative and qualitative data to measure your progress:
From the get-go, commit to working with both quantitative and qualitative data. This will give you a fuller picture of your organization's impact once you begin analyzing your data for insights.
Begin by digging into the data you already have, both quantitative and qualitative. The data that will get most of your focus will largely depend on the KIIs you've picked.
This will require you to identify where your current data lives. If your organization is a small shop, you may only have a few spreadsheets to reference. However, larger organizations may have heaps of data sitting in several different solutions, from donor databases to marketing tools. You'll eventually need to consolidate your data in one place to analyze it. Jump ahead to learn about recommended tools for doing this!
You'll likely want to collect additional data to reference as well. Depending on your KIIs and data needs, you may need to conduct surveys, interviews, or focus groups. You'll also want to look for trends in your internal database and other tools.
Also, consider any publicly available data that can enrich your organization's own data collection. For instance, perhaps your organization is focused on lowering the unemployment rate in your local area. Publicly available data about unemployment on the state, county, or city level can enrich your understanding of the data your organization has.
If you're intimidated by the prospect of data analysis or know that this skillset is out of your team's wheelhouse, you're not alone. Consider partnering with a data scientist or investing in an impact analysis platform to explore what your data has to say about your work.
Effective data analysis will answer the question, "How close are we to achieving our objectives?" And once you have those answers, it's time to act.
This may involve:
Even if your data is telling you that you haven't made much progress on your goals or that new problems have emerged that need addressing, remember not to be discouraged by your findings. Let your insights spur positive change and optimism for better results in the future.
Having the right tools at your disposal will make your impact measurement efforts easier and more successful. As you consider the top providers below, take into account your organization's needs, budget, goals, and plans for scaling up in the future so that you pick the right fit.
UpMetrics is the leading provider of impact measurement and management software for nonprofits, foundations, impact investors, and CSR-focused corporations.
With our user-friendly tools, your organization can tap into our DeCAL methodology for impact measurement. DeCAL stands for:
UpMetrics stands out because of our team of social sector experts. Through our managed services offering, you can tap into their expertise on:
Better yet, we'll help you become an expert in impact measurement, too, transitioning you to becoming self-powered on our platform over time.
We also offer access to the foundational features of our platform via our free Starter Plan. This grants your organization access to our impact framework builder, themed framework templates, and the ability to publish a public profile page.
Additionally, by working with UpMetrics, you can tap into the power of community by joining our Impact Learning Collectives (free for UpMetrics customers!). Or, if you're a grantmaking organization, you can sponsor the cost of the platform for a group of your grantees through our Cohort program.
Sopact is a software provider committed to helping organizations make sense of their data through careful listening and artificial intelligence (AI)-powered data collection and analysis.
They offer two solutions:
ImpactMapper is a provider that puts a special emphasis on helping organizations get the most out of their qualitative data.
Their software empowers organizations to:
Civis Analytics helps its users overcome data silos and unify information to better understand what motivates their audiences to take action. It's an especially useful tool for mission-driven marketers.
Some of its capabilities include:
Measuring impact allows an organization to quantify and communicate the difference it's making in the world. As you work to measure and manage your own organization's impact, draw on the process outlined above to guide your work.
And remember, the impact measurement journey often requires support. Consider partnering with a provider like UpMetrics to gain access to the tools and expertise you need to truly understand how much progress you or the organizations you support are making on your mission!
Want to keep learning about the world of impact measurement? Here are a few recommended resources from our blog: