Five Best Practices for Impact Evaluation

Measuring and communicating impact is of considerable importance to nonprofit organizations. According to Cambridge Dictionary, the definition of impact is the strong effect of influence that something has on a situation or person. Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it as the force of impression of one thing on another: a significant or major effect. Oxford Languages Dictionary sums it up as having a strong effect on someone or something.

As you can see from the above definitions, impact has a broad meaning. How does your organization define impact? Your organization may have an impact statement. Or have written an impact report. And considered the question: How do we measure impact? And fielded the question: What is your impact?

To measure impact effectively, it is essential to understand what it means to your organization and embed it in your organizational culture. Here are five recommendations to help your organization define and enhance its impact evaluation program.

1. Be specific

Developing a definition of impact for your organization is an important foundational step to evaluating impact. Asking clarifying questions like the examples below helps develop and refine the process to suit your organization’s needs best. Understanding what impact means to your organization helps focus impact evaluation work.

• Who and what are you trying to influence and effect with your mission?
• How do you measure impact using quantitative and qualitative data?
• Why is this data important?
• Who needs to be involved?

Pro tip: Create a document that defines your organization’s impact evaluation process. Ensure it is clear, concise, and comprehensive with assigned roles and responsibilities. Share it with all relevant stakeholders regularly and assess it annually to ensure it is still in alignment with your mission.

Do not forget: Gather input and information from different stakeholders to help capture the multiple sources of impact data. Starting with why this process is so important will help engage your team.

Bonus win: Creates a process that can be shared with external audiences as appropriate to show your organization’s commitment to impactful work, building trust and relationships with stakeholders.

2. Practice consistency

Perhaps your organization has been in a situation where it is time for your annual report, and your team is struggling to gather impact measurements. With so many competing priorities, consistently documenting and evaluating key metrics can be challenging. However, without consistency, accurate impact evaluation is impossible. Ensure that expectations for this work are clear, realistic, and achievable. For example, do metrics need to be captured daily, weekly, or monthly? It is likely a mix of timeframes appropriate for each activity.

Pro tip: Technology is your friend! Using it increases efficiency and maximizes productivity while providing solutions to capture key metrics and data consistently.

Do not forget: Ask for a nonprofit discount when exploring technology services. TechSoup has a list of offers and numerous free resources for implementing solutions that harness the power of technology.

Bonus win: Consistent evaluation provides a frequent reminder of how impactful your organization is to keep team members motivated, enthusiastic, and excited about their work.

3. Capture the bigger picture

Sometimes, organizations can be so focused on a particular perspective of impact, such as that of a specific program or initiative, that they fail to acknowledge their broader impact on their community. Is your organization capturing the comprehensive story of your impact? By employing team members, nonprofits impact the local economy. Through a volunteer program, rates of civic engagement increase. Offering board service opportunities helps people develop and share valuable skills.

Pro tip: Gather statements from stakeholders that share how your organization has impacted them. Many organizations gather testimonials from their service population as appropriate, but statements from employees, volunteers, and community partners can be equally as powerful.

Do not forget: Impact can be both positive and negative. Gathering a complete picture of different types of impact will help your organization address any unintended negative consequences of your work.

Bonus win: Evaluating social impact will equip your organization to use meaningful impact metrics tailored to specific audiences such as funders, potential team members, and future board members.

4. Encourage collaboration

An impact evaluation program can only succeed with collaboration. Engaging key stakeholders with the process lightens the workload required while providing different information and perspectives to assess impact. Collective ownership promotes shared accountability and improves team morale.

Pro tip: Set impact goals that incentivize and reward teamwork. For example, when a goal is met, provide a team celebration. Rewarding accomplishments helps address team member burnout, an ongoing issue for nonprofits. Measuring activities will be essential to determine if the goal is achieved and ensure those tasks are completed.

Do not forget: Goals do not always have to be achieved for a team to be impactful. Setting goals is a part of impact measurement, but it is vital to avoid getting so caught up in goal achievement that daily impact wins are not acknowledged.

Bonus win: Having a culture of collaboration is increasingly important as more nonprofits create partnerships that allow them to diversify resources and solve complex issues through collective impact.

5. Connect the dots

Impact evaluation is essential to document and communicate that your organization is making a difference through your mission. For nonprofits to continue operating, it is critical to show impact. To do so requires connecting the various impact measurements to share achievements, identify opportunities, and show why the world needs your organization. Metrics and numbers need benchmarking, context, and interpretation to have meaning. Adding visually compelling elements such as videos, photos, and infographics helps connect qualitative and quantitative data.

Pro tip: Create a master list of all data points, including where to find them and how they convey impact to ensure valuable information is not unintentionally left out of impact reporting.

Do not forget: Gathering, reviewing, interpreting, and selecting multiple data points to convey impact is challenging. The shared data points should work together and create a picture of impact. Including every data point is unnecessary to connect the dots and tell your organization’s story.

Bonus win: Having organized and well-presented information about impact helps build your organization’s credibility and brand.

There is no perfect science to impact measurement, but there are key strategies that can help. An intentional, consistent, and collaborative approach will help your organization successfully evaluate and share its impact.

There is no perfect science to impact measurement, but there are key strategies that can help. An intentional, consistent, and collaborative approach will help your organization successfully evaluate and share its impact.