Impact Journey

Impact reports should be accessible to, and meet the needs of, your audiences. Each audience is likely to require different impact insight — investors may seek detailed initiative impact progress and trend analysis to inform decision making, whereas customers may prefer a focus on services and outcomes. Identifying audiences upfront helps to shape the report, clarifying messages that speak to their needs.

Impact reports are not scientific articles, and nor should they be. Nonetheless, findings must be informed by evidence, quantitative or qualitative. This means taking a data-driven approach to impact measurement and presenting accessible findings, and a narrative that contextualises the results. Findings should be evidenced sufficiently, enabling verification and confident response to any challenge..

A good impact report highlights organisational successes as well as areas for improvement. It is not only about playing back the good stories but honest reflections on progress, blockers and future action to drive up positive results. Transparency helps to foster trust with your stakeholders. It's important to be honest about your impacts and your approach to impact measurement, including the assumptions and limitations of the assessment.

Organisations do not need to produce extensive impact reporting on every programme or initiative it runs. Reporting should be proportionate to the size of the organisation, the impact it is having and meet the needs of relevant stakeholders. Short and regular impact reports are often what is needed. In the end, it is key to identify the most essential indicators that enable the organisation to measure and communicate the impact effectively.