Organisational Impact
Purpose of impact sessions:
- Focus on understanding, evaluating, and communicating organisational impact.
- Respond to findings to amplify future impact.
Why impact matters:
- An organisation exists to make a difference in people’s lives, not just sustain itself.
- The key question: Are people’s lives being changed?
Common mistakes in measuring impact:
- Counting outputs (e.g., number of programs, participants, sites).
- Outputs = effort, not proof of real change.
- Telling anecdotes (individual stories of success).
- Inspiring but often exceptions, not evidence of consistent impact.
Better approach:
- Go beyond outputs and anecdotes to gather reliable data on actual life change.
Two main reasons to evaluate impact:
- To Prove
- Provide valid evidence that change is happening.
- Needed for funders, partners, staff, boards, and communities.
- To Improve
- Identify gaps, barriers, or unsustained impact.
- Use data to refine and strengthen programs for greater future impact.
Reflection questions:
- Where do you feel pressure to prove impact (and to whom)?
- What areas show chronic difficulties where improvement is needed?
- What data could help uncover barriers and guide better strategies?