When you venture into the world of impact making, you will hear a lot about impact measurement. For some people that have been around long enough, they can dance circles around you when explaining this. For others, this topic can be a little bit confusing.
So, what is impact measurement? The simplest explanation is that it is the tracking of impact that you have and comparing it to the effort that you put in.
Imagine that you drop your phone from the table; Your phone will probably still be fine. But if you drop it from the second floor of your house, you are probably going to break it (into thousand pieces). Impact measurement is understanding how your effort and actions can affect your beneficiaries group.
You are probably asking, “Who should do this?” To be honest, everyone who aims to create impact in this world. Whether you are a veteran or a newbie to the social enterprise sector, it is good practice to embed it into your business. The earlier the better.
“Do I need to start understanding SROI and IRIS?” *hyperventilating*
Eventually, yes, but let's just ease you slowly into it. Here are our suggestions for you to start measuring your impact:
Identify your organisation’s purpose and intent. Make it clear to yourself and your team why you are set up, what you are trying to change, and understand how your business and impact can be connected.
Identify the indicators of your impact areas. Your indicator can be the amount of waste upcycled, the number of jobs created, the number of children saved, etc.
Create a timeline for your impact measurement. You can measure it monthly, quarterly, or yearly.
Connect the business side to the impact you are making. Example: “Every purchase of one tote bag, two women from a rural community earn a day pay.”
Make your measurement clear and simple.
Share your statistic to the world! People need to know the impact you are making.
How about that? Simple enough? Do you think you can do it? I think you can. Let's start small and eventually we’ll move up to more complicated metrics. *cough*help*cough*
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