principles of good impact

7/29/2019 Principles of Good Impact

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Principles of

Good ImpactReportingFor charities and social enterprises


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Charities and social enterprises that hope toengage, inorm and inspire their stakeholderstry to communicate clearly the impact o thei rwork. From local groups run by volunteers tonational charities employing thousands osta, all social organisations should tell theirstakeholders how they are ulflling theirpurpose and achieving the change t hatthey seek.

Good impact reporting helps benefciaries,volunteers, donors, unders and othersupporters understand and engage with anorganisation. It also helps sta and trustees

ocus on results and work to achieve theirvision. An organisation that is able to establishand explain its impact will have a strongoundation both or communicating its work,and also managing it to achieve the greatestpossible impact.

This document sets outPrinciples of Good ImpactReporting, to help charities

and social enterprises telltheir own story aboutimpact.

The principles cover twothemes:

how organisations shouldcommunicate their impact;and

what organisations shouldcommunicate.

By using these principles to

demonstrate their impact,charities and socialenterprises can have astrong inuence on howthey are perceived. Theycan help to shi theprevailing focus away fromconcerns about

administration costs orchief executives salaries,and towards what really

matters: the dierence theymake in peoples lives.

The principles can be usedfor whole organisations, butalso may be applied on aproject or multiple-project

basis to explore how theywork at that level.

The principles are notintended to be a compliancetool or a checklist. Rather,they can help guide anorganisations exploration of

its own impact, and helpshape its communications.Charities and socialenterprises may wish toreview their existingreporting against theprinciples to identify areasto strengthen or to create a

structure forcommunications. Fundersmay wish to use the

principles within theirapplication or reportingprocesses to structure thequestions they ask aboutimpact.

The principles have beenwritten to minimise the useof jargon, and explaintechnical terms when theyare used in the attachedGlossary.

Ultimately, the Principles ofGood Impact Reporting aim

to help you to tell your storybettermore clearly, moreopenly, in a way that helpsyou to focus on whats mostimportant, and helps you toachieve even more for thoseyoure tryi ng to help.

Introduction


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Applying the principles

The Principles o Good ImpactReporting aim to guide charitiesand social enterprises throughcommunicating their impact,including:

annual reports, annual reviewsand impact reports;

management information, boardreports and organisationalreviews;

reports to funders, supporters,investors a nd commissioners;

internal communications withsta and volunteers

communications materials,such as websites, brochuresand leaets;

fundraising materials;

key messages about theorganisation; and

communications with, andfeedback and responses from,its beneciaries.

I applied appropriately, theprinciples can help you to:

be accountable to yourstakeholders, engaging them inopen and honest dialogue;

engage and inspire supportersand potential supporters;

review your activities and impactagainst your vision and purpose;

challenge your assumptions andrevise strategies and plans;

motivate and involve sta andvolunteers; and

ensure that you are helping yourbeneciaries in the best waypossible.


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There are six general pri nciples that defne how organisationsshould communicate their impact:

1 Clarity: The reader can quicklyand easily understand theorganisation through a coherentnarrative that connects charitableaims, plans, activities and results.

2 Accessibility: Relevantinformation can be found byanyone who looks for it, in a rangeof formats suitable for dierentstakeholders.

3 Transparency:Reporting isfull, open and honest.

4 Accountability:Reportingconnects with stakeholders,partners and beneciaries to tellthem what they need to know,and provide reassurance.

5 Verifability:Claims aboutimpact are backed upappropriately, allowing othersto review. This can range f rominformal stakeholder feedbackto external audit.

6 Proportionality:The leveland detail of reporting reectsthe size and complexity of theorganisation, and the complexity

of the changes theyre trying tobring about.


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There are six speci fc principles that defne what organisationsshould communicate about their impact:

1 Clear purpose Why do we exist? What

issue are we ultimately

trying to tackle?

What overall impact do wewant to have? Whatchange do we seek?

What impact do our keystakeholders want us tohave?

2 Defned aims What are our specic short

and long-term aims?

How does achieving theseaims help us achieve ouroverall purpose/impact?

3 Coherentactivities What activities do we carry

out to achieve our aims?

What resources do we useto make these activitieshappen?

What are the outputs ofthese activities?

How do our activities helpus achieve our aims andcreate change?

Are our activities part of acoherent plan?

4 Demonstratedresults What outcomes/impact are

we achieving against our

aims?

What impact are weachieving against theoverall change we seek?

5 Evidence How do we know what we

are achieving?

Do we have relevant,proportionate evidence ofour outcomes and impact?

Are we sharin g evidence toback up the claims wemake?

Are we seeking feedback,review and input whereappropriate?

6 Lessons learned What are we learning

about our work?

How are wecommunicating what welearn?

How are we improving andchanging f rom what welearn?

What has happened thatwe didnt expect (positiveand negative)?

Are we allocatingresources to best eect?

What should charities, social enterprises

and community organisations

communicate about impact?


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Glossary

(see jargonbuster.org.uk for further morecomprehensive denitions)

Impact the overall dierence you

make to those youretrying to help

the long-term, big picture,

general change you makeOutcome the dierence an activity

makes to those youretrying to help

the short-term, specicchange you make

Aim the dierence you want

to make to those youretrying to help

can be shor t-term and/or

long-termResources whats required to do the

work, also known asinputs

can include nancialcosts, in kind donations,volunteer time

principles of good impact

Documents