Measuring Impact – Making a Difference Carol Candler – NRF Graeme Oram – Five Lamps.

Measuring Impact – Making a Difference

Carol Candler – NRF

Graeme Oram – Five Lamps

Welcome (back)

Outline

• What is ‘Impact’ and why focusing on (social) impact matters

• Which approach– what to think about in choosing your approach– Some approaches

• Impact Measurement in practice – the Five Lamps experience

• Help and resources

Why we are all here

• Organisations – support for people to address social problems

• Foundations / Grant Makers / Funders – support for organisations that work with people to address with social problems

Aim – to make a difference

MAKING SENSE OF IMPACTMAKING SENSE OF IMPACT

Inputs Outputs Outcomes Impacts

Assessment

Spending / Funding

effectively

Making a difference

to individuals

Making a difference

to problems /communities

Organisations

Monitoring/Feedback Evaluation

Small Medium Large

Increasing: Size/Cost - Scope - Innovation - RiskIncreasing: Size/Cost - Scope - Innovation - Risk

Projects

How our projects work

Why measuring (social) impact matters

• To know we’ve made a difference

• To know what difference we’ve made

• To show what difference we’ve made

(contribution not attribution!)

Measuring what matters

• Knowing what success looks like

• Choosing the right approach

• Asking the right questions

• Getting feedback from the right people

• Producing simple, meaningful information

• Using the information well

Exercise – What does success look like?

• Write down in one sentence what your organisation / project is trying to achieve

• In 2’s discuss – how you know you are making progress

towards this– who you are sharing this information with

Deciding on your approach

Who / what are you planning to influence or change?

What do you want / need to give them?

How to best collect / present the information?

FundersManagers / StaffDecision makers

NumbersCase studiesQuotes

On-goingOne-off Internal / external

One size fits all?

• Different needs (planning / proving / improving)• Different capacity (size and scope of

organisation)• Different capability (experience / support)• Different audiences (commissioners /

foundations)• Different focus (individuals / communities /

policies)

Approaches - Qualitative (‘Soft Measures’

• Feedback analysis (ad hoc / structured)• Case studies• Outcomes Tools (Stars / Radars)• Progress scales (Cyrenians ‘Matrix’)• Intermediate Outcomes Measures (CEI)

Approaches – Quantitative (Numbers)

• Surveys• ‘Proxy’ measures / Wider impact measures

(NPC)• On-line tools• SROI (NEF)• Case Controlled Trials (CCTs)• Population statistics

Approaches - Mixed

• Using Outcomes stars / radars to generate progress data

• Mixed method reporting (Output numbers / outcomes and impact narrative / case studies)

• Social Audit / Social Accounting

Graeme’s slides

Resources

• www.nr-foundation.org.uk (examples/information/resources)

• www.ces-vol.org.uk

(information / tools)

• www.neweconomics.org/publications

(social return on investment guide)

• www.philanthropycapital.org

(wellbeing measures)

Final thoughts

• So what difference are we making?

• ‘Measure’ what matters

• Keep it clear and simple (fewer, better)

• (Social) Impact work that is useful and used