Reporting on your charity’s impact is becoming increasingly important in charity communications. We think it’s vital, but do you know what you’re letting yourself in for?
1. It will change the way you work
Measuring your impact isn’t just about producing a report once a year and it’s not a job for communications staff alone. People across your organisation will need to develop new working habits setting goals, collecting data, carrying out programme evaluations.
Don’t underestimate the work involved!
2. You need to own up to failure
Setting clear targets and reporting back against them raises a terrifying possibility: what if you fail to meet them?
Donors, and self-appointed watchdogs like New Philanthropy Capital and Intelligent Giving, are more impressed with charities that can show where they need to do better and explain why, than those that keep quiet about it.
3. You’ll be washing your dirty laundry in public
Want to know how much Oxfam shops in the UK lost to fraud last year, or find out about sexual abuse by Oxfam associates overseas? The information is freely available in their accountability report.
Producing a warts-and-all report isn’t an easy decision. But if you do, transparency has to mean transparency.
4. You might need to reconsider your priorities
Measuring impact doesn’t just tell you if you’re doing things right it should show you if you’re doing the right things.
WRVS executive director Robert Longley-Cook told delegates at a recent conference how the charity commissioned diagnostic spider diagrams showing the impact of various projects. The results were sometimes surprising; WRVS has had to reconsider the value of at least one flagship programme.
5. It’s hard to kick the habit
Once you’ve committed yourself to impact reporting, there’s no going back…
