Effective Impact Reports

Raising grants needs effective impact evidence and data-driven storytelling. We all publish our annual reports, but these reports are no longer sufficient to raise new grants or donations. 

We must be able to demonstrate how our initiative is able to bring positive social change to people and the planet. 

In India, where CSR is mandatory, an impact report is a must for projects of value over Rs. 50 lakh, and the company’s CSR mandate is over Rs. 1 crore. However, it is advisable to conduct impact assessments for projects of any value. Sharing such reports with funders and other stakeholders will help build your credibility and, thus, strengthen the relationship.

Example: 

Suppose your organisations vision is to alleviate poverty by helping people from marginalized communities to secure affordable housing through a government scheme. 

You can measure and present your organisation’s impacts as:

1. Comparison of no. of people supported and reduction in poverty
2. Organisational operational efficiency in term of time taken to replicate the program in another geography

Steps involved in creating a report includes: 

1. Build an Impact Strategy

For this, your theory of Change can be used as a theoretical framework and an effective way to build your impact strategy. 

2. Identify Impacts

Note that Impacts are long-term goals, whereas Outcomes are medium-term goals and Outputs are short term goals, quantitative in nature. 

3. Collect Data

a. Identify Data Sources

i. System Data

Such as the grant management system and reporting against it.

ii. Stakeholder Data

Information collected from the stakeholders. 

b. Designing and Survey

Design a survey to collect data from stakeholders by asking them the right questions. And this information must be useful to make the right decisions.

According to Impact Management Project- the 5 dimensions of impact are Who, What, How Much, Contribution and risk and you need to ask questions around these. 

Key factors that determine the method of data collection and tools/ techniques to administer these include:

• Geographical spread of stakeholders
• Budget/ time constraints
• Socio-economic status of the stakeholders

4. Data Analysis and Communications: 

a. Use an easy-to-understand visual layout. 

Visualize and interpret your data through beautiful layouts and compelling graphs

accessed through comprehensive user portals. Understand your data in a more

dynamic way.

b. Bring grant-making decisions.

A Impact Assessment Project Report

truCSR conducted impact assessments for one of its projects, Personality Development for Youngsters. 

Project title: Gift: A Future for Underprivileged Youngsters—Summer of Transformation 2022

Link to view report: https://tinyurl.com/ywyux2pu 

All the best!