Measuring Impact

Let’s take a quick look at a simple and introductory approach to what it means to measuring the impact of your work. 

How do you know when your service-based organization is successful? And, why does it matter to know this?

I like to use examples, so let’s go with my favorite – working with the homeless. 

Let’s say yesterday you had a feeding opportunity and 100 people showed up for meals. 

Would that seem like a lot to you?

What if there were actually 1,000 people in need and in reach? Would 100 still be a successful number for number of meals provided or people fed? 

Without specific goals being set, it is not possible to accurately determine success. The very definition of success is the obtainment of a desired outcome. 

We can’t talk measuring impact or metrics without talking about SMART Goals. So, let’s go there really quickly, and I mean really quickly. Each of your program’s goals should reflect the components of being SMART.

S – Specific.  M – Measurable. A – Attainable.  R – Relevant. T – Time-Specific or Time-bound. 

An example of a SMART goal would be “XYZ Organization will increase the number of homeless people fed in X Community by 20% by the end of quarter two.” It specifically identifies the action that will be taken which is to increase the number of homeless people fed. The numbers are measurable. It’s attainable and relevant to the organization’s mission, and it is time-bound with a deadline. 

Although 100 seems like a small number compared to 1,000, it may actually be an identifier for a successful outcome if the goal was actually 50, 75, or 100, which could be based on resources such as time, space, available help, and budget.

Before you can measure impact, you need to identify your goals and your expected outcomes. That is, determine your goals, identify what determines success, and determine how you will measure or quantify success. 

The level of success is determined as measured against the comparison between the starting point and the intended or targeted outcomes. 

So, you have to understand where you currently are – that there’s X # of people homeless where we serve and we currently feed Y # each month (or, that we’re currently feeding Y # and our goal is T #). So, when we get our new numbers, we have something to compare it to that will show us our impact. The data, or quantitative data, are our metrics. 

In short, the ability to measure your impact matters when you’re applying for grants and outlining your plan for success, or hoping for repeating funding through timely and accurate reports that effectively tell your organization’s story and powerful influence.