Insights

Are you delivering programs that you see are having a positive impact, but you can't prove it? If so, you need to get started on impact measurement. This may seem daunting, but if you don’t know where to start, our impact measurement good practice guide can help.

Getting WISE about impact

Our new publication – Getting WISE about impact – is a simple, easy-to-follow guide to get you started on impact measurement. If you are just beginning your impact journey, the guide is a useful, accessible introduction. If you have some familiarity with impact measurement, it is a great refresher on the basics.

While initially created for work integration social enterprises (WISEs), the guide’s lessons and practices are applicable for any organisation.

The guide takes you through the four main stages of impact measurement:

1. How to develop a theory of change
2. How to develop a measurement plan
3. Collecting impact data
4. Impact reporting.

It discusses the components of each stage so you can decide on the best approach to measure impact in your own organisation. It also includes a case study to provide concrete examples of what is involved across the four stages. There are links to several resources to support those who want to delve a bit deeper, and ‘top tips’ providing guidance on how to apply the key ideas and concepts.

The guide can help you build your strengths in many important areas:

• taking a stakeholder-led approach to building a theory of change
• choosing the most impactful indicators for what you want to measure
• the pros and cons of different forms of data
• guidance on survey design and running interviews
• ethical impact measurement
• crafting impactful and creative reports for internal and external audiences
• quantifying your ‘impact costs’.

We hope you find the guide useful to get you started on impact measurement.

Want to know more? Give us a call

If you would like to go deeper into managing for better impact, please get in touch at hello@thinkimpact.com.au.

Acknowledgements

Think Impact would like to acknowledge the contributions of the Paul Ramsay Foundation and Good Cycles in developing Getting WISE about impact.