Measuring corporate social impact

Measuring the effectiveness of CSR or social impact initiatives is a significant pain point for many organisations that need to show their board this investment is worthwhile. There’s additional pressure from employees, investors, and the broader public to ensure corporate social impact is not ‘all talk, no substance’. But how do you measure impact beyond educated guesswork?

Below are five guidelines we use in our own work with partners. It all begins in the planning phase, but if your programme is already live, don’t worry – you can review it from the same perspective and make the necessary changes to ensure impact.

1. Understand your audience

You can’t design a product or programme efficiently if you don’t understand your audience’s needs and challenges. Who do you want to help, and why? What do they need help with?

2. Set goals and metrics

It’s very difficult to assess the success of a programme if there’s no formal document outlining the expected outcomes. Based on your audience’s needs, you should determine the goals of the programme and the key performance indicators.

You should also outline the method you will use to measure results – for example, will you use a technology that tracks engagement? Will you conduct pre- and post-programme surveys?

3. Use the right ‘tools’

A key factor in making a real difference is using the right methodology to achieve the intended goals. What content, activities, and resources will ensure success? Do you need help from experts in this field? Do you need to set up partnerships?

4. Analyse the data

You’ll need data to measure the performance indicators you set out in the planning stages. Through built-in tracking mechanisms, surveys, quizzes, or other research methods, you can measure not only how many people have been affected by the programme, but also the effect the programme has had in their lives. Has it changed their knowledge or attitude on a specific topic? Has it changed their behaviour?

5. Adapt and grow

What have you learned from analysing the programme performance data? Use that knowledge to correct, improve, or scale up you programme – either by reaching more people or by broadening its scope.

 

There’s no mystery to measuring corporate social impact; it’s all about adequate planning, technology, and methodology. These will ensure your programme is making a real difference for its intended audience and that your business can share a powerful story of impact.

However, as most CSR teams are fairly small, you may want to reach out to experienced partners to help you create and measure social impact. You can count on Blackbaud’s Corporate Impact team to make your social impact programme easy, effective, and impactful.

This is the time to report back to your board, your employees, and the wider public on the impact your organisation has had on the community. Celebrate the difference you’ve made!