Introduction
Social impact reporting is a brilliant tool to use in order to promote the difference your organisation is making in the communities that you support. Often, though, charities do not publish impact reports – this blog hopes to give you a few reasons why you should reconsider this if you are a charity, and the influence impact reporting can have on the growth of your organisation.
Maximising Your Charities' Impact
Evaluating your charities’ impact means that you are able to clearly see the strengths and weaknesses of your organisation, and in turn will be able to know where to focus your charities’ direction going forward. Knowing your charities’ impact can ultimately create a more effective means of management, as you will know where to emphasise your strengths and where to improve upon your weaknesses.
Boosting Volunteer and Staff Spirit
Seeing the impact of your charity laid out simply through statistics and numbers is a great way for staff and volunteers to see the real difference their work is doing for the communities you support. Their impact can feel more tangible this way, especially when this impact reporting allows them to see the significance of their work and how this develops year on year.
Gaining Volunteers and Attracting New Staff
Publicising your impact reporting is a fantastic way to attract new talent in to your charity. It allows potential employees and volunteers to see plainly the impact you are having, and the direction you hope to be heading in. Equally, through maximising your impact by evaluating your charities’ influence, impact reporting is a great tool for promoting this growth in your organisation.
Increasing Funding
An impact report is a brilliant document to give to panels when bidding for more funding. It allows you to really demonstrate the difference being made by your charity through concrete evidencing and analysis. It also is helpful in allowing potential funders to see your charities’ growth, and allows current funders to see the influence their money is having on creating a difference for your specific communities.
Further Reading
NPC (New Philanthropy Capital) have created a great summary document focused on the importance of impact reporting for social enterprises and charities. You can find it here: NPC | Principles of Good Impact Reporting.
Hopefully this blog has given you some insight on how important impact reporting can be for the growth of your charity, and for promoting a positive environment for staff and volunteers. If you have any queries regarding this please do not hesitate to contact us.