TABLE OF CONTENTS
Impact Metrics
Elevate your impact strategy to new heights by integrating standard and custom metrics with Sopact's expertly designed templates and data-driven approach.Impact Metrics
Impact metrics, also known as outcome metrics, are measures used to evaluate the effects of a specific initiative, program, or project on a targeted population or environment. These metrics assess how well an organization achieves its goals and can include quantitative and qualitative data. They differ from output metrics, which measure a program's intermediate activities or deliverables, such as the number of people served or the number of workshops held. Impact metrics are used to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of an organization's work and can be used to inform decision-making, set targets, and track progress over time.
Impact Metrics Fundamental
When evaluating the effectiveness of an organization's initiatives, programs, or projects, impact metrics are a crucial tool. These metrics are used to assess how well an organization is achieving its goals by measuring the actual effects of its work on a targeted population or environment. Impact metrics can be both quantitative and qualitative and help demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of an organization's efforts.
One important aspect of impact metrics is that they focus on outcomes rather than inputs or activities. Output metrics, for example, measure a program's intermediate activities or deliverables, such as the number of people served or the number of workshops held. On the other hand, impact metrics measure the actual impact of those activities and deliverables on the targeted population or environment.
For example, an organization working to improve educational outcomes for low-income students may use output metrics such as the number of students enrolled in its programs or the number of hours of tutoring provided. However, the organization's impact metrics would measure the actual impact of those activities on students' academic performance and graduation rates.
When selecting impact metrics, it's essential to ensure they are directly related to the organization's goals and objectives. In addition, impact metrics should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). It's also essential to have short-term and long-term impact metrics to track progress over time.
Additionally, Impact metrics should be relevant to the population or group at which the initiative, program, or project is aimed and should be reliable, valid, and generalizable.
Organizations must also have systems to collect and analyze data to use impact metrics effectively. This data can track progress over time and adjust programs as needed. A precise data collection and analysis plan can help ensure that the information is accurate and that the metrics are appropriately used to make data-driven decisions.
Overall, impact metrics is a crucial tool for evaluating the effectiveness of an organization's work. By focusing on outcomes rather than inputs or activities and selecting metrics directly related to the organization's goals and objectives, impact metrics can provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of programs and help organizations achieve their goals more efficiently and effectively.
Quantitative Impact Metrics
- Selecting them from well-known standards or
- Creating bespoke metrics.
- What changes are my programs or projects generating?
Qualitative vs. Quantitative Impact Metrics
Output vs. Outcome Impact Metrics
- Do you have the financial and human resources to collect the metrics results?
Impact Metrics Training
What are the social impact metrics? What are the monitoring and evaluation indicators? SDG Indicators helps you align with SDG Goals and SDG Targets.
Monitoring and evaluation is a combination of data collection and analysis (monitoring) and assessing to what extent social impact or intervention has, or has not, met its objectives.
Standard Impact Metrics
While standard metrics are carefully worded by impact thought leaders, there is no one-size-fits-all to impact measurement. It might be the case that you identify a pertinent metric (aligned to one of your draft metrics), but with a few alterations, it could better meet your needs. By tweaking that metric (documenting exactly how you’ve altered the base metric in your records), you can benefit from the research done to craft that careful wording and help it better reflect the outcome of your intervention.
Custom Impact Metrics
Unfortunately, you will find that there are very few outcomes (results) metrics amongst the standards. It might be the case that you need help finding standards that reflect your draft outcome metrics. In that case, you can still benefit from threads by replicating the language when crafting your own metric.
How to design impact metrics
Design Considerations
- What changes are my programs or projects generating?
- Who wants to know the result of my programs or projects?
- Should my metrics be quantitative or qualitative?
- Should I measure outputs or outcomes?
- Do you have the financial and human resources to collect the metrics results?
- Select standards metrics while communicating to funders and custom metrics for internal
- You may not always find the most relevant metrics from the standards-based catalog. In fact, if you find, sometime you will have to modify to meet the context
Checklist
- Mission Critical? Aligned to your Mission Statement?
- Realistic to Measure?
Will this metric be logistically manageable? - Is it cost-effective? Already being Measured?
Or is this data already collected and accessible? - Reason for Measuring Is this for your own measurement needs or to
report to an external entity? - Outcome Metric?
Is this metric measuring the results of your intervention (rather than activities)? - Worth Measuring? Based on the information above, is there a strong case for this metric? YES NO
- Keep Going Hold onto the metric
for the future or find a
proxy metric
Baseline Impact Metrics
Baseline Metrics are the ‘before’ intervention measurement, in year zero of your program. This is what you will compare your metrics to as time goes on to identify the change that has occurred. You may want to be able to compare with areas outside of your intervention, such as national or regional averages. This is called ‘benchmark data.’ You might only
have one metric that you want benchmark data for, or you may decide that it’s needed for every metric.
Here are some places you can go to find benchmark data:
- Socital Data
- Household Community Data
- OECD Regional Statistics and Indicators
The General Social Survey (GSS)
Since 1972, the General Social Survey (GSS) has provided politicians, policymakers, and scholars with a clear and unbiased perspective on what Americans think and feel about such issues as national spending priorities, crime and punishment, intergroup relations, and confidence in institutions.
The Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS)
The Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) is a household survey program focused on generating high-quality data, improving survey methods, and building capacity. The goal of the LSMS is to facilitate the use of household survey data for evidence-based policymaking.
The Family Life Surveys (FLS) are a set of detailed household and community surveys of developing countries conducted by the RAND Corporation, in collaboration with research institutions in the given countries. The currently available country surveys cover Malaysia (1976-77, 1988-89), Indonesia (1993, 1997, 2000), Guatemala (1995), and Bangladesh (1996).
The OECD has developed two statistical databases to answer the increasing demand for statistical information at the regional level:
- The OECD Regional Database provides a unique set of comparable statistics and indicators on about 2 000 regions in 35 countries. It currently encompasses yearly time series for around 40 indicators of demography, economic accounts, labor market, social and innovation themes in the OECD member countries and other economies.
- The OECD Metropolitan Database provides a set of economic, environmental, social, labor market and demographic estimated indicators on the 281 OECD metropolitan areas (functional urban areas with 500 000 or more inhabitants).
National and International Statistical Agencies
OECD data are supplied by national statistical offices from member countries and presented in a comparative format. If you are seeking more detailed information or information on non-OECD countries, consult this list for an appropriate agency.
Staff Materials Time Outcome
- Programs and Grants Departments: One Securing Enduring Metrics worksheet per metric 10 minutes per metric
- Documentation of supporting information for each metric - so that no one is left with answers when reporting the data to you.
Integrate Impact Dimensions When Designing Impact Metrics
Metrics should be designed with a clear goal in mind. For example, if your goal is to understand the severity of COVID-19 by state, high-level metrics like “Number of cases” and “Number of deaths” don’t tell us much.
To make more valuable comparisons about which state is doing better or worse, we can determine that it is important to see Total Deaths per Million People.
Looking at this chart it becomes clear that California, which enacted a “Shelter in Place” order earlier than other states, had a significantly lower number of deaths per million people at “48” versus New York, which has “1180” deaths/million on a given date per Worldometers. Also, even though Rhode Island has a lower number of deaths that day, the Total Deaths per Million is 226.
Diving deeper, A more relevant metric may be “Number of cases by ethnicity, economic status, and gender.” Or “Percentage of cases with a pre-existing condition or chronic disease.” Zooming in these metrics into a specific community or county could provide relevant insights on the needs of that population, rather than trying to have a “one size fits all” solution.
Standards and frameworks play a critical role in choosing the right metrics. Standards like IRIS have been in development for over 10+ years with the help of hundreds of impact practitioners.
How do you build an effective impact measurement system? What is the current state of impact measurement and management?
Join us to learn from Jane Reisman and Veronica Olazabal, sharing how to integrate standards, use different frameworks for different sectors, and incorporate learnings from the data to make strategic decisions. Learn how Impact Measurement, Impact Management Project, and IRIS+ is advancing end to end impact management.
Metrics Catalog
Global and National Indicators
- UN Sustainable Development Goals Sustainable Development Goals are a collection of 17 global goals set by the UN starting 2015. Sustainable Development that includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This international collaboration between 193 UN Member States and global organizations and agencies is outlined in the UN Resolution A/RES/70/1 established in September 2015.
The SDGs are seen as a step towards international collective impact efforts, focusing and guiding the interventions of humanitarian efforts around the globe.
“We don’t have plan B because there is no planet B.” - United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon
Impact Investment Indicators
Impact investments are investments made in companies, organizations, and funds to generate social and environmental impact alongside a financial return.
GIIN IRIS IRIS and IRIS + by Global Impact Investor's network. SoPact is well aligned with GIIN IRIS+ and impact partner.
Impact Investing Metrics
Impact Cloud is the most comprehensive platform that provides an out-of-box theory of change, indicators & reporting. Just select a "theory of change" or "impact management project" based IRIS+ profile unique to your need, remove indicators not relevant to your need, and add key standard and custom indicators. You are ready to build out-of-box impact reporting for your context
- Opportunity Zone
- Community Investing: Aeris
- Healthy Communities: Build Healthy Places Network
- Community Banking: National Community Investment Fund (NCIF)
- Corporate Sustainability Reporting: The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
- Water Stewardship: Alliance for Water Stewardship
- Early-Stage Enterprises: Toniic
- Gender Lens (Financial Inclusion): Women's World Banking
- Financial Inclusion: CERISE and the Social Performance Task Force (SPTF)
- Healthcare Delivery: Center for Health Market Innovations (CHMI)
- Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): The UN Sustainable Development Goals
- Impact Employment: The Impact Sourcing Metrics Working Group
- International Financial Institution (IFI) Private Sector Operations: IFI Working Group on Development Results Indicators Harmonization
- Land Conservation: The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
- Microenterprise: FIELD
- Microinsurance: Microinsurance Network
- Off-Grid Energy: The Global Off-Grid Lighting Association (GOGLA)
- Smallholder Agricultural Finance: Council on Smallholder Agricultural Finance
- Small and Growing Business (SGB): Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs
- Social Performance for Microfinance: Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) and Social Performance Task Force (SPTF)
- Sustainable Agriculture: Finance Alliance for Sustainable Trade (FAST) - Sustainable Agriculture
Monitoring and Evaluation Indicators
Included in Impact Cloud™
Nonprofit or Charity Indicators
- Guidestar US-based leading organization in recent years, is focusing on the usage of standardized indicators. Their social impact indicators are applicable globally; there is a long way to go. Guidestar Social Impact Metrics Repository - GuideStar Metrics Catalog.
- Outcome Indicators Project
A joint project of the Urban Institute and The Center for What Works
The Outcome Indicators Project provides a framework for tracking nonprofit performance. It suggests candidate outcomes and outcome indicators to assist nonprofit organizations that seek to develop new outcome monitoring processes or improve their existing systems.
Read More: Case Study: Scaling Up to End Poverty
International Development Indicators
- Overseas Development Institute
- Bond for International Development, International development.
- Healthy People 2020 Health-related indicators will be updated this year to 2030
- ABENGOA Sustainability in the infrastructures, energy, and water
- Access to Medicine Index Access to Medicine
- Aquastat water resources and agricultural water management.
- Behind the Brand's scorecard indicator, "The social and environmental. Seven themes:
Land, Women, Farmers, Farmworkers, Climate Change, Transparency, Water" - ILO Decent Work Indicators Decent work
- IUCN Red List Established in 1964, the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species has evolved to become the world’s most comprehensive information source on animals, fungus, and plants' global extinction risk status species.
- Kepler/Cheveux Inequality Footprint: Quick guide to the Aichi Biodiversity Targets
- Robin Hood - Metrics Equations
- The 10th Principle Against Corruption
- The Women's Empowerment Principles: Reporting on Progress offers practical advice on how to report on the implementation of each of the seven Women’s Empowerment Principles. It provides general reporting approaches and specific examples of disclosures and performance indicators for each Principle.
- UN Global Compact-Oxfam Poverty Footprint Poverty
- Unicef - WASH WASH Unicef - Water/Sanitation WASH
- UNSDSN indicators SDG development
- USAID - Water and Sanitation Indicators USAID leads international development and humanitarian efforts to save lives, reduce poverty, strengthen democratic governance, and help people progress beyond assistance. Success in the water and sanitation sector cannot be defined by only the number of boreholes drilled or toilets built. In addition to helping communities gain first-time access to improved water and sanitation services, USAID is focusing on building strong, self-reliant systems to deliver services beyond the life of our projects. That not only means adapting our approach but also expanding how we measure outcomes.
- WASH Pledge and Guiding Principles for Implementation
- WBCSD Forest Solutions Group KPI
- WHO Global Health Observatory indicator
- International Center for Research on Women Empower women, advance gender equality, and fight poverty.
- Women's World Banking Gender Performance Indicators
- World Bank WDI
- Yale University Environmental Performance Index
- Humanitarian Response Indicators Register
- UNICEF's Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) questionnaires Demographic and Health Surveys questionnaires
- WHO's a database of health indicators Global Reference List of 100 Core Health Indicators
- Family Planning and Reproductive Health Indicators Database
- Violence Against Women and Girls: A Compendium of M&E Indicators
Indicators for assessing the situation of older people in emergencies (RAM-OP Method)
advocacy indicators - UNICEF and SCH's guidance - UNHCR's Emergency Standards and Indicators
- The Nutrition Cluster Indicators Registry
- Feed the Future Indicator Handbook
- IRC Outcome and Evidence Framework's indicators
- DCED's Harmonized Indicators for Private Sector Development
- Family Planning and Reproductive Health
- Community-Based Indicators for HIV Programs
- Results based financing
- Health Information System Strengthening
- Access to Medicines Index Access to Nutrition Index FOOD SECURITY
- Progress Out Of Poverty Index POVERTY
- OECD EDUCATION
- Access to Nutrition Index FOOD SECURITY
- AAAQ Framework Health: Availability, Accessibility, Acceptability, and Quality.
Nor Include in Impact Cloud
- Indikit - Relief and Development Indicators, DEVELOPMENT AND RELIEF
Sustainability Metrics | CSR Performance Metrics
Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is dedicated to sustainability reporting, transforming it from a niche practice to one now adopted by a growing majority of organizations.
"GRI’s Sustainability Reporting Standards are foundational to this success. With thousands of reporters in over 90 countries, GRI provides the world’s most widely used standards on sustainability reporting and disclosure, enabling businesses, governments, civil society, and citizens to make better decisions based on information that matters. 92% of the world’s largest 250 corporations report on their sustainability performance."
GRI recently linked its sustainability indicators to the SDG indicators in this SDG Compass. This guide allows reporting on sustainability to participate in the global dialogue around Sustainable Development Goals.
Sustainability Indicators (Business Impact Metrics) Start with SDG Compass, a comprehensive indicator library that aligns with many leading standards. The thought list is long, but here are a few leading Sustainability Standards & Indicators:
Catalog Name ( Description )
- Business Call to Action Contribution to SDG
- CDP Climate Change 2017 For people and the planet to build a sustainable economy by measuring and understanding their environmental impact.
- CDP Water 2017 Water
- CDP's 2015 Climate Change Information Request Climate
- CDP Forests 2017 CDP's 2015 Forests Information Request CDP’s forests program helps companies and their investors worldwide understand and address their exposure to ‘forest risk commodities.’ In 2016, 365 investors with over US$22 trillion in assets backed CDP’s forest information request.
- CDP's 2015 Water Questionnaire Water
- CEO Water Mandate's Corporate Water Disclosure Guidelines Water
- Development of Guidance on Extended Producer Responsibility
- Global Innovation Index Comparative score of countries helps economies evaluate their innovation performance and make informed innovation policy considerations.
- Global Rights Index Workers' rights
- GRI helps businesses and governments worldwide understand and communicate their impact on critical sustainability issues such as climate change, human rights, governance, and social well-being. This enables real action to create social, environmental, and economic benefits for everyone. The GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards are developed with accurate multi-stakeholder contributions rooted in the public interest.
- GRI G4 Airport Operators Sector Disclosures
- GRI G4 Construction and Real Estate Sector Disclosures
- GRI G4 Electric Utilities Sector Disclosures
- GRI G4 Event Organizers Sector Disclosures "The Event Organizers Sector Disclosures document contains a set of disclosures for use by all organizations in the Event
- Organizers sector. The disclosures cover critical aspects of sustainability performance that are meaningful and relevant to the Event.
- Organizers sector and which are not sufficiently covered in the G4 Guidelines."
- GRI G4 Financial Services Sector Disclosures
- GRI G4 Food Processing Sector Disclosures
- GRI G4 Media Sector Disclosures
- GRI G4 Mining and Metals Sector Disclosures
- GRI G4 Oil and Gas Sector Disclosures
- GRI G4 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines
- GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards The GRI Standards are the first global standards for sustainability reporting. They feature a modular, interrelated structure and represent the international best practice for reporting economic, environmental, and social impacts.
- GSTC Sustainability in travel and tourism
Nor Include in Impact Cloud™ (Requires a separate license or use as custom metrics)
Impact Indicator Resources
Several resources are available for organizations looking to develop and implement impact metrics. Here are a few examples:
- The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) offers a range of resources on impact measurement and management, including the Impact Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS), a catalog of metrics and indicators that organizations can use to report on their social and environmental performance. The IRIS catalog can be accessed here: https://www.iris.thegiin.org/
- The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) provides industry-specific sustainability accounting standards that organizations can use to disclose material sustainability information to investors. SASB's standards can be found here: https://www.sasb.org/standards/
- The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) offers a comprehensive framework for sustainability reporting that organizations can use to disclose their economic, environmental, and social performance. The GRI framework can be accessed here: https://www.globalreporting.org/reporting/g4-guidelines/
- The Impact Management Project (IMP) is an open-source platform that provides guidance and resources for organizations looking to develop and implement impact metrics. The IMP can be accessed here: https://www.impactmanagementproject.com/
- The Impact Management Program (IMP) by FSG provides a structured approach to impact management, including a methodology, assessment tools, and training. The program can be accessed here: https://www.fsg.org/impact-management-program
- The Impact Management 101 by Bridgespan Group is a comprehensive guide that provides a step-by-step approach to developing and implementing impact metrics. It can be accessed here: https://www.bridgespan.org/publications-tools/impact-management-101
These resources can provide valuable guidance and support for organizations looking to develop and implement impact metrics to create positive social and environmental impact.
Conclusion
In conclusion, impact metrics play an important role in strategy development for organizations working towards social and environmental impact. Tools such as the theory of change, logic model, log frame, or results frameworks can be used to identify key outcomes and measure progress toward achieving them.
Several standards are available in nonprofit, impact investing, and sustainability/corporate social responsibility (CSR). These include measures such as the Global Impact Investing Rating System (GIIRS), the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Organizations can use these standards to benchmark their performance and communicate their impact to external stakeholders.
However, the best use of impact metrics requires a thorough understanding of the organization's core outcomes and the integration of both custom and standard metrics. This will enable the organization to communicate its impact effectively internally and externally to stakeholders. Additionally, organizations must ensure that their impact metrics are reliable, valid, and comparable to provide an accurate representation of the impact of their activities.