This conference will handle the concept of ‘impact’ in fundraising. It is important that  your NGO is making the difference and having the promised influence, effects and outcomes for which the funding is provided. Your NGO must have impact. How do you make sure it does?

Kathy Edersheim (Impactrics)

Recognizing the importance of community development and cooperative actions, Impactrics provides tools and guidance to build robust organizations that have well-defined, measurable goals for impact. Impactrics specializes in mission discernment, programming for impacts and robust, customized metrics to support NGOs and educational institutions in achieving their vision.

For NGOs, the world has become a competitive place with millions of organizations seeking funding and resources. Sophisticated donors as well as governments and other funders are now asking:

• What is the mission of all these NGOs?
• Do we really need millions of NGOs?
• Can they all be worthwhile?

It is important that each NGO – your NGO – is making the difference and having the promised influence, effects and outcomes for which the funding is provided. Your NGO must have impact.

While an NGO can tell stories about the changes that it produces for people or places, there needs to be a rigorous means of accountability for the resources being used by the NGO. Funders give money where they understand the mission and they believe in the results. Volunteers give time when they make a difference. Each NGO must show that it is using resources wisely. Furthermore, the use of more resources needs to result in more impact. Impacts need to be measured.

Recognizing the need for “quantifiable” accountability means determining a relevant metrics system for the targeted impacts. Fundraising has the metric of euros raised within a certain timeframe from a certain number of donors, however the impacts of an NGO may be more challenging to measure because they are qualitative and long-term. Ideally, there would be a standardized metrics system for organizations having similar goals to allow for comparisons.  There are some examples of standardization such as tests for changes in medical results. For most NGOs, however there is no standardized system that reflects their objects sufficiently. Impactrics, metrics based on impacts, need to be developed.

Kathy Edersheim from Impactrics will adress the importance of adopting an impacts-based model with measurable outcomes for an organization. She will use alumni relations and education as the case study. The presentation topics include:  How to determine mission and measurable impacts?, Volunteering for impact, Fundraising for impact, A metrics system concept based on impacts

Tomas De Groote (Impact Knowledge Manager Social Innovation Factory)

The Social Innovation Factory is a multi-stakeholder network of citizens, businesses & civil society to accelerate social innovation and social entrepreneurship.

From the beginning of their existence in 2013, there was a clear need for a more A to Z practical approach to assess social impact. That is why they created Impact Wizard, a hands-on online roadmap that guides you through a step by step process  to assess, measure & improve your social impact, conceived by experience from practice and filled with databases of the most relevant methods, tools, techniques, outcomes & indicators… For the dissemination of this project, there is a whole network of impact driven businesses and civil society organisations involved: the ‘impact network’.

Today, Social Innovation Factory is coordinating ‘FilantrImpact’ a stakeholder network of impact driven foundations and funds to develop a useful framework for impact driven grantgiving, together with academia, consultancy and the concerned grantees.

Tomas De Groote (Impact Knowledge Manager) will give an introduction to Impact Wizard, the ‘impact network’ and FilantrImpact.