Measure Your Impact Event – Quick learnings, Presentations and Gallery
We had a full house for our first cohosted network event with Social Enterprise Auckland and the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship last week – and some great questions and a buzzing room at the end of the night. Some of the conversations overheard afterwards hit on the following:
The example of Te Whanau O Waipareira’s 25 year Strategic Plan is emboldening
Many of the organisations and social enterprises attending are often pushed to report on the immediate changes they are affecting and want to be able to show more.
“We get asked to report on the outcomes of our five week programmes. It’s great to hear it is ok to say that’s not a true report of our impact”
Waipareira’s story demonstrated the importance of advocacy on the back of evidencing that you are measuring change.
Articulating what you do is hard but important to set yourself up to measure your impact
“Measuring social impact is incredibly important for social enterprises not just 4 funders/investors but also internally to guide ourselves” – Tricia Fitzgerald (Social Enterprise Auckland)
It does take time to think through and articulate the bigger picture – but what drops out of that is an easier recognition that organisations often already know a lot about the change they are creating and can evidence it without too much extra effort.
Use the data you already collect – “It just makes sense.”
Taking some time to articulate your impact seems like a big effort before you start. But Jacqui showed us that once that’s done, the measurement is often so much more manageable than you imagine – you probably already collect the right data!
For more check out Awerangi’s presentation Whanau Future Makers – Measuring Out Social Impact – Awerangi Tamihere or sign up for Member Access to Jacqui’s presentation ‘Embedding Social Impact Measurement Practice’
