Impact Simplified
What is impact?
Impact is the longterm outcome(s) of a set of activities completed by a certain social enterprise.
Social enterprises (SEs) complete certain activities with specific inputs and outputs to create desired outcomes. These outcomes can either combine or be impactful (long lasting and important) enough on their own to become impacts.
Impact is the single most important aspect you need to know about your social enterprise.
Why is Impact the most important measurement?
Simply put, it is the reason you are in the social sector; it is the differentiator. Impact allows you to understand:
- Your effect on the cause you are supporting
- Market and talk about your social enterprise
- Identify the reason/why/core value/mission of your social enterprise
- Benchmark for measurement to optimize, improve and grow
Without understanding and measuring your impact you have no way of telling how you are making a difference in your cause.
Breaking it Down
Below is a simple diagram and definitions of terms and how they relate to Impact.
Input: is the resource(s) needed for an activity to occur.
Activity: is the event or exercise that occurs when a group of inputs come together.
Output: Is a direct result(s) of an activity, commonly misunderstood as an outcome.
Outcome: Is an indirect result of a certain activity. When an indicator is triggered due to a combination of outputs, an outcome is achieved.
Indicator: a measure of success that tells you when an outcome has been reached from a certain set of outcomes.
Impact: Is the longterm outcome(s) or combination of outcomes from an activity or set of activities
Here is a diagram below:
