Approaching Social Impact Measurement
By Cori Cunningham, Program Director, The Conference Board
On Tuesday, November 25, The Conference Board will release Framing Social Impact Measurement, a key business issue report that will give companies an understanding of current thinking surrounding the practice. This is an area that has long been on The Conference Board’s research agenda, and in October this year we released Measuring the Impact of Corporate Social Investments, the report of a 14-company research working group that examined challenges related to impact measurement.
In the lead-up to next week’s release, I would like to share with you some of the ideas that emerged from our working group sessions.
Measurement approaches
At the most basic level, measurement approaches should comprise an expression of clear intended impact, indicators that are aligned to that impact, and a way to track and collect the data. Measurement cannot be reduced to a one- way relationship of companies requesting or requiring a set of results from nonprofit organizations and then passively receiving that data.
Corporate social investors need to consider the capabilities and needs of their nonprofit partners to determine not only what depth of measurement their partners are currently prepared to deliver, but also what they may be capable of doing with some additional funding and support.
Prioritize what to measure
One of the initial questions companies need to ask themselves is, “What investments should we be measuring?” Given the resources and energy required to effectively assess social impact, it is unrealistic and unproductive for companies to attempt to measure the results of every single social investment that they make at the same level of rigor.
Data collection and analysis is a big part of measurement and an important area to streamline to create efficiencies. While measurement of impact may be the end goal, companies cannot leap directly to that step. Identification and careful collection of inputs, outputs, and outcomes are integral to setting the stage for later impact measurement. In addition, establishing baselines, or minimum measures, that reflect the current state prior to the start of an intervention is important, as it enables a company to assess progress or changes over time.
An important component of data collection is how it is integrated into the grant-application and reporting stages. It is widely acknowledged among private and corporate grant makers that great inconsistencies and inefficiencies exist that waste the time and energy of both funders and grantees, primarily due to over-collection and underutilization of data. Many funders collect too much data from their nonprofit partners, often placing a burden on their resources, and then these data are not used effectively (or at all).
You can download the complete report for free here. Stay tuned for more from The Conference Board on social impact measurement next week.
About the author:
Cori Cunningham
Program Director
The Conference Board
Cori Cunningham is the founder of C. Cunningham Advising and an accomplished consultant and solutions-oriented leader with more than a decade of experience advising corporations and social sector organizations on strategies designed to drive positive change. She specializes in uniting teams and stakeholders around common missions, and is a highly skilled strategic planner, analyst and facilitator. Cori works with clients to align community engagement strategies with business goals in the corporate sector, and create thorough and thoughtful plans for identifying and securing corporate relationships in the social sector.
