Measuring social impact can win friends and influence people

Measuring what you do may seem a chore, but is providing charities with a real way to create opportunities
measuring tape

Nick Hurd, the civil society minister, recently highlighted the "growing buzz" in the voluntary sector about the need to measure social impact and called for more effort in measuring social impact by social enterprises and charitable organisations.

Hurd's call follows many years of discussion and encouragement from policy makers and third sector commentators and now research from the Third Sector Research Centre has found that while many bodies may embark on impact measurement because of a push from funders or commissioners, almost all organisations use the evidence they gain to influence people.

Organisations see measuring impact as a way to get more power and create opportunities. Rather than seeing it as regulation or red tape, these organisations treat impact measurement as an entrepreneurial process. They are using it to open new relationships, win contracts, attract funders and simply raise their profile. Some are using it for lobbying or even for help with planning applications.

There is no prescribed approach to measuring impact, so charities and social enterprises have discretion and judgement over what is measured and how. This allows them some room for manoeuvre and enables them to control what is sometimes seen as an imposed activity.

Charities can, for instance, decide for themselves which indicators to use, who to consult and what information is collected. They can also control what is reported - there is rarely any negative evidence.

This flexibility is important to enable different bodies to reach different objectives. But it can raise questions about the legitimacy of any findings and have a negative effect on the trust that most charities and social enterprises are seeking to build through greater transparency and external "social audit". Funders and commissioners also need to be aware of the discretionary nature of much impact measuring and be clear in asking what the information presented to them actually means.

The skill lies in crafting how charities and social enterprises present their social values to influence others, while ensuring they do not raise suspicion of inflated measures.

All impact measurement has potential for bias due to the discretion of those carrying it out. This can be minimised through openness and scrutiny from external bodies, as well as educating those who read and use the results of evaluations to understand them in this context.

Professor Fergus Lyon, of the third sector research centre and Middlesex University, is co-author of Social impact measurement as an entrepreneurial process


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