With the entire world becoming more transparent, regulations, common practice and expectations change. When it comes to impact reporting, this means that in certain industries, impact reporting has to happen according to certain rules. In other sectors, transparency leads to the public wanting to have more insight or they have certain expectations of organisations. This can be the case for corporates. The role and importance of impact reporting really depends on the industry, the way of funding and it’s stakeholders. But the general trend is that the role of impact reporting is growing in every industry.
So, what does this mean?
Agility and digital adaptation play a role here. It’s the way to respond to the increasing need to be transparent, to track your goals and to report on them. An online software solution, such as Enquire, is an excellent way to manage this. It provides you with a system – structure and efficiency – to streamline your process which is the foundation for appropriately tracking and measuring your actions and outcomes.
A system is the foundation of your impact reporting
A system like Enquire is the foundation for organised business management. Then there are more steps involved in laying the ground rules for reporting on social outcomes or impact. In the case of grant management, it could go as below.
- Define performance indicators and link these to your portfolio, programs, rounds or projects
- Create informed targets based on this
- Measure your progress against your targets with minimal effort – a system such as Enquire tracks it for you
- Report on impact to your stakeholders with ease – you have clear insight in your data
There you have it. But let’s take this a step further.
Why is it so important to have clear insights into your actions and outcomes? Because you want to know how to improve – what works, what doesn’t work and where to put future resources towards. And funders want to know as well. Being able to show them your results help you secure future funding. This is the core of your existence: continuously increase and improve your impact.
Your ability to measure and report effectively on your activities may interest other stakeholders also. That brings us back to the beginning of this article. In some industries, the public or your potential client base wants to see how you operate, or whether you also support ethical purposes in addition of commercial ones.
The ability to demonstrate your social impact can be a necessity, a growing need or something that sets you apart from competition.
Are you interested in finding out more about how we can help you report on impact? Read more here or have a chat to us.
