Measuring Corporate Philanthropy, Employee Giving, Volunteering, and Social Impact: Now That You Know What to Measure, How do You Measure it?

In a Fireside Chat our Engage CSR solution technology partner SmartSimple hosted they addressed the following questions about impact measurement (you can watch it here):

• What is it and why is it important?
• What does it look like in your organization?
• How can you get started and know what to measure?
• What are the ways you can share the story of your impact?

Prior to that webinar, David Goodman contributed an article outlining five key things you should consider when starting your impact and measurement journey – a good starting point for any organization just getting started and trying to figure out ‘what to measure.’ His article tracks with our guide, “Powerful Metrics & Methods for Measuring Effective Social Impact,” which will:

• Provide your company and each of its departments with metrics for measuring impact,
• Present questions to consider as you keep your long-term goals in mind, and
• Clarify the difference between inputs, outputs, and outcomes to help you demonstrate a causal relationship between your programs and impact in the community.

You can download our free guide here.

Moving from “what” to “how”

For companies who have already started their social impact measurement journey and already know what KPIs they want to measure, the next question that comes up is ‘how do we measure and share that impact?’

Determining how you will aggregate your data, how you’ll visualize and present that information, how to build your impact narrative – and how it should change over time – can be the difference between merely collecting data and actually evaluating and sharing your results in a meaningful way.

We asked more than 750 companies what they were struggling with when it comes to impact measurement.  In the video below, America’s Charities President and CEO Jim Starr and SmartSimple Software’s President of US Operations Dan Eardley discuss the most common questions we heard from those corporate leaders, including how to:

• Track, report, and communicate your collective impact – from employee giving and volunteering programs to grants and other corporate philanthropy initiatives – to stakeholders
• Move from measuring activity and outputs (e.g. participation, dollars/time given) to outcomes
• Utilize the right measurement, visualization, reporting, and/or sharing tools
• Measure intangible data, such as outcomes, e.g., behavior change, engaged employees, benefit to community
• Track metrics across multiple companies/business units/countries