How can you track the progress of your team in social impact?

1 Define your impact framework

Before you start tracking your team's progress, you need to have a clear and shared understanding of what impact means for your team and how you will measure it. A common way to do this is to use an impact framework, such as the Theory of Change, the Logic Model, or the Impact Value Chain. These frameworks help you map out the inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes, and impacts of your team's work, as well as the assumptions, indicators, and evidence that support them. By defining your impact framework, you can align your team's vision, strategy, and actions, and identify the key metrics and data sources that you will use to track your progress.

2 Collect and analyze data

Once you have your impact framework, you need to collect and analyze data that can show how your team is performing against your indicators and targets. There are different methods and tools that you can use to collect data, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations, experiments, or secondary sources. Depending on the type and amount of data that you have, you can use different tools to analyze it, such as spreadsheets, dashboards, statistical software, or qualitative software. The main purpose of data collection and analysis is to help you answer your impact questions, such as: How much change did we create? Who benefited from our work? What worked and what didn't? How can we improve?

3 Report and communicate results

After you have collected and analyzed data, you need to report and communicate your results to your stakeholders, such as your funders, partners, beneficiaries, or the public. Reporting and communicating your results is not only a way to demonstrate your accountability and transparency, but also a way to showcase your achievements and learnings, and to inspire others to join or support your cause. There are different formats and channels that you can use to report and communicate your results, such as reports, presentations, stories, videos, podcasts, infographics, or social media. The main goal of reporting and communicating your results is to tell a compelling and credible story of your team's impact, using both quantitative and qualitative data, and highlighting both successes and challenges.

4 Review and reflect

The final step in tracking your team's progress in social impact is to review and reflect on your results and feedback, and to use them to inform your future actions and decisions. Reviewing and reflecting on your results and feedback is not only a way to assess your impact and performance, but also a way to learn from your experiences and to adapt to changing contexts and needs. There are different ways and tools that you can use to review and reflect on your results and feedback, such as feedback loops, evaluations, audits, learning circles, or after-action reviews. The main outcome of reviewing and reflecting on your results and feedback is to identify your strengths and weaknesses, your opportunities and threats, and your best practices and lessons learned, and to use them to improve your team's impact.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?