Let’s start this post by understanding what impact is. An Impact is any change resulting from an activity, project, or organisation. It shows a sustainable societal, environmental, and/or economic change. Impact is the ultimate vision or goal of the organization; it is generally inspirational or beyond what one organization can achieve alone.
An intended impact is a statement or series of statements about what specifically the organization is trying to achieve and will hold itself accountable to. It succinctly identifies what results the organization will accomplish, for whom, and in what time frame.
Organisations/Projects that have demonstrable impact have a much better chance at getting funding than projects that don’t. When you show that your work has impact, you give people a reason to fund it.
When it comes to solving social problems it’s very crucial to be able to concisely describe the positive impact your organization/project intends to make on the targeted group(s) or the selected community as a whole. Intended impact is all about specifying the change or social benefit the organization is committed to achieving.
The ability to clearly state your intended impact empowers you to make major asks of your donors, measure the outcome of your project, and see the contribution your organization is making in the community. In short, it moves you from just having a mission to really making a difference.
To make the greatest possible impact, nonprofits need to explicitly state the outcomes they're aiming for and how they plan to accomplish those goals. Developing practical, workable ways to achieve inspiring missions is a key ingredient to successful nonprofits/projects.
In order for your project/organisation to succeed in solving social problems you need to be able to identifies both the benefits the organization seeks to provide AND the beneficiaries. Your intended impact should be able to answer the following questions:
1. What target group do you intend to reach?
2. What changes are you project expected to bring to the targeted group?
3. What objectives should the project contribute to pursuing at the societal level?
Therefore, to create your intended impact, you should start by defining your outcomes, your targeted populations, and finally the timeframe toward success. The first step in this process should be to define the outcomes your organisation will be accountable for, this should be an answer to the change you want to see in the targeted population as the result of your project/organisation. You need to be able to see the change documented in the targeted population.
Your intended impact should define the targeted group(s) very specifically. You can’t prioritize everyone. It’s an unfortunate fact of life. Some groups of people are just going to be more important than others. Defining your target group(s) is the best practice ever, focus on establishing a crystal-clear empathy with the group(s) you are planning to serve.
Define the timeframe in which you will achieve these outcomes.
Tips for great impact statements:
> Be brief!
> Include numbers of participants and numbers that show a change in their quality of life.
> The longest part should be the impact.
> Focus on the outcomes (impact), not the activities (what has been done).
Key things to remember:
> Change or the desire effect: e.g., increased, decreased, maintained, improved, greater, fewer
> In what: e.g., awareness, attitudes, knowledge, skills, behaviors, norms, health, policies etc
> Among who: e.g., individuals, program participants, community, organization, system
Before we close his post, let’s have an example of an Intended Impact.
ABC’s intended impact statement reads, in part:
“Over the next decade, ABC Nonprofit’s primary focus will be on children aged 0-18 living in the ABC project, a 24-block area of central Big City bounded to the south and north by KD2 and KD4 streets, and to the east and west by Campanella and 3rd Drive avenues. ABC’s objective will be to equip the greatest possible number of children in the ABC project to make a successful transition to an independent, healthy adulthood, reflected in demographic and achievement profiles consistent with those in an average middle-class community.”
There you have it. How powerful and well understood do you think that intended impact sound like? Great, isn’t it? Have a clear, focused intended impact; this is the roadway to successfully solving social problems. Now go ahead and craft your intended impact...
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MORE TIPS
> Describing the social problem to build impact logic and successful social solutions
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