Impact management

A complete approach to measuring and managing what your organisation changes, and for whom

Impact management means defining, measuring and improving what your organisation’s work does for people, the environment and the economy. It goes beyond measuring. It covers the full cycle of planning, doing, learning and adapting.

What do you use impact management for?

Organisations use impact management for five things. Most need more than one, and each asks for something different.

Impact management sits between change management and reporting: from making sense of what is happening to being accountable for it.

Discovery

Find connections, patterns and perspectives that raise new questions. See the wider picture before you judge or act.

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Topics and who it is for

Sensemaking
Trend watching
Early signal detection
Risks & opportunities
Watchtower

Who uses this most

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Leadership

Choose targeted interventions and follow what effect they have in practice. Make steering a repeatable cycle of choosing, following, learning and choosing again.

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Topics and who it is for

Purpose & motivation
Mission progress
Strategy development & execution
Fundraising

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Improvement

Use examples and lessons to understand what works, what doesn’t and why, and adjust your approach together.

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Topics and who it is for

Operational performance (effectiveness & efficiency)
Learning & development
Research, design & development
(Inter)dependencies
Innovation

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Engagement

Say clearly what you do, what you learn and what you don’t know yet. Match language, form and detail to whoever receives it.

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Topics and who it is for

Communication & branding
Stakeholder engagement
Sales & marketing
Collaboration & partnerships
Ecosystem building

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Accountability

Show where figures and statements come from and what they do and don’t prove. Separate facts, assumptions and interpretation, so claims stay verifiable.

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Topics and who it is for

Procurement
Benchmarking
Compliance & control
Due diligence
Valuation
Assurance

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Common drivers & benefits

These are the most common reasons organisations turn to impact management, and the benefits they experience. We’ve grouped them under four of the five perspectives. They often overlap and reinforce each other.

Leadership

purpose & motivation
mission progress
strategy development & execution
fundraising
early signal detection
risks & opportunities assessment

Improvement

operational performance (effectiveness & efficiency)
learning & development
research, design & development
(inter-) dependencies
innovation

Engagement

communication & branding
stakeholder engagement
sales & marketing
collaboration & partnerships
ecosystem building

Accountability

procurement
benchmarking
compliance & control
due diligence
valuation

The impact management cycle

Plan & design

Develop your Theory of Change, identify stakeholders, and select appropriate indicators aligned with your mission and context.

Measure & collect

Set up data collection, gather evidence from several sources, and make sure the data is reliable.

Analyse & learn

Interpret findings, identify patterns and causality, and generate insights that inform decision-making.

Report & communicate

Share results with stakeholders, meet reporting requirements, and tell compelling impact stories.

Improve & adapt

Use insights to refine programmes, adjust strategies, and continuously improve your impact approach.

Core principles of effective impact management

Intentionality

Deliberately setting impact goals and designing activities to achieve them

Stakeholder-centricity

Centring the voices and experiences of those you aim to benefit

Evidence-based

Using rigorous data and analysis to understand what works and why

Continuous learning

Treating impact management as an iterative process of improvement

Transparency

Openly sharing methods, findings, and lessons, including failures

Proportionality

Matching the depth of measurement to the scale and risk of activities

Key frameworks & standards

We work with the frameworks and standards that are common around the world. Below are the ones Narrate worked with.

56 more we have worked with

All frameworks, standards and methods

Our approach to impact management

At Narrate, we believe impact management should be:

Practical and proportionate: fit for purpose without overloading your team or budget

Aware of context: each organisation works in its own situation

Participatory: stakeholders take part throughout the process

Action-oriented: insights that directly help decisions and improvement

We help you build impact management systems that work for your organisation. Not generic solutions, but tailored approaches that are rigorous and practical.

Ready to strengthen your impact management?

Let’s discuss how we can help you measure and manage impact more effectively.

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