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    Manifesto

    What we stand for: first in pictures, then in words.

    Read the film as text
    1. We all want to know
    2. our place in the world.
    3. Thin grey lines join dots into a web.
    4. We like to believe that what we do is part of something larger.
    5. It is.
    6. Together we make our surroundings, our brands, our communities.
    7. We shape the work of others, as they shape ours.
    8. The web grows dense.
    9. We live in one web of cause and consequence.
    10. Each path tells a story, part of a larger narrative.
    11. A system of meaning.
    12. So what is our impact?
    13. Whose lives do we touch?
    14. What changed? For whom? How much? And what part was ours?
    15. Intended or not, for better or worse.
    16. Knowing that changes what you do next.
    17. A dark line draws a path through the web. Impact management helps you see it, steer it, and use it.
    18. A large word: Lead. A purple path runs through the web. Lead with purpose, and fund your mission.
    19. A large word: Improve. A green path runs through the web. Learn what doesn’t work and design for better.
    20. A large word: Engage. A blue-green path runs through the web. Share your story, and bring others into it.
    21. A large word: Account. A blue path runs through the web. State your claim, and prove it.
    22. A large word: Discover. A yellow path runs through the web. Find your next impact before it happens.
    23. “How do you measure impact?”
    24. It sounds hard.
    25. It isn’t.
    26. It’s not about the how.
    27. It’s about
    28. Portraits of people fill the screen.
    29. A large word: Who.
    30. About rights-holders, whose lives are touched.
    31. And stakeholders, whose choices shape them.
    32. The people stand side by side, at the same height. A wave of colour runs through the web. Every voice, every perspective, equally weighed.
    33. The web turns many colours. Pluriform and equivalent.
    34. Who determines what.
    35. And what determines how.
    36. That’s it. No more, no less.
    37. We count what can be counted, and listen to the rest.
    38. Coloured paths wind across the web. We find the stories that connect the dots, and make sense of the whole.
    39. We love our craft:
    40. to ask the questions,
    41. to measure what matters,
    42. and narrate what works.
    43. One dark path remains. Let’s reveal your path.
    44. The word narrate, with the line: impact in numbers and stories.

    What we believe

    1. Impact belongs to the people it touches.

      A change does not belong to one organisation. It belongs to the people it reaches. So every story about impact starts with them.

    2. First who, then what, then how.

      Who it touches decides what matters. What matters decides how you measure it. We never turn that order around.

    3. Every voice weighs the same.

      Rights-holders, stakeholders, makers and funders: we listen to all of them. Nobody gets a bigger part of the story because they pay.

    4. Numbers and stories belong together.

      A number without a story says little. A story without a number is hard to believe. We count what can be counted and listen to the rest.

    5. We say what it rests on.

      Every number has a source you can see. What we do not know, we say too. That way you can build on it.

    6. What does not work counts too.

      Intended or not, for better or worse: we look at everything that changed. You often learn the most from what goes wrong.

    7. Impact is a verb.

      Measuring is not the end. You use what you know to lead, improve, engage, account and discover.

    8. Plain words.

      Impact management is hard enough already. So we write in a way you can read in one go, without alphabet soup.

    Measure what matters, narrate what works.

    No excuse to ignore your impact

    1. You don’t have to be big.

      Understanding your impact is not only for large organisations. With a small team and a small budget you can start too: with a scan, a cheatsheet or one conversation.

    2. You don’t have to measure everything.

      Start with the question that matters now. A few good signals say more than a thick report nobody reads.

    3. You don’t have to do it alone.

      The knowledge is already there: in frameworks, with peers and inside your own organisation. We help you bring it together.

    4. You don’t have to wait.

      Impact is always important, never urgent. That is exactly why there is always a reason to start now.

    You can start without us

    You do not need to hire anyone to start. These are three steps you take yourself, today.