Advocacy backed by solid evidence

Organisations we work with

What you get

• Evidence that persuades policymakers

  We help you bring together impact data from your members and translate it into arguments that fit policy frames, such as broad prosperity (Brede Welvaart) in the Netherlands.

• Making policy influence visible

  Influence is rarely one-to-one. We make your contribution visible without overclaiming, for your members and funders.

Why we do what we do

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 often hear

• “Our position papers lack hard evidence.”

  We help you build robust evidence with researchers and members, and present findings in a form policymakers trust.

• “I find it hard to show what our advocacy achieves.”

  We help you track your influence pathway, such as consultation responses, meetings, amendments and policy changes, and show your contribution even when cause and effect are complex.

• “Opponents tell a different story, with their own figures.”

  We help you anticipate counter-arguments with stronger evidence, transparent methods and an honest account of what your data does and doesn’t show.

• “Our members each measure their impact in their own way.”

  We agree a small set of shared indicators with your members, so you can combine their evidence without forcing everyone into one method.

What you may be wondering

• Won’t our evidence be dismissed as partisan?

  Less so if your method is open and you say what the data doesn’t show. We help you do that.

• Do all our members have to measure the same way?

  No. A small shared set of indicators is enough to bring their evidence together.

• Can you really show policy influence?

  As contribution, yes: through consultation responses, meetings, amendments and policy changes.

To read

• Say where every figure comes from

  In a press release or position paper, a figure without a source is easy to dismiss. Here is how to show where each figure comes from and how reliable it is.