Sarah Cruickshank's blog

Shared Measurement is a growing area of impact measurement that realistically considers that multiple organizations contribute to the same desired community impact, and tracking outcomes collectively is smarter and more economic than having every organization prove its impact as if they existed in isolation. FSG, a nonprofit consulting firm based in the US, is holding a webinar in early November about shared measurement systems.

When you hear the word “impact”, what comes to mind? While your first thoughts may include that kickboxing class you just joined, it is it is also true that the term “impact” is often used loosely to encompass any type of reporting about the social or environmental mission of an organization. In the world of evaluation, this word has a much ‘tighter’ meaning:  Impact is the tracking of long-term outcomes, controlling for external influences, or using randomized control trials to prove that the outcomes are attributable to a particular organization’s efforts.