Measuring Impact - Nicva
Measuring Impact - Nicva
Measuring Impact - Nicva
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Ideas underpinning impact assessment 15<br />
Some additional key terms associated with impact are defined in the box below.<br />
Inputs are the resources that contribute to a programme or activity, including income, staff,<br />
volunteers and equipment.<br />
Activities are what an organisation does with its inputs in order to achieve its mission.<br />
Outputs are countable units, and are the direct products of a programme or organisation’s<br />
activities.They could be classes taught, training courses delivered or people attending<br />
workshops. In themselves they are not the objectives of the organisation.<br />
Outcomes are the benefits or changes for intended beneficiaries.They tend to be less<br />
tangible and therefore less countable than outputs. Outcomes are usually planned and are<br />
therefore set out in an organisation’s objectives.<br />
<strong>Impact</strong> is all changes resulting from an activity, project or organisation. It includes intended<br />
as well as unintended, negative as well as positive, and long-term as well as short-term effects.<br />
The dimensions of impact 3.3<br />
It is clear that impact has a number of dimensions, and any assessment process needs to<br />
reflect this. The dimensions of the voluntary sector’s impact might be economic, social or<br />
political. The dimensions of impact might also be individual or collective, geographic (local<br />
through to international), or time specific (short or long-term).<br />
Economic impact has unsurprisingly received the most attention. This has been based on an<br />
organisation’s contribution to physical capital (land, buildings and fixed assets) and financial<br />
capital (contribution to GDP and paid employment). There is also an increasing body of literature<br />
on the impact of the voluntary sector on communities and local people. This includes a<br />
contribution to human capital (the skills, knowledge and self-esteem an individual can gain<br />
over time). It has also been argued that voluntary and community organisations contribute to<br />
cultural capital (communication and behavioural norms that are passed from one generation<br />
to the next).<br />
A long-running debate over the social impact of the voluntary and community sector has<br />
recently become centred around the concept of social capital. How, why and where voluntary<br />
and community groups contribute to social capital is the subject for another study, but a basic<br />
explanation is helpful here. Social capital has been defined as “features of social organisation,<br />
such as networks, norms and trust that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual<br />
benefit” (Putman, 1993). He further argues that “social capital has forceful, even quantifiable<br />
effects on many different aspects of our lives”. If this is the case, then understanding and<br />
measuring an organisation’s contribution to social capital is a worthwhile exercise in impact<br />
assessment, and is addressed in Chapter 7. 5<br />
5 Forthcoming work by NCVO explores this in more depth, using case-studies of voluntary organisations in rural areas