Impact measurements and management

    The requirement to develop social impact measurement and management processes is a key and unique aspect of Valores’ approach to cooperation with social-purpose organizations. Valores defines social impact as enhancing the quality of life for the end beneficiaries. The impact Valores seeks involves changes that directly and materially improve the quality of life for individuals facing social inequality.

    With over ten years of integrating IMM into its portfolio of social organizations, Valores is one of the most experienced foundations in Poland promoting IMM in the social sector. This has been, and continues to be, a learning process aimed at improving the adoption of IMM techniques among social organizations.

    Valores establishes a bespoke IMM process for each organization in its portfolio. The main aspects of the process include:

    • Defining a small set of indicators that effectively capture the social impact.
    • Identifying measurable quantitative KPIs that truly reflect the impact on beneficiaries’ lives.
    • Establishing a benchmark or control group for meaningful comparison of results, where possible.
    • Keeping the process easy to implement for the social organization’s team.
    • Managing the time commitment necessary to design, implement, measure and refine an IMM process and arrive at meaningful outputs.

    Benefits for organizations
    A properly structured and well-conducted IMM process brings significant qualitative and quantitative benefits to social organizations.

    • Improvement in the quality of activities, enabling:
      – Better response to the needs of the beneficiaries.
      – More efficient allocation of the organization’s resources.
    • Enhancement of the team, resulting from:
      – Alignment of the team with the mission and objectives of the organization.
      – Understanding the purpose behind their actions and what they aim to achieve.
      – Better communication of the organization’s mission to its stakeholders.

    The Valores IMM process involves three key parties: dedicated individuals from the social organization, Valores personnel, and third-party experts. The process is led by the organization’s team, with the involvement of the leaders/management board. Valores provides guidance, structures the process, and sets the timelines. External experts support critical steps, particularly in developing measurement tools and data analysis.