Less than half the top charities communicate their impact well

Research by New Philanthropy Capital finds that whilst most of the large charities it assessed are good at describing their outputs, only 40% describe their impact clearly.

The findings were based on an analysis of 20 of the top 100 UK fundraising charities, focusing on their annual reports and reviews, impact reports and websites.

The research assessed each organisation’s reporting on:

•   Vision and strategy: including charitable purpose;
•   Problem and need: description of the problem and needs addressed;
•   Overview and activities: outline and explanation of charity’s work;
•   Outputs: quantification of activities, services, products delivered;
•   Performance: discussion of achievements against plans.

The report highlights examples of good practice and offers tips for other charities including  a simple formula of five key questions that NPC believes every charity should address to ensure their impact is communicated clearly:

1.  What is the problem we are trying to address?
2.  What do we do to address it?
3.  What are we achieving?
4.  How do we know what we are achieving?
5.  What are we learning, and how can we improve?

Nick Hurd talks the same language

The importance of communicating impact was echoed by civil society minister Nick Hurd at a speech last month to mark the 20th anniversary of Charities Evaluation Services. Hurd said money was getting tighter and there was "a great deal of pressure on the sector to more effectively communicate its impact… To be able to tell a story that doesn't just rely on anecdotes or bringing a few people into the office to tell their personal story – I'm afraid the future is going to demand more than that".

Public benefit reporting under scrutiny

Meanwhile, the Charity Commission has hired Sheffield Hallam University to examine the quality of charities’ reporting of their public benefit. The findings of the research are expected later this financial year.

Download the Talking About Results report

Read more about communicating impact.