Communicating your impact

You might see impact reporting as a bit of a chore, something that needs to be done to keep other people happy. But carried out well, it's a great chance to celebrate your successes and attract more support for your cause. It can be a much more creative process than simply churning out an annual report.

Why communicate your impact?

You might be doing brilliant work, but if you're not telling anyone about it then that work may not last much longer. Very few organisations can exist without some form of support, and demonstrating your success is vital for attracting that support and holding onto it.

You can use evidence of your impact:

• attract more funding and support
• meet funders' requirements
• increase your credibility with other agencies
• advocate solutions to problems that you have tackled successfully
• boost morale within your organisation
• make improvements to achieve even more for your users or cause.

Impact marketing

The key to really effective impact communications is to tell the right things to the right people in the right way. We call this process impact marketing.

Communicating the not-so-positive

If things aren't going so well, you may be tempted to gloss over the problems or simply keep quiet about them. But silence can be deadly. If you fail to tell your story, others will assume there's nothing to tell, or will believe what others say about you.

Instead, it's best to be brave and admit to mistakes, and to show willingness to learn from experience and from others, in order to identify how things can be improved. This attitude is at the heart of fostering an improvement culture within your organisation, and shows integrity and a commitment to accountability and high moral principles.