Making Metrics Work for You
If you are making a meaningful difference with your business, you can track your metrics to help show and promote your work to funders, community members, workers and investors. They will be impressed to see the change you are making every day. Understand how to track your social, environmental and economic impact and build a foundation for business decisions that improve your business and help both the planet and people.
Resources
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Why should you be measuring your social impact? Here are five reasons why, ranging from communicating your value to stakeholders and investors to more concretely understanding where you are in terms of accomplishing your goals.
Source: Sopact
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“Actionable Impact Management (AIM) is designed to assist in defining an internal organizational framework. This is executed by establishing an enduring impact measurement process which is primarily data and outcome oriented. AIM's objective is to outline a roadmap for your organization to follow in the hopes of reaching a point where you are able to more accurately and effectively communicate your impact to multiple stakeholders.”
Source: Sopact
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Find out what metrics make the most sense for you to evaluate and create a monitoring and evaluation plan. Consider the benefits of both qualitative and quantitative data in your analyses and look at examples of monitoring and evaluation tools available today.
Source: Sopact
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“If creating social impact is at the heart of who you are as an organization then measuring – and more importantly, understanding—the social impact you create is just as important as keeping your finances in order.
As a founder or CEO, you should be confident in the impact you’re having on beneficiaries. But it’s not just enough to know—you need to collect real data that will show the difference you’re making in the world. That’s where social impact measurement comes in.”
Source: School for Social Entrepreneurs
Expert Conversations
Hear from social educator Deirdre Fehr, Social Finance Coordinator of the Fair Finance Fund and social entrepreneur Mike Degagne, owner of Black River Co-operative, as they share their experiences, expertise, tools, and resources to make metrics work for you.
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Deirdre Fehr is the Social Finance Coordinator at the Fair Finance Fund. She has worked for the last several years as an analyst within the financial sector and previously in a range of roles in government and banking institutions. Her additional background in event organization for sustainable business projects spurred a strong passion for supporting social entrepreneurs focusing on the triple bottom line and developing a regenerative future.
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Mike grew up on his father’s family farm outside of Northbay, On., studied Geomatics and spatial analysis at the University of Ottawa and has been working as a Carpenter for 15 years. After living removed from the north for a decade Mike returned to start an off-grid homestead, cooperative and land trust with his family in Matheson, ON. The Black River Worker Co-op, a not for profit with the aim of protecting and preserving agricultural land in the north to make it accessible to young families who would otherwise not have access, is a homestead farm that thrives using the principles of permaculture, social enterprises, equality and fairness. With regenerative agriculture, regenerative economics and community living at heart Mike is proud to co-chair the Black River Cooperative and now represent the Local Food and Farm Co-op as the NE regional coordinator in the movement towards a sustainable future for all.