"Donors don't support a cause because of its efficiency; they support a cause for the impact that it secures for society - for all of us. Charting Impact will help to focus nonprofits - and their boards - on how to communicate who they are, what they achieve and how they achieve it, skills that all of us need to develop."
Andrew Watt, president and CEO, Association of Fundraising ProfessionalsLearn about the benefits of Charting Impact
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What is Charting Impact?
At the heart of Charting Impact are five deceptively simple questions that require reflection and promote communication about what really matters – results.
- What is your organization aiming to accomplish?
- What are your strategies for making this happen?
- What are your organization’s capabilities for doing this?
- How will your organization know if you are making progress?
- What have and haven’t you accomplished so far?
For each nonprofit or foundation, Charting Impact encourages strategic thinking about how it will achieve its goals. Responding to the five questions creates a unique report that shares concise, detailed information about plans and progress with key stakeholders, including the public.
Watch the video below to hear more stories about how organizations are charting their impact and why you should too.
BBB Wise Giving Alliance, GuideStar USA, and Independent Sector developed Charting Impact as a common presentation that allows staff, boards, stakeholders, donors, volunteers, and others to work with and learn from each other. It complements planning, evaluation, and assessment that organizations already undertake, and can be used by nonprofits and foundations of all sizes and missions. As this, thoroughly tested framework becomes widely shared, it will be easier for organizations to collaborate and for potential supporters to direct their time and funds to those groups that are making a difference.
A Charting Impact Report consists of an organization’s responses to the five questions. Helping validate this self-reported data are three reviews. Once an organization has used the online interface to complete its report, its responses will produce a document with a unique URL that will be shared on this website, on your GuideStar profile, on the reports of charities participating in BBB Wise Giving Alliance evaluations, and – in the future – with other websites and information sources about nonprofits. We encourage organizations to use this URL to share their report on their own website and through their own media channels. Participants will receive guidance about promoting their Charting Impact Report, along with other benefits, once they publish their report.
