Our CI Report

A Charting Impact Report is designed to be completed by a nonprofit or foundation at the overall organizational level. The following Charting Impact responses are for Charting Impact itself, a joint initiative of three organizations. They are shared for illustrative and transparency purposes.

1. What are we aiming to accomplish?

Charting Impact’s (CI) ultimate goal for impact is to change the dynamics of the nonprofit information and funding marketplace so resources—funding, volunteer time, and more—flow to effective organizations.

CI addresses the need for organizations to have a simple, easy-to-use approach for considering and communicating their intended impact. Responding to the five simple yet powerful questions at the heart of Charting Impact provides to donors, stakeholders, and the public a concise narrative about organizations’ plans and progress.

Since the clear, shared format of these reports can be used by charitable organizations of all types, sizes, and missions, Charting Impact can increase the public’s understanding of the social impact of individual nonprofit organizations and of the nonprofit sector as a whole. This common vehicle will also reinforce organizational effectiveness practices and simplify coordinated efforts among organizations with similar goals, as it will be easier for nonprofits and foundations to identify potential partners.

Two interrelated long-term outcomes will advance CI’s mission:

Nonprofits and foundations embrace Charting Impact as a common vehicle through which they can communicate their plans and progress toward impact with key stakeholders, including the public. Establishing a common vehicle aims to reduce duplicative requests for information and other barriers to reporting.
Using Charting Impact as a way to focus strategic thinking, organizations are more intentional about planning for impact. They align near-term activities with long-term goals and strategies and assess progress toward those goals, all of which adds to their ability to deliver on their missions and demonstrate effective stewardship of their resources.

2. What are our strategies for making this happen?

Charting Impact is based on a commitment to establishing a common framework that the nonprofit and philanthropic sector uses to consider and communicate its impact. It employs two major strategies:

Demonstrating how Charting Impact is valuable to donors, volunteers, and others. Individuals who participated in the development and testing process told us that Charting Impact Reports provide concise information about core elements of an organization’s work. Helping potential audiences–including donors, volunteers, and other supporters–find value in this information will create a powerful incentive for broad adoption and thus increase the overall value of Charting Impact to organizations and the sector. To generate this network effect, we will:

Provide consistent, concise, accessible Charting Impact Reports through public websites, to donor advisors, and in other channels.
Offer a searchable database of participants, including by location and program areas, to assist supporters in finding information about organizations and to encourage greater collaboration among nonprofit organizations and funders.
Highlight how donors, volunteers, and others have used Charting Impact Reports to obtain the information they want.

Demonstrating how Charting Impact is valuable to a nonprofit or foundation. Organizations that participated in its two-year development and testing process have told us that Charting Impact promotes strategic thinking, alignment of people throughout the organization, and clear communication with current and potential stakeholders. Helping nonprofits and foundations experience these benefits will accelerate broad adoption. We will also encourage organizational adoption by:

Making ChartingImpact.org easy to use, with information and resources that facilitate completion of the five questions.
Providing participants with a formatted version of their completed Charting Impact Report, located at a unique URL, so they can easily include it in their marketing and communications efforts.
Publishing completed Charting Impact Reports on ChartingImpact.org and on other websites where donors, volunteers, and others typically look for information about nonprofits. Creating these central collections can reduce the burden on organizations to provide the same information in multiple places.
Offering an opportunity for stakeholder feedback on completed reports, as well as incentives related to marketing assistance.
Providing a searchable database of participants that simplifies identification of new collaborations toward common goals.

3. What are our capabilities for doing this?

The three organizations championing Charting Impact are established leaders in the nonprofit and philanthropic sector. Each organization adds extensive capabilities to this initiative:

BBB Wise Giving Alliance brings their reputation for helping donors make informed giving decisions, and their network of charities that uphold high standards of conduct.
GuideStar USA provides expertise in gathering and publicizing information about nonprofit organizations, and technical capacity for inserting Charting Impact into the information marketplace.
Independent Sector offers its coalition of nonprofits, foundations, and corporate giving programs, its knowledge of public policy and governance, and its experience in convening a national network.

Charting Impact is also stronger because of the process by which it was developed. A joint IS-BBB Advisory Group on Nonprofit Effectiveness, representing more than 40 key thought leaders within the field, has provided guidance since 2009. Additionally, more than 150 organizations contributed through a pilot test in 2010 and 15 strategy discussions in 2011. These participants represent nonprofits and foundations of all types, sizes, and missions, and their insights have shaped Charting Impact and continue to improve our ability to achieve our goals.

4. How will we know if we are making progress?

Progress toward our long-term goal– to direct resources to efficient organizations – will be apparent through the breadth and depth of Charting Impact’s adoption, as well as through substantive evaluation of behavior by nonprofits, foundations, and donors.

Our specific indicators and milestones for the first 12 months after launch include:

500 completed Charting Impact Reports posted to ChartingImpact.org
15,000 page views of completed Charting Impact Reports
10,000 downloads of Charting Impact materials and explanations
The number of reports that are “Stakeholder Reviewed” increases 50% from the baseline established in the first three months
2,500 new media citations of Charting Impact
Links to Charting Impact Reports are available on at least 10 additional websites (not counting the reports posted on an organization’s own website)

The Charting Impact website is set up to monitor carefully selected outputs and outcomes, including the number and types of participating organizations, the growth rate of participation and engagement, and other numerical measures for adoption. Additional evaluation elements are built in through the stakeholder review process, as well as a brief survey for new and returning users that probes the effect of Charting Impact on organizational practice over time.

5. What have and haven’t we accomplished so far?

At Charting Impact’s launch, we have the following accomplishments behind us:

A deeply collaborative development process that involved nearly 200 people. The result of their work is the five-question framework that has been well-received across the sector because of its simplicity and power.
A strong strategic alliance among BBB Wise Giving Alliance, GuideStar USA, and Independent Sector, which has created a foundation for long-term impact.
A sophisticated online resource and data collection tool, which allows each participating organization to generate its unique Charting Impact Report and disseminate it through BBB Wise Giving Alliance, GuideStar, Independent Sector and other networks.
Strong buy-in and participation from leadership across the sector, who believe that this effort will strengthen effective practices, promote collaboration, and ensure consistent and relevant information about nonprofit impact.

We have not yet achieved the volume of participation we anticipate for the coming years, nor have we yet reached all of the networks or players who might benefit from this initiative. We will continue our efforts to collaborate across the sector and incorporate ongoing feedback from Charting Impact participants.