Common challenges in impact assessment and how to overcome them

1. Lack of organisational support

The challenge: Impact assessments often fail because key stakeholders within the organisation, such as leadership or teams, aren't engaged or see the value of it, and therefore don't prioritise it. Without buy-in, assessments may lack resources, focus, or proper implementation.

Solution:

• Educate and communicate: Show how impact assessment aligns with organisational goals like funding, operational improvements, or community outcomes.
• Highlight success stories: Share examples of how similar organisations have used assessments to maximise their social impact and thereby secure funding or scale their initiatives.
• Assign champions: Identify team members who can advocate for the process and drive its adoption.
• Engage stakeholders: Ensure that you encourage team members and your organisation to provide feedback, ideas and perspectives, giving them a sense of ownership.

2. Low data quality

The challenge: Collecting insufficient amounts of data or collecting way too much can make the impact assessment time consuming, resource heavy and ultimately redundant. Not using validated questionnaires may provide plenty of data, but their validity may be questionable.

Solution:

• Use validated tools: Implement standardised and well-tested questionnaires to ensure data consistency and reliability.
• Automate processes: Leverage digital tools to automate data collection, reminders, and entry to reduce administrative errors.
• Simplify participation: Use mobile-friendly and multilingual surveys to improve accessibility and response rates.

See how Impactly makes measuring social impact easier than ever before

3. Difficulty in linking outcomes to activities

The challenge: Demonstrating causality - linking outcomes directly to your activities - can be complex, particularly when external factors influence the results, or maybe you don't measure outputs, meaning you have a hard time seeing the positive change, you create.

Solution:

• Develop a Theory of Change: Clearly outline how your activities are expected to lead to specific outcomes and identify assumptions.
• Map the journey: Utilize your outputs to fully understand and map where individual participants are progressing to assess your social impact potentials, and where to adjust and improve.

See how to set up a Theory of Change

4. Lack of resources

The challenge: Many organisations lack the financial resources or in-house expertise required to design and conduct thorough impact assessments.

Solution:

• Use digital tools: Leverage platforms - such as Impactly - which automates a lot of the social impact work, enabling you to focus more on analysis, reporting and making a positive change for people and society.
• Less is more: Begin with a simple setup for your impact assessment and expand it, when you are ready. It's better to assess 2 key impact metrics thoroughly than 10 sporadically.
• Collaborate with experts: Partner with consultants or universities to access specialised knowledge.

5. Turning data into actionable insights

The challenge: Many organisations collect data but struggle to analyse it in a way that drives decision-making and enables them to maximise their social impact effectively.

Solution:

• Use dashboards: Visualise data in user-friendly dashboards to easily identify trends, successes, and areas for improvement. Try and automate this process as much as possible, so you have time to assess your social impact.
• Prioritise key metrics: Focus on a small number of indicators that are most relevant to your goals and stakeholders.
• Engage stakeholders: Share findings in clear, concise reports to encourage data-driven discussions and strong stakeholder partnerships.

6. Maintaining continuous assessment

The challenge: Organisations often treat impact assessment as a one-time activity rather than an ongoing process, leading to missed opportunities for improvement.

Solution:

• Create a system: Build an impact measurement framework that allows for continuous data collection and efficient impact analysis.
• Integrate assessment: Make impact assessment a routine part of operations, such as monthlyl reviews or programme evaluations.
• Celebrate milestones: Use assessments to track and celebrate progress, keeping teams and stakeholders motivated and aligned.