Know Your Impact (it’s really not that difficult to do…)

An acquaintance at a party asked me what my company did and I responded that many of our solutions help companies evaluate, manage, and measure the impact of their philanthropic and sponsorship programs.  He asked what I meant by impact and I used the  example of a company donating to a hunger relief organization.  To assess impact, the company  might want to get information on how many families the organization was able to feed with their donation.

The acquaintance was surprised by this, saying it was his impression that companies wouldn’t want to ask the deeper questions and know the real impact of their efforts. Better to just make the donation and avoid finding out that the donation might not have met their expectations.  Plus, gathering the information needed to measure impact takes time and nobody has time to spare, right?

Frankly, I’d never even considered that first scenario.  I can see being so overwhelmed that it’s hard to imagine devoting the time and energy to track impact, but to not want to know, well, is a bit beyond me.  Kind of like sticking your head in the sand.  Sure, you can say you gave $1,000 to an organization, and if they fed 500 families for a day, you’d probably feel good about that.  But what if you learned of another organization that could feed 1,000 for the same amount?  Or that the organization you were donating to didn’t want to report this information.  Would you feel the same about your donation?

Certainly not knowing is an option.  And I can understand saying ROI doesn’t apply because giving isn’t really part of your “business.”  But if you are looking to make a difference, maybe it should be.