Philanthropy Impact Magazine Issue 10

News (International, UK)

17 December 2015

Impact and ROI are hot topics for Philanthropy Impact members and key stakeholders, both the debate on how we are best to measure impact but also the different types of ROI different funders are looking for. Social impact measurement is the discipline of understanding and reporting on the social, environmental and other changes effected by organisations for their stakeholders.

Whether you are engaging in philanthropy or social investment, understanding social impact and how it is measured is important. It is only by measuring the impact that we can truly understand the relationship between the money and mission. All of the 2016 Philanthropy Impact Magazine issues will explore this relationship as well as the challenges and issues met by advisors and their clients, philanthropists, trusts and charities when embarking on their philanthropic and social investment activities.

The importance of this topic is highlighted by the response Philanthropy Impact has received for the Call for Articles, receiving over 60 articles. The great interest in this topic has resulted in the decision to publish all four volumes of the magazine during the course of 2016 looking at the topic from different perspectives answering a number of questions such as

1.   What drives social investment?
2.   Does knowledge and information about impact matter for donors?
3.   Is impact measurement a fundamental tool and requirement for managing a charity or social enterprise?
4.   What is the role of impact measurement in developing and monitoring your theory of change?
5.   Should the measurement of impact be independent of the charity/social enterprise?
6.   How can we improve measurement of impact to support more effective philanthropy?
7.   What role does impact and impact measurement play in spotting good impact investments?
8.   Is impact measurement a fad? The flavour of the month?
9.   What makes for good impact measurement? E.g. assessing the major changes (or ‘outcomes’) achieved?
10.   How rigorous does the impact measurement process have to be? E.g. control groups

The first volume will be published in the end of January.

We thank everyone who submitted articles and we look forward to publishing four very interesting volumes of the Philanthropy Impact Magazine during 2016.