Impact Measurement and Management
Our focus on impact measurement and management (IMM)
While impact measurement refers to the use of different methods/approaches to measure social impact, impact management refers to the systems, processes, culture, and capabilities that enable an organization to actively manage and optimize its impact.
When undertaken with a compliance mindset, impact measurement is unlikely to deliver the learning and change that good impact management practices can enable. In a learning culture, however, impact measurement enables an organization to learn what works and what does not work in terms of social impact and so improve its impact and impact management practices.
The Esade Center for Social Impact understands IMM as a learning journey, and our research, teaching, and engagement aim to help the sector move forward along this journey. For example, our research agenda focuses on questions that pose key challenges, such as:
- How to obtain objective and verifiable data?
- How to integrate quantitative and qualitative approaches?
- How to integrate impact into management and governance systems?
- How to measure and manage systemic impact?
- How to verify impact performance?
- How to assess impact integrity and protect against impact washing?
Projects
Governance of Impact in Foundations
Governance of impact in foundations is mission-critical and shapes how the board and executive leadership, supported by the foundation’s staff, make optimal decisions to advance their organization’s mission. It plays a central role in creating, implementing, and assessing the foundation’s strategy, as well as deciding how grant-making or operating budgets are spent. The report is an exploration of this under-researched but essential area, reflecting perspectives from the board, executive team, foundation staff, and grantees/partners.
Community of Practice on Impact Measurement and Management
The Esade Center for Social Impact together with BBK have organized a European and Spanish Community of Practice (CoP) on Impact Measurement and Management (IMM) since the fall of 2020. This group of foundation professionals have come together to increase the level of transparency, knowledge-sharing, and exchange within the European foundation sector on this topic. The community works towards specific collaborations, such as shared impact datasets.
Learning Community
The Learning Community represents a diverse group of organizations in Bizkaia, Spain, brought together by common concerns and interests in impact measurement and management (IMM). In May 2023, the Esade Center for Social Impact and BBK launched the inaugural edition of the Learning Community. Working collaboratively to achieve individual and collective goals, these entities have set out to improve impact assessment to make decisions that better meet the needs of their communities.
From Measurement of Impact to Learning for Impact
The report “From Measurement of Impact to Learning for Impact: European Charitable Foundations’ Learning Journey” is a useful starting point for European charitable foundations who are in the early years of actively managing their impact – in other words, those who are developing a better understanding of their social impact and want to move to the next level. Through this research, we aim to raise awareness about the key themes within impact management for charitable foundations (such as the systems, processes, culture, and capabilities for social impact measurement).
The Governance of Impact Measurement in European Impact Investing Funds
Impact investing funds have grown their assets under management and their capabilities in impact measurement and management (IMM) in recent years. However, there remains a lack of transparency and best practices for IMM governance. This report sheds light on this topic, addressing how European impact investing funds allocate responsibility for IMM, how impact is integrated in the investment process, and how impact data affects investment decisions and incentive structures.
Supporting AEF's efforts to integrate IMM into the community foundation incubation process
The Spanish Association of Foundations (AEF, for its acronym in Spanish) began supporting the creation of Spanish community foundations in the fall of 2020. Community foundations focus on helping improve the lives of people in a given territory; the community foundation model calls for listening and responding to (often interconnected) community needs. ECSI began an action-research project with AEF in 2020 to address the challenge of how to develop IMM models for the program and newly formed foundations, both of which operated as startups that were still in the early stages of defining and validating their impact models.