Communicating impact - the next challenge: Telling donors and funders about impact is as important as measuring it

By Sophie Hudson, Guardian Professional

As an increasing number of charities start to get to grips with measuring their impact, the next hurdle many of them are facing is how they can best communicate it. Many seem to find that telling others about their impact in an effective yet clear way is almost as hard as measuring it in the first place.

Tris Lumley, head of development at New Philanthropy Capital , says an increasing number of charities have started to talk about their impact in their annual reports.  "Charities are trying to be clearer about what it is they are trying to achieve," he says. "People are talking more about outcomes than they were five years ago." But he says that for many charities there is still "some way to go" with how they are communicating this, and that many struggle to do it well.

Claire Coulier, manager at the Social Impact Analysts Association, says that part of the problem could be that charities sometimes find it difficult not to exaggerate their individual impact on a problem when often there are so many organisations working towards the same eventual goal.

"But it's really important that charities are transparent with this," she says. "Make sure what you are saying is verifiable and there's good reason for the cause and effect that you are claiming."

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