Advice from other organisations on the journey

Stick with the messy, emergent stuff over the first few months because you will gradually get a handle on things and a plan will start to take shape. But this does require several meetings and thinking space, so time needs to be allocated. I would also recommend trying to include all the important voices right from the start.

It will take time to develop your map and pathways.

If possible, use the approach to think about impact before it happens – as you are developing a project.

Be pragmatic about collecting data – the more it is built into everyday practice, the easier it will be.

Try out new methods (like reflective impact logs) on specific projects and then see whether they can be rolled out more widely.

Start trying to weave a narrative into tracking early on. Once the narrative is taking shape, it is easier to think about the outcomes and how to capture them – how to make the story convincing.

Present your emerging impact to management committees and trustees.

It’s a great way of presenting your organisation’s achievements. Before, everything just got lost in the annual plethora of funding reports – now, it’s much more dynamic than an annual report and more impressive.

It takes time to embed the discipline of this approach into your work, but we are committed to doing so and it very much informs how we think and plan.

Resources to help with evaluation thinking

AMEC taxonomy of evaluation

This taxonomy table breaks down public communication into several stages such as inputs, outputs and impacts, and suggests ways to think analytically about each stage.