where is your organization on its impact journey?
As a purpose-driven organization, we recognize your unwavering commitment to fostering positive change and delivering substantial value to your community. At Declarative, we strive to accelerate and amplify your impact.
Our impact journey assessment is a dynamic tool designed to help organizations of all stripes move to the next level in impact measurement and leadership. The purpose of this resource is to help your team understand where you are on the spectrum and clearly define your next step in embedding impact into your organization.
Whether you’re looking to identify your purpose; focus your theory of change; formalize your impact framework; or measure, demonstrate and amplify your impact – we are here to help. Reach out to book a free consultation with our team today.
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identify your purpose
Ah, purpose–it’s your raison d’etre, your ultimate why. Defining your purpose as a mission-driven organization is your first step in generating positive impact. Your purpose captures the problem you hope to solve and system-level change you hope to achieve. It defines why you exist and how your organization is uniquely suited to generate positive impact in a specific ecosystem. Your purpose can be both lofty and specific, and it should be informed by collaborators and participants.
national trust for local news
The National Trust for Local News is a women-led nonprofit dedicated to preserving community newspapers and keeping local news in local hands. Our team built the Trust’s brand from the ground up, creating a recognizable brand that incorporates custom design elements and strategic messaging.
focus your theory of change
A theory of change (TOC) is a logic model that provides the foundation for your organization’s impact: the overall program of interventions you plan to pursue and how you think these efforts will make a difference. Your TOC answers these three questions: what impact do you hope to achieve? What is the mechanism by which you achieve that impact? How will you know when you’ve achieved it? A robust TOC will be informed by existing evidence and deep stakeholder and client partnership.
case study example
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formalize your impact framework
After defining your purpose and establishing a theory of change, your organization should develop an impact measurement framework and strategy. This includes 1) what you plan to measure and 2) how you plan to measure it. Your IM framework should clearly delineate between countable outputs, such as the number of people served, and outcomes, which are the overall value/benefit/impact of your initiatives for the people they serve.
bridge investment group
Bridge Investment Group is a globally trusted, publicly traded real estate investment firm committed to driving value to its investors, tenants, residents, and communities. Our teams partnered to create multiple impact reports incorporating data, narrative, and powerful visuals to capture and amplify Bridge’s impact.
measure your impact
Now that you have an impact measurement (IM) framework, it’s time to actually execute on impact measurement. A dynamic approach to IM includes both qualitative and quantitative measurement. Qualitative measurement might include surveys, interviews, ethnographies, focus groups, and other methods that help to excavate the lived experience of those you hope to serve. Quantitative measurement might include analyzing data or building statistical models from open-source or proprietary data sets from multiple sources.
consumer insight survey
In early 2022, Declarative conducted a consumer insight survey to better understand how the values of a brand influence consumer purchases and investments. Our survey revealed that women wield significant purchasing power and prefer to support socially and environmentally conscious businesses.
demonstrate your impact
Demonstrating your impact through data, design, and dynamic storytelling can galvanize supporters to your cause and raise visibility. Each of these components is key in bringing your impact to life and creating a memorable narrative that partners, participants, and others can share. Your approach to demonstrating your impact might align with industry-leading frameworks and include impact reports, case studies, microsites, films, data dashboards, and more.
clean slate
In 2021, we partnered with Clean Slate Utah, a nonprofit championing second chances for folks impacted by the justice system to create a film that raised awareness about the groundbreaking automatic expungement law. Building on this success, we collaborated on a subsequent round of film deliverables to illuminate the transformative impact of expungement on individuals' lives since Clean Slate Utah was formed.
amplify your impact
Congratulations! Your organization has bridged purpose with practice by honing your measurement with careful and deliberate action. As you know, it takes time to reach this level of sophistication. You are in an excellent position to share your thought leadership and engage in transparent discussions with the field about your progress and process. Help others refine best practices alongside your pursuit of continuous improvement. And remember - social impact is about what you do internally as much as it is externally, so keep working to ensure your values match your actions.
frontier set
The Frontier Set, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, selected a cohort of six Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) for a collaborative journey to strengthen institutional relationships and improve student outcomes. To showcase the impact of their seven-year initiative, we worked with them to leverage multimedia storytelling to highlight the transformative nature of the project and identify scalable and replicable models for overall transformation in higher ed.
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