5 reasons your charity impact measures feel like a burden (and how to fix them this year)
- Helen Vaterlaws
- Jan 6
- 4 min read
Updated: Jan 22
Does your impact reporting feel like a box-ticking exercise rather than a strategic tool? Most charities are already doing the hard work: collecting data, reporting to funders, and keeping boards updated. Yet it can still feel like all that reporting isn’t helping you understand what’s changing on the ground.
If your data doesn't seem to reflect the reality of your service, it’s rarely a failure of effort. It’s usually a design problem: measures built for board packs, not for day-to-day delivery.
Why Charity Impact Reporting Often Feels Broken (and How to Fix It)
Here are five common reasons impact measures feel burdensome and small shifts you can make to tidy the system this year.
1. Your staff don't see the value in the data they collect
The struggle: Staff and volunteers don't see how the data helps them do their jobs. It feels like an extra chore, so the data ends up being patchy or rushed.
The shift: Move from homework to utility by co-designing measures with the people doing the work. If they help define what "success" looks like, they are far more likely to value the data collection. Co-design doesn't mean design by committee. It means ensuring the people collecting the data understand how it helps them to better serve beneficiaries.
⚡️ Try this today: Ask your most experienced front-line colleague: "What is the one thing we aren’t measuring that would best evidence that we’re making a difference?"
2. Your reports have plenty of numbers but no human stories
The struggle: Your reports look tidy, but they don't capture the human impact. Boards and funders see the "what" but they don't feel the "why."
The shift: Never share a number without the narrative that gives it meaning. Pair key numbers with a short, anonymised vignette that explains what the data looks like in real life. Where needed, use a composite example (removing or blending identifying details) and follow your consent, safeguarding, and data protection policies.
⚡️ Try this today: Take one statistic from last month and add a one-sentence human story underneath it before you share it.
3. Data collection doesn't fit into your team's daily workflow
The struggle: Data collection sits outside your normal daily tasks. At the end of a long shift, it's an extra task that is inevitably deprioritised when the service gets busy.
The shift: Simplify. Choose metrics that can be captured easily during a conversation or a standard check-in, rather than requiring a separate form. When capturing data during routine work, use simple, standardised prompts to keep the evidence consistent and easier to manage within your policies.
⚡️ Try this today: Look at your most time-consuming metric and ask: “Is there a way to capture this without adding a new administrative step?”
4. You aren't accounting for external factors that affect your results
The struggle: External factors, like a change in local policy or the cost-of-living crisis, aren't tracked. When results dip because of the outside world, the team feels blamed and demoralised.
The shift: Build contextual intelligence into your reporting. Your impact doesn't happen in a vacuum. Reporting on the outside world alongside your results provides a more honest picture of performance.
⚡️ Try this today: Write down three external things happening right now that could affect your results this quarter. Acknowledge them in your next report.
5. You are still tracking metrics that no one actually uses
The struggle: You’re still reporting on things no one uses, simply because "that’s how we’ve always done it." This is how ‘expensive noise’ creeps in.
The shift: Be disciplined. Review your metrics and, unless they’re required for funder reporting, governance, or agreed trend analysis, consider retiring anything that hasn’t informed a decision in the last six months. Before dropping a metric, always confirm whether it’s needed for long-term trend analysis or future big-picture evaluations.
⚡️ Try this today: Ask your team: “If I gave you permission to stop tracking one thing today, what would it be?”
Next Steps: Improving Your Charity’s Impact Measurement Approach
If this sounds like your organisation, you aren't alone. Most charity impact measurement systems just need a bit of tidying to close the gap between the board and the frontline.
Want a quick reference guide: Use my impact measurement tools cheat sheet for your next team planning session or impact evaluation.
Want the deeper dive? Read the full guide: When Impact Measurement Misfires.
Want to spot the gaps? Take my free 2-minute impact self-assessment.
Compliance note: The Information Commissioner's Office guidance is a good starting point for data protection. If you’re outside the UK, check your local regulator and your organisation’s policies.
Change doesn’t start with a workshop; it starts with one honest conversation
Note: These insights are based on practitioner experience and do not constitute legal or regulatory advice. Always review your specific funder contracts, data protection policies (GDPR) and safeguarding policies before making significant changes to your operations. Examples are for illustrative purposes only; no official affiliation with the organisations or tools mentioned is claimed.
