Social impact
Social impact is the real change produced by an action on people or a community, beyond what was spent or built. It is described by observable results: what changed, for whom, and how we know.
What it is
Spending 10 000 EUR is not an impact. Delivering six websites is not either. Impact is what these websites change: an association that receives more volunteers, a social grocery that is better known, a grant application easier to defend. It is measured afterwards, on facts.
How to describe it without overstating
- Say what was done (the means)
- Say what came out of it (the outputs)
- Say what changed and how you know (the results)
- Do not confuse the three
In Kern4Good
The end-of-cohort report follows this structure: the euros and the days, the websites delivered, then the results reported by each association six months after going live.
Can the impact of a website be measured?
Partly: visits, requests received, registrations, donations. The rest is told by the association itself. Both together give an honest measure.
Is social impact the same as ESG?
No. Social impact is a result; ESG is an assessment grid that, among other things, looks for proof of impact.