Impact and ROI
assessments &
Investment Impact Index
PROVING IMPACT THROUGH EVIDENCE
‘Impact’ is the word of the moment in philanthropy, charity and even impact investing. Donors want to have an impact with their giving, charities want to know if their work is making a difference, and investors want their investments...
Science based evidence – the lifeblood of the humanitarian ecosystem
We know that high quality development data is the foundation for meaningful policymaking, efficient resource allocation, and effective public service delivery.Consider if you will – how, the Covid-19 pandemic that is now nearing a 18-m...
Reimagining A Future For Corporate Social Investment
We are entering a new world order and future blockbusters and documentaries about the past will probably refer to the eras before coronavirus (BC) and after coronavirus (AC). Whatever your worldview, it is now clear from the world’s coll...
Impact Reports – Sharing the Story of your Impact Journey
Over the past 12 months we purposefully set out to study social impact reports. Because of our work in impact management and measurement, we needed to find the best way to tell the story of what impact was achieved. In our quest to deter...
2020 CSI Trends, Forecasts and Impacts – Research Report
This year, Next Generation’s annual research report is seeing the light quite late in the year. With good reason. The new year always brings new hope, and trend forecasters are quick to join the cause to predict positive future...
How to develop an effective impact report
Communicating impact is growing in importance as more and more stakeholders in the development sector begin to see the value in sharing their journeys and success stories. In a previous article we touched on the importance of transparenc...
What to Expect From Our Impact Assessment Process & Why Is It Important?
Oftentimes social investors, grant-makers and donors are put off by the cost of an impact assessment. But the cost of an impact assessment is directly related to the size of the investment, number of investments made, programs funded, ...
Telling Your Impact Story
Whilst many donors, grant-makers, social purpose organisations and social investors are keen to report on their investments and impact, it’s not that easy to develop a good impact report. Reporting your impact can help you to: Review...
Social value and return on investment
Lets talk about social return on investmentGrantmakers, donors and philanthropists want nothing else, but to make an impact with their investments. So do companies, foundations and trusts. And – if you are a more commercially incli...
Social capital – its value and how to measure it
The newly revisited concept of social capital is now prominent in several fields of social science. For Next Generation Consultants, the concept became important with the introduction of the integrated reporting framework that requires c...
The value and importance of socio-economic research and baseline studies in social investment and development practices
Definition: Socio-economics is the study of the relationship between economic activity and social life. In many cases, however, socio-economists focus on the social impact of a specific kind of economic change. Such changes might includ...
Performance measurement and management – future critical tools for social and impact investors
Performance measurement and management practices – monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment – play an invaluable role in providing insights into becoming more effective. Lessons from past evaluation studies have shaped our curr...
Determining impact and return on investment: Searching for a holy grail?
Assessing the impact of sustainable development programmes, especially ongoing performance measurement and management, has gained momentum in recent years. The interest and growth in numerous approaches, technologies, processes and syste...
What is wrong with current monitoring and evaluation practices?
Questions about whether development programmes “work” have preoccupied the development sector for a long time. In today’s reality of continued economic hardship, coupled by diminishing resources and mounting sector scepticism, deve...
Towards better monitoring and evaluation practice in performance measurement
Performance measurement is at the heart of all efforts by social investors and grantmakers to make social/community investment and development more effective. Philanthropists, donors, social and impact investors, governments and dev...
NGOs – the big losers in the current social investment sphere
Social and developmental enterprises like NGOs are increasingly struggling to get funding for their projects and programmes – and with good reason. While everything else in the world – also in the social investment arena – is chang...
Africa starts shaping its own future – and the world is noticing
We’ve had news to this effect from various fronts, but we now have good reason to believe that 2018 – and beyond – will be Africa’s time. Globally, the disruptions, challenges and tensions of the past few years will continue, but...
In social investment, it’s now about hard evidence and measured impact (2018 CSI trends media release)
2 April 2018 Social and impact investors no longer just want to know that they’ve attempted to change the world for the better. They want to know if their investment meant something. They want detailed evidence that their investment le...
Social sector needs to up its game to keep receiving financial support (2018 CSI trends media release)
12 April 2018 Today’s philanthropists, grantmakers, social and impact investors want more control over their giving and they want evidence of the scale and sustainability of the impact they make. They demand greater transparency and ac...
Social investors now want to see impact, sustainability – and ROI (2018 CSI trends media release)
12 April 2018 Investing in social and developmental causes has become increasingly innovative lately, moving away from one-directional donations and suchlike. Social investors now use a mix of finance models to put their money where it h...
A 21st Century methodology to evaluate CSI impacts and returns
The Investment Impact Index™One of the biggest issues for the development sector in Africa is how to determine whether we have really made a difference through any given social investment programme, and what kind of difference we hav...
Investment Impact Index
A detailed impact assessment methodology developed by Next Generation Consultants for determining impact and return on investment for the grantmaking and social development sectors....
Measuring impact – and getting better at it
We started our impact journey in 2009. It is only through looking back that we realised how far we have come. We did not set out to change the world, simply to answer a single question: What difference did we make? Since then, we have as...
Determining impact and return: How now?
How to measure the impact and return on investment of community/social programmes has plagued industry practitioners for a long time. The Investment Impact Index™ was developed as a uniquely African methodology to solve this problem. ...
Determining the ROI of (corporate) community investment and development
Over the last 20 years (corporate) community involvement (CI) or corporate social investment and development (CSI) has evolved from an add-on activity to a bona fide line function with bottom-line accountabilities. Like any other busines...
Measuring the social impact & ROI of CSI
Social and community investment and development programmes have become critically important for companies worldwide. As a result of the increasing demand for robust corporate governance and an illustration of the “licence to operate”, gr...
Best practice in measuring social impact and return on investment of CSI
In the social development field, one of the most cited questions from investors and participatory stakeholders regarding social/community development and investment projects is: “How will you measure your social impact/outcome/change...