Charities Strategy and Impact Report 2021
Trust and confidence
Accurate and transparent reporting is central to trust in
charities. Recent studies have repeatedly shown that trust
in charities is declining across the UK.
A recent report entitled The Construction of Trust, by nfp
Synergy and ACEVO stated that 'trust in charities is volatile'.
Among the five major takeaways outlined in the report are two
concepts central to effective strategic building and reporting:
Trust appears to be primarily based upon the
perception that charities are 'ethical, honest and
well-run.'
The most trusted organisations are the ones that
'provide clear, tangible services.'
These results suggest that the clarity and effectiveness
of charities' strategic aims, as well as how achievements
are presented to the public, are central to public trust in
the sector.
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The term impact is often used interchangeably with outcome
or even output. The trend within the charitable sector to
report specifically on impact has been gaining traction.
However, a study published by the Charity Finance Group
in 2016 entitled Impact Reporting in the UK Charity Sector
highlighted how few organisations were reporting on impact
factors at the time. The report concluded that:
… good, tailored, performance
reporting can help a charity to
demonstrate the outcome and impact
of its work and has a role to play in
statutory reporting and in wider
charity communications.
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Our assessment aimed to track well-structured, defined
and transparent strategic reporting for progress against
goals. As this reporting can take many forms, some of the
reporting we assessed did not meet the strict definition of
impact reporting.
Output, outcome and impact
When evaluating the work that they do, charities may use a
results chain. The starting point is to consider inputs, which
are financial, human, and material resources. Inputs are used in
order to carry out activities. These are actions taken or work
performed to achieve specific outputs. The outputs start
to bring about change (outcomes) and eventually this will,
hopefully, contribute to the impact.