Standards
Common Foundations
Five essential practices for how to measure impact.
The Common Foundations outline five essential practices that form a minimum standard for effective impact measurement. This isn’t about overhauling your current processes; most organizations already employ these practices. If you’re already measuring impact, you’ll likely find that aligning with the Common Foundations requires minimal additional time or resources. If you’re new to impact measurement, consider if it’s the right step for your organization.
Simply put, if all five practices are in place, your impact measurement process is “good enough” to be effective.
The five essential practices
A fundamental step for any impact measurement approach is clearly defining the change you aim to create. This description must explain how and why your work will lead to this change. It can be a simple paragraph, often called an impact thesis, or a more structured diagram like a theory of change, outcomes map, or logic model.
Indicators are vital tools for assessing your progress. They help you measure how effectively you’ve carried out your work and what specific effects your efforts have had.
Information collection should be useful, not burdensome. It should provide valuable insights without overwhelming your organization or those from whom you collect data. The goal is to gather information that helps you improve your work and demonstrate tangible progress.
To truly understand your impact, you need to assemble and analyze the data you’ve collected. This analysis is crucial for gaining insights into what’s working and how well your initiatives are performing.
Collecting data is only half the battle; effectively communicating and utilizing your findings is equally important. “Using” results can mean many things: informing decisions, fostering learning, driving improvements, or inspiring action. Ensure your communications clearly explain how you arrived at your conclusions.
Do you meet the Common Foundations?
Take the self-assessment
Confirming your alignment can be done quickly and easily using our self-assessment tool. A series of “yes” or “no” questions will help you:
- Confirm alignment: If you answer “yes” to all essential practices, your organization meets the minimum standard.
- Identify areas for improvement: If you answer “no” to any question, the assessment will highlight areas where your impact measurement practices could be enhanced for greater usefulness.
Read the Common Foundations
To gain a detailed understanding of the core principles and practices that define effective impact measurement, and to see how your organization can align with a flexible, community-driven standard, we encourage you to explore the full document.
Read about how the Common Foundations evolved to the current version here.
More on the Common Foundations
Looking to explore further? Find other Common Foundations information and materials on the Resources page.
Acknowledgements
The Common Foundations are built upon the valuable work of many organizations. We extend our sincere gratitude to them, and to all the people who contributed their time and expertise to developing and refining Version 2.0.
The Common Foundations to Impact Measurement are a restatement (and minor refinement) of a common process that was articulated long before the Common Approach existed. We put forward the Common Foundations with gratitude for the work of:
- Comité sectoriel de main-d’oeuvre de l’économie sociale et de l’action communautaire 2007
- European Commission Expert Group on Social Economy and Social Enterprises 2014
- European Venture Philosophy Association (EVPA)
- G8 Social Impact Investment Task Force 2014
- Ontario Impact Measurement for Social Enterprise Task Force Common Process 2017
- Territoires innovants en économie sociale et solidaire (TIESS)
The Common Approach would like to thank the following organizations and individuals for who volunteered their time to contribute to the development and revision of the Common Foundations:
- Jonathan Coburn of Social Value Lab
- Common Foundations Champions:
- Bryn Sadownik of Demonstrating Value, VanCity Foundation
- Cathy Lang, C. Lang Consulting
- Garth Yule, formerly of Junxion, now the Common Approach secretariat
- Laurie Ringaert, Change Weavers Consulting
- Lisa Lowthers of the Social Enterprise Institute and Common Good Solutions
- Emilien Gruet and Gabriel Salathé-Beaulieu of TIESS
- Stephanie Robertson of Social Value Canada
- Lars Boggild of VanCity Community Investment Bank
- Jason Dudek of the Catholic Impact Investing Collaborative
- Heather Tanaka of VanCity Credit Union
- Lynda Rey of l’École Nationale d’Administration Publique (ENAP)
- Katie Allen of the University of Guelph