Reporting

In many cases, the desire to communicate about impact is the reason organisations start measuring impact. Because you are proud of the work you do, because stakeholders ask for it, or because you want to share your knowledge with comparable organisations. In some cases, it is mandatory, for example, due to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which requires large companies to be transparent about their impact on people and the environment.

Creating an impact report encourages reflection: what is valuable to communicate, which lessons learned are interesting to share, and who is waiting for which information? Writing down your impact provides a good reflection moment on the entire impact management cycle you have gone through.

Which steps can you take?

Think about who your target audience is and what their information needs are. Do you need to account to donors for how funds were spent, or do you want to inform the general public? Is comparability with other reports important, or do you mainly want to provide context about the societal relevance of your programme? Is it important to explain measurement methods well, or do you choose a more personal focus on the people behind the project? Determine, based on this table, what the focus and the form of your reporting will be:

Purpose	Target audience	Focus	Format
Accountability	Donors Collaboration partners Investors Board / Supervisory Board	Achieved effects versus planning Societal value	Integrated or separate Annual report Formal, factual, use of jargon
Learning	Own organisation Peer organisations Professionals	How does change work? Constraining and enabling factors	Lessons learned Case descriptions Infographics In-depth
Awareness (public)	Broad public	Your story Providing context	Accessible Fluently written Infographics Case descriptions Interviews with stakeholders
Influence (public sector)	Sector Peer organisations Networks Public	Showing what you do with boundary conditions for others; Showing that it is possible Impact business case	Business-like writing Use of technical jargon Case studies

Think at an early stage about which information you need to be able to report. This gives you ample time to actually collect this data.

Try to go beyond output data alone. Only outcome data says something about the change you have achieved. This can, of course, also be qualitative data.

Ensure a good balance between quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data is often very compelling and clear. Qualitative data provides the necessary nuance and context. Figures often only truly come to life with a case from practice.

Consider which elements to include in your report, such as:

A description of the problem you address and your contribution to its solution.
An explanation of how you measured and what the limitations were. Did you have to make assumptions, use averages, and how representative was your sample?
What you have learned and what you will adjust to realise a more positive impact.
Attention to negative effects and what did not go as planned. Be open about what did not go so well or what you do not yet know.
Comparisons with previous years, with your peers or your objectives.

Which tools can you use?

Most organisations report through an online report. Choose what fits your organisation and objective: perhaps an infographic or videos are more appropriate.
In some cases, a dashboard can serve as a form of reporting.
For organisations that work with a large number of partners, it is often difficult to combine the impact of all those partners into a readable report. After all, their target groups, approaches and measurement methods are often slightly different. The challenge is to find a good balance between standardising data and still doing justice to the diversity of the different parties. If partner data are too diverse to be combined, consider at least reporting in the same way. Impact Frontiers offers a good framework for this.

Tips

Be transparent about the measurement methods you use and their limitations. Sometimes it is unavoidable to make certain assumptions. As long as you are open about that, it is not a problem.

Be conservative in the impact you claim and avoid overstating results (greenwashing or social washing).

View these examples (in Dutch) for inspiration

Social Impact Fonds Rotterdam

Museum Plus Bus

Two different approaches to impact reporting:

Example: a.s.r. Doenkracht - transparency The Doenkracht programme of a.s.r. became part of CSRD reporting in 2025. This means that a.s.r., as a company, is required to report on its impact on people and the environment. Impact House supported a.s.r. by developing a reporting framework that enables a.s.r. to communicate uniformly about its efforts in the field of financial resilience.

For 2025, a.s.r. mainly reported on outputs: this concerns the number of participants reached by the social partners of the Doenkracht programme through their projects. From 2026 onwards, a.s.r. will also report on outcomes: what exactly has changed for the participants? This is done as much as possible in quantitative terms to increase comparability. a.s.r. will also continue to measure impact in order to learn and to steer towards a greater positive impact.

Example: Museum Plus Bus – learning and steering The Museum Plus Bus carried out an impact measurement to gain more insight into the living situations and motivations of participants and to better understand the effects of museum visits on participants. In its reporting, the organisation not only presented the results but also explained how the research was conducted. Extensive explanation is also provided about the type of participants, and there is reflection on the extent to which the effects have been realised. Such reporting can also help other organisations in conducting research and in learning from the results.