Vision and analysis

Ideally, the process of impact management starts with developing a vision of where an organisation can make the greatest possible positive difference. Whether you want to set up a new social programme, recalibrate your strategy, or are driven by (new) regulations or reporting requirements. A clear assessment of your current situation and a concrete vision for the future are essential.

This step is about honest self-reflection and analysis of the organisation’s context. How can you create value for people and/or the environment in a way that suits your organisation? What are the key trends and developments in your sector? Where does your strength lie in contributing to a societal issue? We encourage you to think about the risks and opportunities together with employees from different layers of the organisation, and how you want to respond to them as an organisation. This forms the basis of a clear impact strategy with targeted ambitions.

Which steps can you take?

To shape your vision, there are three important elements to explore. By looking at your organisation and societal issues from different perspectives, you create focus and substantiation for further steps in impact management:

  1. Explore your values and drive: where do the organisation’s drivers lie? Think about your origins, but also about any statutory task your organisation may have. What fits the core of who we are? It is important that an impact strategy aligns with the organisation and its employees and forms a coherent whole.
  2. Next, it is important that your vision strengthens your organisation or brand. Which themes offer opportunities for your organisation? Where can you differentiate yourself? It is important that your vision logically fits your organisation and is therefore future-proof.
  3. Explore in which area you can make the greatest possible impact. What are potentially relevant themes, target groups or approaches where you can make a difference?

Which tools can you use?

Portfolio analysis: Do you already have an extensive programme with various projects and partners, and are you looking for more focus? A portfolio analysis can help to map out what the portfolio currently looks like. What type of projects do you support, what impact is created and how much is invested? Investments are not only about money; think also of knowledge, networks and volunteers. An analysis of your portfolio provides valuable information on whether you are actually focusing on the right things in practice and offers steering information on, for example, partner or project selection and partners’ financing needs.

Scenario development: The aim of developing scenarios is to help organisations visualise multiple positive future scenarios and work towards realising one of them. It is a tool to discuss the future and base choices on it. It is intended to stimulate innovative thinking. Important: scenarios are not yet strategy. Strategy is about how you can make a scenario a reality. The scenarios relate to a future that you can create yourself. Often, four scenarios are outlined, after which it is assessed which scenario best fits where the organisation wants to move towards.