Who needs a social impact consultant? Organizations that work with social impact consulting firms are those working on social impact, meaning any positive change that addresses social injustices. This change can be economic. environmental, or otherwise. The organizations doing this work include nonprofits, social enterprises (SEs), charitable foundations, private investors, tech platforms, even financial institutions. 

In this field, there are plenty of reasons to measure social impact. Maybe investors have more questions than they did a decade ago. Maybe organizations want to work with an agency that doesn’t gather enough data to qualify for funding. Or maybe the marketing team simply wants to highlight good work.  

Bottom line: You need a social impact consultant when you are under pressure to prove your positive impact. The next time somebody asks how lives have changed – and you can’t exactly say – it’s time to hire a social impact consultant.

• Impact measurement growth
• 1. The getting-to-know-you stage
• 2. Initial paperwork
• 3. Guidance at every stage
• 4. They have connections
• 5. Your workload gets lighter
• 6. Board meetings get easier

Impact measurement growth

The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) defines impact investing as an investment that explicitly combines social return and financial return. Social impact investment (SII), another term for impact investing, is becoming equally relevant. The social impact investing market was estimated at $502 billion in 2018, having grown eight times larger in just five years. NASDAQ reports it has now grown to over $1.1 trillion in 2023. 

What propels this growth? 

Part regulation and part social awareness. Get ready for some acronyms. Global awareness of current events on social media puts social issues like equity at the forefront of everyday life. Plus, the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs), formulated in 2015, have put social impact on every major company’s agenda. The demand for impact measurement and management (IMM) for the SDGs has grown because these guidelines are attractive as a holistic legislative framework. Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting is becoming standard practice in the private sector. 

With rapid growth in social impact efforts, the need for social impact reporting exceeds the expertise of the market. Obviously, not every organization can have a social impact expert on staff. The sector also faces challenges regarding how to appropriately measure social impact. Methodologies are non-standard, sometimes academic, and often adapted from other industries.

Where a social impact consultant comes in handy

Without needing to hire staff, a social impact consultant can implement cutting-edge practices on behalf of an organization. Given quality impact measurement tools, organizations can rise to the highest level of industry standards. When it comes to accessing funding, consultants also help meet reporting guidelines and internal targets so that funding proposals can be stronger than ever. 

If you need help and are wondering ‘How do I prepare for social impact consulting?’ then you are in the right place. Here are six things to expect when you work with a social impact consultant.

1. The getting-to-know-you stage

Before signing a contract for a social impact consultant, it’s important that your team and the consulting firm’s team are a good fit. An introductory impact measurement project may take a minimum of 3-6 months. It’s not a one-off process. You’ll be in close contact at various stages of the impact measurement project. 

This person will also be in contact with various stakeholders throughout the project. From executives to end recipients, the consultant will approach people in the name of your organization. Be sure the team you choose is well-educated on their process, professional, and works well with your team.

A best practice is to choose a 1:1 contact person as project manager for the organization. A direct line of communication is more efficient. It avoids duplicate work on both ends and maintains the integrity of research efforts.

2. Initial paperwork with your social impact consultant

After deciding a social impact consultant is a good fit to work with your stakeholders, expect to understand the social impact assessment process. A quality social impact consultant will focus on transparency, ensuring you understand exactly what you’re getting into. 

As with any contractor, there is some paperwork to get out of the way. After all, your social impact consultant will likely be looking at internal business information. It’s best to make sure you have confidentiality and other concerns taken care of. Your initial steps should look something like this:

1. Consultation – Meet to discuss specific needs. Ask questions, hear recommendations, learn the parameters of the project(s), and decide if the teams are a good fit.
2. Estimate – Request an estimate that outlines the project phases, time estimate, and how much the work costs. 
3. Contract – Sign an agreement that explains the work contract, confidentiality, release of liability, payments, etc.
4. Scope of Work, Project Timeline – The consultant should define the who, what, when, where, and why of the project. Your feedback here is key. A detailed project timeline should have regular progress updates built in.
5. Get started – Once the scope and timeline of the work is approved, the project can begin.

3. Guidance at every stage

For your first time working with a social impact consultant, it’s fair to expect a bit of hand-holding. Why? Implementing a brand new impact measurement framework isn’t something an organization does every day. Even the most cutting edge c-suites may not be familiar with impact measurement methods, proprietary impact measurement tools, and how the feedback cycle works. 

This is to be expected. The entire social impact industry is fairly new. In fact, reporting on social impact is not something organizations were doing (or required to do) until this decade. You will get help understanding the difference between program outputs vs. outcomes. You can expect basic education on social impact theory as well as guidance for creating and implementing a theory of change. 

The implementation of the social impact assessment will take time. It may have multiple stages. Remember that this is a capacity building project. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Oftentimes, a social impact consultant will walk the organization through this process internally before expanding to other stakeholder groups. Don’t be afraid to ask if your social impact consultant has a background or training in facilitation for a seamless experience.

4. Social impact consultants and connections

Your social impact consultant should be a social scientist themselves. They also need to be a stellar communicator and educator. After implementation, it’s time to consider how you will tell stakeholders about results. Consider, for example, the quality of the tool being created for your grant writing team.

An experienced social impact consultant will have industry connections. A network that can elevate your social impact reporting game to the next level. During your consultation, check if they have professional contacts in the following areas:

• writing team – web copywriters, SEO bloggers, and social media copywriters
• graphic designers – to make those impact reports eye-catching
• marketing experts – researchers & strategists to highlight your social impact efforts

If you work in a multilingual region of the world, don’t forget to ask if the social impact consulting firms will produce your reports in languages besides English. It may sound obvious, but organizations in Latin America should look for a social impact consultant that can deliver Spanish-language or bilingual reports for stakeholders.

5. Your workload gets lighter

When your social impact consultant reaches the end of the impact measurement project, you should actually feel your workload get lighter. A crucial element of impact measurement is constant evaluation. This will be apparent in the project. 

Constant evaluation means a regular feedback loop. With frequent input from your stakeholders, the efficiency of your programs steadily increases. Having an impact measurement process in place streamlines your evaluation efforts throughout the organization. This may be a high-tech solution such as a platform or addon to your current system. It may be low-tech like paper registration forms that require a quick data entry session each quarter. Regardless of the tech level, a social impact consultant’s job is to make things easier for you and your teams. The consulting team should handle their own project management such that you can be as involved – or as hands off – as you like. 

6. Board meetings get easier

The best consultants also build sustainability into the dynamics of the project. Be sure to ask your consultant for the plan to continue the feedback loop after they are gone. The information should be handed off to an internal staff member. Don’t forget that IMM stands for impact measurement and management. When gathering data, there is always some level of data management required, though it shouldn’t increase your workload. At the very least, there should be training time on the way out. This might include a handoff session, explanations of where to find visualizations, or teaching two staffers how to pull reports using the new system. Always avoid single points of failure.

With a stakeholder feedback loop in place, you have up-to-date reporting at your fingertips. You will be prepared for board meetings, all-staff meetings, and investor meetings alike. You will have the resources to speak confidently about the social value your organization brings to your community and society as a whole. 

What do social impact consultants do?

How do we know what a social impact consultant does? Because at Archer Impact we speak from experience. We do everything mentioned above and more. Simply put, this is how we work. Contact us today to learn about our 7-step impact measurement process for nonprofits and social enterprises. Let’s talk about how impact measurement can bring you up to speed.