Norms | five Dimensions of Impact
What is impact?
Impact is a change in an outcome caused by an organization. An impact can be positive or negative, intended or unintended.
An outcome is the level of well-being experienced by an individual or group of people, or the condition of the natural environment.
Impact management is “the process by which an entity understands, acts on and communicates its impacts on people and the natural environment, in order to reduce negative impacts, increase positive impacts, and ultimately to achieve sustainability and increase well-being.”
Five dimensions of impact
Impacts of enterprises on people and the planet can be understood across five dimensions.
WHAT
What tells us what outcome the enterprise is contributing to, whether it is positive or negative, and how important the outcome is to the people and communities experiencing it, as well as to the planet.
WHO
Who describes the people and communities experiencing the outcome across multiple characteristics such as gender, class, race, sexual orientation, and Indigenous status, and explores differences in outcomes based on these characteristics and / or unique intersections of these characteristics.
HOW MUCH
How Much tells us how many people experienced the outcome, what degree of change they experienced, and how long they experienced the outcome.
Contribution
Contribution tells us whether an enterprise’s efforts resulted in outcomes that were likely better than what likely would have occurred otherwise.
Risk
Risk tells us the likelihood that impact will be different than expected.
Investor contribution
Investors consider, based on feedback from enterprises, communities, and contextual information, whether their efforts result or are expected to result in outcomes that are likely better than what would have occurred otherwise. This is related to but distinct from the contribution of the enterprises in which they invest. Investor contribution becomes a “sixth dimension” of impact for investors.
Data categories
The Norms identified more granular data categories that enterprises and investors can use to understand their impacts on people and planet across the five dimensions.
