With his Olympics memories still fresh, Alistair Gibbons ponders the lessons for impact reporting.

What a summer. What an experience; even from my sofa. there cannot be many times when one can experience such a collective spirit of national enthusiasm.

Sport can teach us many things. I’ve learned a surprising amount about synchronised diving; I’ve learned where in the loft my trainers are; and, more relevant to finance professionals, I’ve also learned about impact reporting.

Before the games started, I did some research on UK Sport. I was puzzled that their performance targets focused only on medals. this did not feel like an indicator of impact but, rather, it was an outcome indicator. It would be like Citizens advice stating that we saw over two million clients without stating what benefit it brought – either to the clients themselves or to society as a whole.

What is the ultimate benefit of investing in sport? When I thought about this question, my ideas included national health and fitness; economic return (including sponsorship); and national happiness. But how on earth would UK Sport quantify any of these? as the nation watched ‘Team GB’ progress up the medal table, I realised that pragmatism has its place.

Times change it is probably fair to say that most charities have not felt the need to report on impact in the past.

However, times have changed. in a world gripped by recession, funders want to know how we make a difference. Furthermore, the public now want to choose the charities they support very carefully, as their increasingly-precious pound coins no longer go as far.

At Citizens Advice we value impact reporting for a number of reasons. First and foremost, it enables the organisation to plan its future services better – impact information provides us with business intelligence for allocating resources.

For example, where we provide the most positive impact could result in increasing resources in that area (note that the luckless olympic water-polo competitors are likely to have their funding wiped out, while the triumphant cyclists are likely to see real gold).

We can also use impact reporting to motivate our staff and volunteers to appreciate that our charity is a great place to work. We are proud of the work that our frontline staff and 21,500 volunteers undertake for Citizens advice, and we want them to have a demonstrable picture of what they have achieved for their clients. We also want to demonstrate to the local community why we are a great place to volunteer.

There is no single, right way to report on impact. one size certainly doesn’t fit all – different funders have different needs. our advice to our members is to engage with funders at an early stage, particularly when bidding for contracts, to discuss what it is realistic to measure, and what is achievable and proportionate, so that there is clarity about measurement from the beginning.

Value

Measuring impact in a credible way, and demonstrating real accountability, can be resourceintensive and complex. However, across all our bureaux, Citizens Advice is actively aiming to demonstrate to our funders, stakeholders, local communities and, indeed, our staff and volunteers, how we make a powerful difference.

One final reason why an investment in impact reporting is so important is that it can persuade funders of the value your organisation can bring. Impact reporting is a vital tool to demonstrate an organisation’s value in persuading funders that their money would be invested wisely if it was used to support your service.

That said, sometimes organisations are lucky enough to have something that can trump the influence of well-structured impact reporting. UK Sport’s future funding case must now be simple, amidst all the post-olympics jubilation. “How could you reduce our funding, Mr Cameron?” would probably suffice as a funding pitch, if indeed they need to say anything at all.

So, for organisations funded by the public purse, politics can sometimes mean there is no need for a perfect business case loaded with impact measurements. For the rest of us, the need to focus on good impact reporting is here to stay.

Alistair Gibbons is head of finance at Citizens Advice