The Outcomes Wizard provides a starting point for an organisation to consider the social impact that it is trying to deliver and how it will measure it. Outcomes are statements of change that we are trying to achieve; changes, benefits, learning or other effects that result from what your project or organisation makes, offers or provides. The Bermuda Vital Signs® Outcomes Wizard is a database of standardised outcomes. The Wizard includes the seven outcome areas and 18 performance areas based on the seven priorities for improving quality of life in Bermuda as determined by residents. The outcomes have consequences for all types of beneficiary groups, some of which have been made explicit, i.e., homeless people, seniors or youth) and others which can be assigned to groups of people with varying needs and vulnerabilities.
You can browse and select relevant outcomes and measures from the outcome areas to create your own, customised report of outcomes in support of a logic model or theory of change. Use the Outcomes Wizard to help plan and measure your organisation’s social impact.
You can add or edit the outcomes and measures in the exported document to reflect your organisation's work. This could include adding existing outcomes and measures that you already have in place or using tools from other organisations.
Each outcome area has a set of related measures to assess social impact for the community, fields or organisations and at the individual level. These outcomes align with the social impact areas that residents prioritised as important to quality of life in Bermuda. The outcomes were then prioritised by experts and ambassadors in the related fields. This outcomes tool is about developing common ground and language regarding social impact. The standardised and prioritised outcomes are not intended to be prescriptive or exhaustive but should provide a sound starting point for organisations, nonprofit and funders alike, to track and measure impact. If your organisations already has its own set of outcomes and measures, you may want to see how they align with the Vital Signs® prioritised ones; the tool may guide how you measure impact or collect the data – or you may not need to change your practices at all.
The measures are sources of data which will help you to gather evidence to demonstrate your social impact. Consider all the relevant measures that relate to the outcome are(s) which you have shortlisted from Step I. You will need to consider how you will gather data for each measure. To do this, each measure may need to be written as an indicator, which includes information about what you will measure and how you will measure it. To turn a measure into an indicator you may need to add an appropriate prefix for it such as ‘number of’, ‘amount of’, ‘extent to which’, ‘percentage of’, ‘satisfaction with’, ‘quality of’, etc. for example, for the measure, ‘has an updated cv’, you might add the prefix, ‘number of’ so that the indicator become ‘number of participants who have an updated cv’.
Decide whether this programme works across the country, a field or a set of organisations or is it directed at a finite set of beneficiaries. You have a choice of selecting outcomes from two levels of impact: 1) Community (meaning Community-wide-, Organisation- or Field-level impact); or 2) Programme (meaning Individual, Beneficiary or Participant-Centred impact).
Outcomes are statements of change that an organisation is striving to achieve through its programming. Measures are sources of data which will help you to gather evidence to demonstrate your social impact. Read through the outcome areas and their affiliated performance areas. Select the primary outcome that best reflects the social change that your organisation is trying to achieve. It is likely that the work of your organisation will cover several outcome areas so it is important to select the one most relevant from the matrix.
Once you have determined the outcome(s), measures and indicators relevant to your programme (or sets of programmes for collective impact networks or communities of practice), consider how you will collect the data to measure your impact. It is up to you to decide on the most appropriate method for tracking and collecting data that meets your individual requirements. Tip: Consider your organisation’s records, internal programme records, public records and stats, file notes, standardised scales or tests you can adopt, surveys or tests of client’s knowledge you can administer, pre, post or retrospective).
