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    Agree the outcomes before the first report

    We agree the outcomes and baselines first, with the funders who will read them, and collect the data from daily work. We check the first report against each funder's template, and after that reporting runs with the monthly close.

    The figures you give a foundation, a lender and an impact fund are different cuts of the same underlying data. (read where we wrote it)

    What will each funder ask you to report?

    Each funder has its own template and rhythm. We set up the outcomes, the data behind them and each funder's report, all from one set of numbers.

    1. Define the outcomes

      A theory of change is only useful once it names what will be measured, how, and against what baseline.

      • What to track, and how to count it, chosen with your funder's method in mind
      • Starting numbers recorded before the work begins, not guessed afterwards
      • How much of the change you really caused, said honestly, limits included

    2. Instrument the data

      Impact data lives in the same three streams as the MIS: sales, operations and people. It is collected there, not in a separate survey nobody runs twice.

      • Impact numbers collected from daily work, not added on later
      • Data collected as often as you report it
      • One source, so the impact report and the board report agree

    3. Report to funders

      Each funder has a template and a rhythm. The reporting is built to theirs, from data the company already trusts.

      • Each funder's own report, made from one set of data
      • Writing that links your results to your financial numbers
      • Proof an auditor can check behind every number you claim

    What happens between the first outcome and the yearly report?

    Most of the evidence is settled in the first two steps, before any funder asks for a report.

    1. Frame

      The outcomes, the indicators and the baselines, agreed with the funders who will read them.

    2. Wire

      Indicators into the operating data streams, with owners and cadence.

    3. Report

      The first cycle produced, reviewed against the funder's template, and corrected before it is relied on.

    4. Run

      Reporting as part of the monthly finance rhythm rather than an annual scramble.