The Impact Storytelling Collective opens 9 November. Founding members join free.
Storytelling
What does social impact mean? A plain-English definition, and how to show yours
Social impact is the change your work makes in people's lives and communities, not the activity itself. A plain-English definition, examples, and how to show yours.
Social impact is the change your work makes in people's lives, communities or the planet. Not the activity itself, but what is different because the activity happened.
That's the short answer. The longer one matters more if you're responsible for a programme, a partnership or a budget, because most of the confusion about social impact comes from mixing up three things that sound alike.
Outputs, outcomes and impact
Outputs are what you did. Sessions run, meals served, hours volunteered.
Outcomes are what changed for the people involved. Skills gained, confidence built, a job found.
Impact is the lasting difference that adds up to. A community that works differently. A problem that's smaller than it was.
Here's how that looks in my own charity. The Naz and Matt Foundation exists to tackle homophobia triggered by religion, so that parents can accept their LGBTQ+ children. Over the years we've given talks in schools and universities in Bradford, Birmingham, Leeds, London, Oldham and York. Those talks are outputs. The impact is the moment a parent chooses love over shame. That's much harder to count, and it's the only part that really matters.
Most reports I read stop at outputs. Not because people don't care, but because outputs are easy to count and impact takes time to show.
Why companies find this especially hard
Before I ran a charity, I spent years in the corporate world, leading digital projects for organisations like NatWest, RBS, Lloyds and Vodafone. So I understand why a company reaches for the number it can count. Boards like numbers. Numbers fit in a slide.
But "500 employee volunteering hours" tells a board what the company gave. It says nothing about what changed. And when the next budget conversation comes round, that's the question someone will ask.
Since 2024 I've been documenting the community programmes of one of the world's largest technology companies. What makes that work useful to them is being able to show participants at the start, in the middle and at the end, so the change is visible.
Three questions that get you from activity to impact
When I sit down with a team, I start with three questions:
What changed? Not what did you do. What is different now?
For whom? A specific person or group, not "the community".
How do you know? What did you see, hear or measure that tells you it's real?
If you can answer all three, you have the beginnings of an impact story. If you can't, that's useful too. It tells you what you need to start capturing.
Change takes longer than a reporting year
I've been thinking about this for a long time, and I've ended up with a simple way of putting it, which I call the Social Change Equation:
Outreach + Engagement + Education × Elapsed Time × Hope = Social Change
The part people skip is elapsed time. I don't believe everything that matters can be shown inside one financial year, and I'd gently push back on anyone who expects it to be. Real change in attitudes, like a parent accepting their child, can take years. Good impact reporting says so honestly, and shows the progress along the way.
What is social impact theory?
You'll sometimes see "social impact theory" in searches. It's a psychology theory from Bibb Latané, published in 1981, about how people influence each other. It says influence depends on three things: strength (how much the source matters to you), immediacy (how close it is in time and space) and number (how many sources there are).
It's a different idea from the social impact of an organisation, but there's a useful lesson in it. Change spreads through trusted people, close to home, in growing numbers. The most effective community programmes I've photographed work exactly like that. They don't parachute in. They build relationships and let change spread from person to person.
How to show your social impact
Showing impact is where most organisations struggle, so here's what I'd ask for, whether you're doing it yourself or bringing someone in.
In your impact or ESG report. Lead with one or two real stories of change, supported by the numbers, not the other way round.
Ask for: the three questions answered for each programme before anyone starts writing.
In your photography. Show the work and the people doing it, over time, not just the day of the visit.
Ask for: a shot list built around what changed, and consent agreed before anyone picks up a camera.
In your partnerships. Let your charity partner and the people they serve tell it in their own words.
Ask for: partner sign-off before anything goes live.
Questions people ask
What's the difference between social impact and social value?
They overlap. Social value is often used in the UK for the wider benefit a contract or organisation creates, especially in public procurement. Social impact is the broader idea of the change your work causes.
Is social impact only for charities?
No. Companies, foundations, public bodies and social enterprises all create social impact, good or bad. The question is whether they can show it honestly.
How do I measure social impact?
Start with the three questions above. Then choose a small number of things you can track over time, and pair them with real stories that show what the numbers mean.
If you'd like help finding and telling the story of your programme's impact, that's what my storytelling consultancy is for.
Matt Mahmood-Ogston is a London-based social impact storyteller and documentary photographer. He founded the Naz and Matt Foundation in 2014 and has led it for more than 12 years.
