Articulating your Impact Model is like creating cypher for your whole organisation.
Charities exist to deliver public benefit against their charitable objectives. And so, their Impact Model should be the most critical, and the one driving everything.
Developing your Impact Model is the deep work to create clarity so we can make better decisions about what we do, how we do it, and how it is funded, together. This is essential to ensure the resilience of your charity.
What is an impact model?
Your Impact Model is one of three models which drives how you function as a charity.
How you deliver your purpose — your understanding of the problem you exist to solve, the principles of your work, the theory that underpins it, your connectedness to community, and your organisational knowledge of what is important.
How you finance your work — your fundraising, earned income, grant writing etc. It combines your finance and funding.
About the people and processes — your team, governance, admin, technology etc.
How I work with you to define your Impact Model
Over a 3–6 month period I will work in partnership with your organisational lead for this work, adding capacity and technical expertise as needed. Your team are the experts in what you do — my role is to help you unlock that knowledge and articulate it in a way that creates clarity for everyone.
During this period I will:
- Facilitate whole organisational, service user and team workshops to create insights and consensus.
- Have meetings with key team members to learn about what you do and how.
- Undertake desktop review of your impact practice and evidence basis.
- Create your Impact Model — both a visual representation and a written document to guide decisions and communications.
The process is as important as the product.
By working collectively — bringing together people who use your services, delivery teams, back office teams, leadership, and Trustees — we create organisational understanding, identify and address tensions between different perspectives, and strengthen working relationships.
Isn't this vision, mission, values, and theory of change?
Well, yes. Kind of. But the trouble I find with these is they’re often about communication, not understanding — we prioritise simple words and punchy messaging over creating collective understanding of what they mean. They’re often created with the wrong people in mind: funders, donors, supporters, not the people we really want to create change for. And we don’t make the connections between them and other aspects of our work, like our Operational and Revenue Models.
Impact is more than a marketing and fundraising tool. It is the basis of our existence.
We need to be able to understand how everything we do in an organisation affects how we have impact. Your Impact Model is the basis for doing so.
How much does it cost?
The cost depends on the size of your organisation, the complexity of your services, and where you are already in your impact journey. I offer different rates for small charities with an income under £250k — get in touch to find out more.
Assessment and recommendation
From £2,000- Review of current Theory of Change and approach to impact
- Facilitated session with team to assess impact approach
- Recommendations on strengthening your model and approach
Impact model
From £5,000- Learning session: Impact on our terms
- Facilitated sessions with teams, service users, Board
- Two iterations of your Impact Model
- Detailed documentation and graphics
Impact framework
From £2,500- Review of all current impact measures
- Identification of measures for refined impact framework
- Recommendations on impact measurement process
“Working with Ali Lyons has been a positive and rewarding experience for our team. Her expertise in helping us articulate our outcomes and then in co-creating an impact model and framework for our charity has been transformational. We now have an effective framework that helps us see how our day to day activities connect to the longer term change we hope to create.”Eddie, CEO, Cambridge Ethnic Community Forum
“Working with Ali has been hugely beneficial. She supported us in shaping our Impact Model and brought real clarity to how we understand and communicate the difference we make. Ali has a rare ability to listen carefully, ask thought-provoking questions, and turn complex concepts into a practical and accessible framework. The tools and insights she has given us will have lasting value, and we are deeply appreciative of her guidance. We would not hesitate to recommend her to others.”Karen, CEO, SNAP Charity