Impact Measurement Awards Announced

The 2nd Annual Impact Measurement Awards have been announced in recognition of the inspiring progress being made by Not for Profit, Government, corporate and philanthropic organisations in the area of social impact measurement.

One of Australia’s oldest charities, The Benevolent Society was awarded the Not for Profit Impact Measurement Award.

The Benevolent Society runs Government funded child and family welfare programs across New South Wales and Queensland, is one of the largest providers of home care for older people in Sydney and runs one of the impact investment Social Benefit Bond pilots introduced by the NSW Government, in partnership with Westpac and the Commonwealth Bank.

“This is the culmination of an eight year journey by The Benevolent Society to instil an outcomes focus across all our operations and to embed a culture of impact measurement,”  Executive Director Annette Chennell said.

“We are currently developing organisational outcomes frameworks across all of our child and family, mental health, and community ageing and disability services. We are also working across different levels of the organisation to develop an outcomes-focused approach to service development and delivery.

“These outcomes frameworks help us to respond to the voices of clients and communities, and to deliver services informed by the best available evidence of ‘what works’,” Chennell said.

For the second year running, Good Shepherd Microfinance and the National Australia Bank (NAB) were recognised at the Impact Measurement Awards for ‘Achievements in Impact Measurement by a Not for Profit and Corporate Partnership’.

 The Award recognised the evaluation: ‘Life Changing Loans at No Interest – An Outcomes Evaluation of Good Shepherd Microfinance’s No Interest Loans Scheme (NILS)’. Launched in May 2014, the report was the first evaluation of NILS since it began more than 33 years ago. It was commissioned in partnership with the Centre for Social Impact (CSI).

Receiving the award at the Gala Awards Dinner in Sydney, Sister Noelene White said: “Born from one worker’s vision and the Good Shepherd Sisters commitment to social justice, the NILS program was created with the goal of providing women with access to safe, fair and affordable finance.”

“We started with just $20,000 and a belief that the program would be a success. Our sceptics said it wouldn’t work and that we shouldn’t expect to see any of the money again.  But that conventional wisdom could not have been more wide of the mark.  Here we are 34 years later, with 260 community partners in over 600 locations providing $30-million of NILS loans. The no interest loans scheme has reached more than 155,000 people and our repayment rate is consistently above 95 per cent.  It is a truly great achievement and one which we are very proud of.”  

Entrants for the Impact Measurement Awards were assessed on how they have measured their social outcomes, how they have used these outcomes to ‘improve’ rather than ‘prove’, how they have embedded the outcomes within their organisation and their willingness to be held accountable through making results accessible.

The panel of independent judges comprised:

• Bessi Graham – CEO, The Difference Incubator

• Les Hems – Director, Ernst & Young

• Stephanie Robertson – President, SiMPACT (Canada)

• Cassandra Wilkinson – FBI Radio and Human Capital Project

Judge Bessi Graham said of the entrants:

“There has been a noticeable jump this year in the quality of applications. Seeing just how much progress organisations are making as they now engage with Impact Measurement has been very encouraging.”

“It has been really exciting to see the shifts as we go from being overwhelmed by the topic of Impact Measurement to seeing more and more organisations bravely stepping up to do this much needed work.”

The awards finalists and winners are:

Finalists for Achievements in Impact Measurement by a Not for Profit Organisation

• Community Centres SA

• Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand

• Hepatitis NSW

• Lyndon Community

• Pilbara Community Legal Services Inc

• The Benevolent Society (Winner)

• The Pyjama Foundation

• Finding Workable Solutions Inc.

• YWCA NSW

• YMCA Victoria

Finalists for Achievements in Impact Measurement by a Small Not for Profit Organisation:

• Angels for the Forgotten Inc

• NSW Family Services

• The School Volunteer Program (Winner)

• Victorian Regional Community Leadership Programs Secretariat

Finalists for Achievements in Impact Measurement by a Not for Profit and Government/ Corporate/ Philanthropic Partnership

• Good Shepherd Microfinance & NAB (Winner)

• MLC Community Foundation & Lifeline

Finalists for Achievements in Impact Measurement by a Government, Corporate or Philanthropic Organisation

• Wellington Regional Strategy

• The Department of Family & Community Services – Ageing, Disability and Home Care (Winner)