How can you align social impact with global goals?

1 Identify your impact areas

The first step is to identify the impact areas that are relevant to your mission, vision, and values. These are the specific issues or problems that you want to address or solve through your social impact activities. For example, if you are a social enterprise that provides clean water solutions, your impact areas might include health, sanitation, and poverty. You can use tools such as the Impact Management Project (IMP) to help you define your impact areas and the outcomes you want to achieve.

2 Map your impact areas to the SDGs

The next step is to map your impact areas to the corresponding SDGs. This will help you understand how your impact areas align with the global goals and their targets and indicators. You can use tools such as the SDG Compass or the SDG Action Manager to help you map your impact areas to the SDGs and assess your performance and gaps. For example, if your impact area is health, you might map it to SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being, and its targets and indicators related to maternal and child health, infectious diseases, and access to health services.

3 Set your impact goals and indicators

The third step is to set your impact goals and indicators based on the SDGs and your impact areas. Your impact goals are the specific and measurable objectives that you want to achieve through your social impact activities. Your impact indicators are the metrics that you use to track and report your progress and results. You can use tools such as the SDG Indicator Framework or the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards to help you select and define your impact goals and indicators. For example, if your impact goal is to reduce child mortality, you might use the SDG indicator 3.2.1: Under-five mortality rate as your impact indicator.

4 Monitor and communicate your impact

The fourth step is to monitor and communicate your impact based on the SDGs and your impact goals and indicators. Monitoring your impact involves collecting, analyzing, and evaluating data on your impact indicators and using it to improve your performance and accountability. Communicating your impact involves reporting, sharing, and engaging with your stakeholders and audiences on your impact stories and achievements. You can use tools such as the SDG Dashboard or the Impact Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS+) to help you monitor and communicate your impact. For example, if you want to communicate your impact on reducing child mortality, you might use the SDG Dashboard to visualize your data and the IRIS+ to report your outcomes and impacts.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?