ImpactStory Academy
Many small- and medium-sized nonprofit leaders feel so much pressure to prove they are making an impact in the world. This expectation can lead to complex, time-consuming data collection or even expensive, one-time, deep-dive program evaluations that leave staff stressed, overwhelmed, and still scrambling on how to tell their impact story. ImpactStory Academy helps empower you to be clear and confident in the specific impact you’re working toward and create convincing impact stories that move people to action.
Building on Principle 7 of CNE’s 7 Actionable Principles, Evaluate Impact, ImpactStory Academy is a 9-week program designed and created by Maryfrances Porter, CEO/Founder of Partnerships for Strategic Impact. After a welcome and orientation session, each of the other eight sessions will cover a component of the ImpactStory Strategy: solid framework, programs that work, smart surveys, painless data analysis, masterful data visualization, and powerful impact stories. The ImpactStory Strategy is designed to be easily accessible, straightforward, and sustainable. The Strategy draws from science but is designed to work for nonprofit practitioners who are navigating the complexity of real-world, ever-changing, on-the-ground work.
Participants will leave the Academy with:
- A one-page graphic that connects your vision to your mission to the immediate impact you are working toward, as well as how you expect that to eventually help move the needle on a community need. This is called a Strategic Impact Map™
- A survey that can be used to understand what clients gain from working with your nonprofit.
- Templates for understanding and using the data and information you collect.
- Guides for making the most of your data to tell convincing impact stories to move people to action.
What's included?
- Six 90-minute classes, plus 15 minutes before and after each class for networking and questions, and 2 sets of office hours to ask questions during the duration of the course.
- A one-hour Welcome and Orientation: Tuesday, September 5th from 2-3 pm; come meet the others in the course, get a big-picture understanding of the strategy, and tour of the workbook/toolbox so you are able to make the most of it!
- The eight sessions (six classes and two sets of office hours) are on Tuesdays from September 12th – October 31st from 2-3:30 pm
- Free and forever membership in the ImpactStory Network where you can ask questions, build relationships, and share information. Partnerships for Strategic Impact® is always responding to questions and alerting members to new resources.
- A workbook/toolbox of all the resources, tools, and strategies needed, so you have one place to get everything you need.
- Recordings of all sessions that you can access forever – to remind you of key points or train others in your organization.
- Access to an ever-growing library of on-demand videos for deeper dives and putting pieces of the strategy in place. For example, increasing response rates and turning open-ended responses into graphs.
Who is the ideal participant?
- Organizations with annual operating budgets between $300K-3M
- Organizations may send multiple participants who are serving in these roles:
- Executive Directors
- Development Directors
- Marketing Directors
- Program Supervisors
- Directors of Community Engagement
- Data Managers
What are the expectations?
- A commitment to curiosity, learning, and engagement.
- Attendance at all sessions, which will take place virtually.
- Two of the eight weeks are dedicated office hours which provide group coaching and support to address your specific questions. Participation is encouraged – you’ll learn from others even if you don’t come with a question – but not required.
Learn more and register!
If you have questions about the Academy and whether it’s right for you, schedule an appointment here with Maryfrances, or send her an email at porter@psi-consult.org. The deadline to register is Thursday, August 31st.
The per-person fee for the program is $1,297, but thanks to the generous support of the Obici Healthcare Foundation, individual program fees are subsidized and it is free to participate.