What is it?

The Impact Canvas is a tool to help you summarise your impact strategy and the assumptions you have baked into it. Beginning with how you think the world works, it takes you through a process to re-think and re-articulate what you think you're doing. Many people start organisations based on an idea - this canvas is the opposite. It asks you and your team to ensure you're on the same page about how you see the state of an issue and starts from there. Do you understand the problem you're trying to solve? Do you know what world you want to create? Do you know your unique point of difference? These questions can help you re-discover a path forward for your work, or kickstart your efforts from the very beginning.

 
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Overview

This page provides a short summary of every step in the process of using the impact canvas. This is sufficient for you print out the canvas and start working on it yourself. The goal is to understand more about the issue, the direction you’re taking with it, and discover some meaningful ways to test your thinking in action. Go through the steps below!

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1) Assumptions

Ask yourself how you believe an issue was created, why you believe the problem still exists, and what you believe needs to happen to make a difference. Notice that you may be making assumptions because of your worldview. Work with others to help you notice this

  • I assume these problems exist because....

  • I assume right now that the core levers for change are....

2) Problem Definition

Ask yourself how you would define the problem you're trying to address. Try to capture it in one sentence. Ask yourself what is causing this problem. When you name causes, ask yourself what is causing that cause? Follow the links of causality to improve your understanding of the system that is making this issue occur. Get input from other people to understand if others see it that way too, especially those affected by it.

  • How do you currently define the problem?

  • What are some of the root causes of this problem?

3) History

Whether it's local history or global history - looking back can help you look forward. Consider the history of democracy in various countries, or the invention of the credit union as a way for the working class to amass financial power and influence and become part of the ownership/investment class. We can use past examples of social change (positive or negative) to understand the dynamics of society and come up with new definitions of the problem. Suddenly "there's not enough funding in advocacy for immigration legal cases" turns into "there is a lack of political power and democratic representation of communities of newcomers to this country" or something entirely different.

  • What historical patterns have affected this issue in the past?

4) Vision

Clearly state how the world looks when you’ve succeeded. Then, name the steps, milestones or indicators that, if you saw those things happen in the world around you, would indicate that you are succeeding at moving the world towards your vision. These are likely to be big picture milestones, like "the price of oil makes globally transporting goods less economical than local production and consumption", or "there is a national review of high school curricula regarding how history classes portray colonisation".

  • What is your vision for a future?

  • What key societal  milestones must be reached  for your vision to become reality?

5) Ecosystem

Map other organisations who are helping to try to solve the issue, and look into how your intervention lines up with/ doesn’t duplicate what they’re doing. What can they do that you can't? What's better left to them?

  • What are others are doing about this problem already?

  • What relationships with other organisations could you build on?

6) Unique Strengths

List your unique strengths in the context of this issue. Do you have first hand experience with one of the problems in the web of issues you're facing? Do you have more access to money & resources than others?

  • Brainstorm your strengths, personally or as an organisation

  • What unique value can you contribute that others can’t?

7) Experiments

  • What is the clearest way to state the issue as you understand it now?

  • What is the intended area of intervention?

  • What metrics can you use to test if these ideas are effective?

Articulate three sentences that help you:

  1. Name the issue clearly

  2. Name your best guess at a good intervention

  3. Name how you might measure whether the intervention is effective/impactful