ELBA’s Annual Impact Digest 2024-2025: The evidence of real change

By Dr Carmen Nicoara, Head of Impact and Research 

When impact becomes a story we tell ourselves rather than a truth we can verify, it loses its power to drive change. This year’s Annual Impact Digest by ELBA represents a shift – one grounded not in comfort, but in rigour.

For over 35 years, ELBA and BIG Alliance have connected business expertise with community need. But connection alone doesn’t always mean transformation. This past year, we asked harder questions: Who truly changed? What specific capability exists now that didn’t before? How do we know what we think we know?

The answer reshapes how we see success. When 100% of business volunteers report wellbeing improvements and 89% develop substantive new skills, those aren’t side benefits, they’re evidence that volunteer impact is mutual. When community organisations measure not just “feeling supported” but concrete improvements in governance, fundraising capacity and service delivery, we’re seeing systems shift, not just moments of kindness.

This rigour has optimised everything. It reveals where we’re genuinely creating sustainable change and where we must do better. It shows us not what feels good, but what actually works.

Read on to discover what happens when we dig deep, under the surface of engagement and reach. What we’ve learned will further develop what comes next.

This year, ELBA will be launching The Impact Practice – a new consultancy service designed to support organisations through tailored, rigorous impact design and measurement. If you have any questions or would like to talk further, please reach out to me at [email protected].

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