Quantifying Social Impact

TMT’s research also goes towards building an in-house system of social impact metrics, to quantify programme impacts in a structured and systematic way. For each of our philanthropic funds, we put in place a fit-for-purpose measurement framework to aggregate and report on impact. This is because every fund has its own objectives and outcomes, and impact measurements are drawn up accordingly. We also develop metrics that translate outcomes into monetised values, drawing from academic literature, and government and NGO reports.

Our metrics incorporate counterfactuals (measuring a programme’s impact by comparing what it achieved against what would have happened in its absence), as per best practices in impact measurement. Metrics also provide a common language for both organisations and philanthropists to have productive discussions about outcomes and social impact.

As a whole, our repository of metrics will help TMT focus philanthropists’ attention on what grantee partners’ core impacts are.

Measuring Outcomes

Our social impact metrics will sometimes require new tools and processes for collecting data. So TMT research also aims to identify best practices from social sector research in other countries, adapts new surveys and methods, and works closely with partners and grantee partners to implement them on the ground.

With these new surveys and methods, we can get the empirical data we need for our metrics. Together, data and metrics will help TMT identify the most effective and promising programmes – including pilots with the potential to become transformative solutions.