7 Reasons why you should measure the impact of your nature-driven organization

Reading time: 7min

Before we jump in a quick term clarification so that everyone can follow:

Impact: The positive & negative change you create

KPI: Key performance indicator, these are measurable indicators of progress toward a goal

USP: Unique selling proposition, why should people choose your service or product over others

Biodiversity is hard to measure

Is a famous saying in the business world, that I would like to take as a guide in this post.

One of the major reasons why we are in this biodiversity crisis is that it is very tricky to measure biodiversity.

The web of life is interwoven; we still find new species; we haven't even explored the deep seas, yet; we still have no idea about the diet of some species... just to name a few obstacles.

This lack of measurement led us to fly blind and caused us to destroy everything in our path.

Now that being said, everything needs to be balanced. If the climate movement taught us one thing, it is not to be fixed blindly on one key performance indicator (KPI), like their efforts with carbon.

But done right, measuring your impact can boost your biodiversity business or NGO massively.

7 Reasons why you should measure the impact of your nature-driven organization

Creates a north star

Running a biodiversity company / NGO is hectic and you are confronted daily with different priorities. It gets very easy to get side-tracked.

Finding the right set of impact indicators can ensure that you and your peers are always working towards maximizing your positive impact on nature.

No matter how busy a week gets, for everyone in your organization, it is clear what they are working towards, and take these indicators as their north star to make the right decisions.

Optimizing for the right indicator

I am frequently shocked at how much I read on biodiversity NGO websites about how much money they collect. It is often the only indicator that gets communicated outside.

But that is not the right indicator of success. The right indicator of success is, for example, the species population that your NGO claims to protect. The increased income that you create for local people. And so on.

If you don't have any indicators or the wrong ones, you will always work towards improving the wrong aspects of your venture.

This is the reason why so many businesses or NGO actually see a reduced impact when they grow because the focus shifts too much into marketing, operations, and co.

Transparent about journey & complications

As mentioned in the intro, in our field of biodiversity it is hard to find the right indicators. So let's communicate about it.

None of your customers or supporters will blame you for not being perfect. Start measuring what you can and inform them about those aspects that you can’t measure yet.

Taking them on the journey with you, will increase their trust in you and strengthen their relationship to your effort.

Not just story but hard facts

By now you probably know my love for storytelling. While I think it is a powerful tool to convince people of your efforts, it can only take you so far.

Stories get even more powerful when they are backed up by hard facts. They work as a 2 punch system. First, you hit them with a compelling story, and then you let some incredible facts follow.

Like this, you will trigger not only the people that are emotionally driven but also those that are more numbers-driven.

P.S. Hopefully it goes without saying. Please don't punch your customers or potential investors.

Differentiate yourself from the bad apples

Talking about negative behavior. Technology made it possible to create a website and social media presence within a day.

Obviously, it didn’t take long for some people to use this technological advancement to rip off people.

By now there are plenty of businesses / NGOs that only exist online that use data and credit card information for their benefit.

While it's not the magic fix, it definitely creates another barrier for those players. So you will automatically be trusted more than them.

Boost your unique selling proposition

Measuring your impact and communicating it will not only differentiate you from the bad apples but also from your competitors.

With Wild Business Mates I decided to dedicate 10% of my revenue towards nature protection and restoration. It took me months to find the right partner that actually started their impact measurement journey. Very happy that I found Wilderlands now.

This little example shows how easy it is for your wildlife NGO or business to get positive attention and more supporters, simply by starting this impact measurement journey.

Easier to get financial support

Support is the aspect I want to finish with. In order to create the positive nature impact on the ground, you need money.

And what do 99% of financial institutions or individuals have in common? They want to see a measurable outcome of what their money bought.

Now, is this fair? Nope, after all, you create this incredible positive impact already, even if you don't measure it.

But it is the way the system currently runs. So while you try changing the system, also try to understand how the current system works.

Using clear, measurable indicators will help you massively to secure funding, get a loan, receive a grant, increase your revenue stream & co.

Money that you can use to double your impact.

Example Rhino NGO

A quick example to bring my argument home. Let's take a fictional NGO, that was created to ensure the survival of rhinos.

North Star: Rhino population is the north star indicator. Other KPIs like, rangers hired, traps removed, habitat increased, etc, are supporting indicators.

Optimize: Every action or project that doesn’t improve our North Star KPI or supporting KPI should be avoided. The supporting KPIs that have the biggest impact on the macro-KPI should always be prioritized.

Transparency: Inform donators about the historical baseline. The current state and milestones where you want to go. Be transparent about the different variables that play into this macro KPI (climate change, increase in poaching, habitat loss). Celebrate victories and report why targets were not met.

Not just a story: The story to protect this iconic species is very strong, so just back it up with some numbers to prove the value of your existence.

Bad apples: Be precise as possible about the efforts and your outcome. Mention the specific locations you are active in and what the donations are used for.

USP: Share your indicators visible on all platforms and reports. Highlight this as a differentiator to other rhino NGOs.

Financial support: With those indicators create easy-to-understand graphs and include them in your application material.

Your turn:

1. Block yourself a timeslot for next week to check your impact measurement. What about Tuesday? Usually not as busy as Mondays.

2. Don't have an impact measurement yet? What is the first set of indicators that make sense for your nature project?

3. Do you have some measurements? Go over them and see if they really have North Star quality or if everyone in your team uses different KPIs, to make decisions.

4. Make sure you communicate transparently those numbers

5. Create a section in your communications to give a more in-depth explanation of these numbers

Cheat Sheet:

In a nutshell: Impact measurement is crucial to succeed in an increasing competitive environment

Best Tools: Biodiversity Monitoring Simple X DNA , Xylo, Nature Metrics

Best Practice: Wilderlands, Humans 4 Abundance, Tomorrow, Ecosia

Set up time: 16h (rough estimate & depending on your size)

Maintaining time: 15min per week

Biodiversity measurement is incredibly complex, so let's lead the dialog with all stakeholders about the data we have and the ones we don't have yet. So that we can all work towards a wilder planet.

See you next week. Have a wild one!

Oliver

Whenever you are ready, there are 2 ways we can help you:

1. 1-to-1 business consulting. Detailed and personalized consulting to double the impact of your biodiversity venture in the shortest possible time. If you struggle with measuring your impact, chosing the right KPIs, or communicating your data effectively, I am happy to assist.

2. Wild Business Mates in Action. Wild Business Mates help you execute in areas you are struggling with. Tech, Marketing, Sales, Communication, etc.