1. Task to do as you sit down SU34 – Impact Stories
(Write your name and SU on the card please!)
Society is currently having its say on students’ unions through the Big Conversation, we need to make sure SUs have their say too! Write a few sentences answering the following questions about the campaigns, opportunities and representation activities that you ran in 2014:
What was the purpose/aim of those activities?
What did the campaigns, opportunities and representational activities involve, and who did you work with?
How were students’ lives made better as a result?
How did you measure the impact of your work?
Pick one, several or all if you can!

2. SU34 A new metric for social impact: how to shine a light on the undervalued side of your students’ union
Rob Griffiths
Policy Officer (Union Development & Membership Engagement)

3. Undervalued? The easily-quantifiable The easily-comparable
As organisations, we’re quite comfortable reporting our:
…but how well do you articulate..?
Outcomes
‘What we did’
Impacts
‘Why we did it’
The easily-quantifiable
The easily-comparable
Often more tangible (Organisational size and shape, Mon£y)
Breadth of engagement
The human effects of our work
Changing the nature of society
Depth of engagement
Allowing our organisations to have a political purpose
Needs thought
Needs evidence

4. Shining a light! The easily-quantifiable The easily-comparable
As organisations, we’re quite comfortable reporting our:
…but how well do you articulate..?
Outcomes
‘What we did’
Impacts
‘Why we did it’
The easily-quantifiable
The easily-comparable
Often more tangible
Organisational size and shape
Mon£y
Breadth of engagement
The human effects of our work
Changing the nature of society
Allowing our organisations to have a political purpose
Depth of engagement
Needs thought
Needs evidence

5. Today we cover:
A brief introduction to the NUS and NEF work on measuring social impact
Explore the process and how this applies to your SU and the types of activities you are running
Results of the recent evaluation of this work with pilot associations
Develop responses to The Big Conversation, part of SU34

6. 4 reasons to measure impact properly
Rejecting education considered solely as an individual economic investment requires us to champion the social value of education and students’ unions
Failure in student democracy stems from not being able to articulate what’s happening
Accountability over what is actually being done in the name of students
Your SU is about more than ££ income or turnover. So sell yourself in your entirety to justify funding and spending
It helps to understand what your activities are trying to achieve!
Strategic
Financial
Political
Democratic

7. Introduction to NUS and NEF Impact
NUS approached the New Economics Foundation (NEF) to help develop a method to enable students’ unions to measure and demonstrate their impact.
Nine students’ unions participated in a pilot to support the development of the resources
NUS and NEF guidance and workbook has since been made readily available to members via NUS Connect

8. Impact Analysis – NUS & NEF Five stages of impact assessment
Stage 1 – Define the scope
Stage 2 – Understand what changes
Stage 3 – Measure the change
Stage 4 – Determine attribution
Stage 5 – Analyse findings – report and embed learning
3 Key principles:
Stakeholders are central – who is important to your organisation? Students? Institution? Community?
Theory of change and knowing how your work creates impact – Create an impact map that helps to tell the story
Transparency and being open to scrutiny – Openness about assumptions and decisions creates credibility with your audience, this also helps to test assumptions and improve decision making
Stage 1: Define the scope
• Determine the main objective of what you’re trying to measure the impact of, what are the most important activities or outcomes for assessment? And select the stakeholders that will need to be consulted
Stage 2: Understand what changes
• Understand the difference between outputs and outcomes, Engage the stakeholders with the process and create an impact map
Stage 3: Measure the change
• Select indicators for success, how will you know you are on the right track? Collect the data and engage stakeholders again with the process
Stage 4: Determine attribution
• Think about other factors that may effect the outcome or intended impact and Establish benchmarks. Check for displacement - Displacement is when the benefit for one person comes at the expense of another. For example, if the union helps a student find off campus housing, does that mean someone else in the city will not find housing?
Stage 5: Analyse findings – report and embed learning
• Identify audiences and interests and Communicate the findings they care about – then embed the learning from the process

9. Impact Analysis – Example Impact Map
Stakeholder
Activities
Outputs
Short term outcomes
Long term outcomes
Impact
Person or group
of people who
have an interest
in – or are
affected by – the
activity and/or
outcome
The things you
do to achieve the
The direct result
of the activity
The change that
occurs as a result
Longer term
changes due to
the activity, or as
a result of short
term outcomes
The life-changing effect, the thing worth fighting for, why does your organisation exist?
e.g. student body
e.g. run class
rep elections
e.g. class reps
are elected
to represent
students
e.g. students’
concerns are
represented to
faculty
e.g. courses are
improved in line
with students’
needs
e.g. reduce the drop-out rate amongst the poorest students
Evidence

10. Output? Outcome? Impact? Getting the language right
A report on the barriers to student opportunities
An increase in block grant funding of £500,000
Stopping the deportation of 200 international students
2,000 condoms given out during freshers
A sports student joins the wine society, 5 years later after leaving university they open up a vineyard
A new students’ union building
Outcome
Impact
Output
Impact
Outcome
Barriers report = Output. The result of a process and effort. Hasn’t changed anything.
Block grant = Outcome of a process and effort. Not a social impact because only the material/resource has changed. Outcome because something changed.
Int. Students = Impact – however the articulation and communication of why this is an impact is vital to ensure that the impact is felt by the person receiving the communication. It could be argued that the impact doesn’t come to life until you say “so 200 students were not deported, this means that:
They do not need to return to their country that is currently going through a civil war – we have shaped the path their life is going to follow
They can continue their education
Social and economic benefit to the local area
Condoms = output
Sports student = impact – the experience fundamentally changed their life
New building = outcome

11. Impact A fairer society, shaped by active citizens or
A better, more transformative education for students

12. Group Work
Using the NUS and NEF Guidance on the five stages of impact analysis, answer the following questions:
Who should feel the impact of students’ union work?
Why does the students’ union exist? Take time on this question as a group, challenging your answers. Why should it exist, what is the history of your SU, what is the value of autonomy/independence?
What are the priorities in your strategic plan and what activities are you delivering in line with these? Will success of the priorities be found in delivering impacts or outcomes? Are your priorities to improve your existing activities? If so, why?
How are you currently measuring progress and what does success look like?

13. Evaluation of the NEF Work Key findings
Impact measurement is of importance to students’ unions and there is a need for further support in this area
You can’t measure impact until you define what you were trying to achieve in the first place, and for whom
The amount of time investment required to fully engage with the suggested process in the NUS and NEF guidance
The need for a user-friendly system to record and track impact data that helps students’ unions to articulate their value continuously

14. Evaluation of the NEF Work Key findings
Upskilling staff in students’ unions to better understand impact terminology and how it relates to their daily work plans
Leadership and continued support from NUS to help students’ unions create consistency of approach on impact
Guidance in relation to longitudinal impact studies, when and how to collect the qualitative data

15. Thank you
Any questions?

16. SU34 – The Big Conversation
Outside the movement:
What do students’ unions contribute in 2014?
What could students’ unions contribute in 2034?
Inside the movement:
How have our students’ unions changed the world for the better?
What does the future look like? How could we reinvent ourselves and do things differently?
Additional slide in case anyone asks
Shout about it!