Measure the immeasurable – presentation of the methods, results, and usability of a social impact assessment project 

Kriszta Marton

Abstract

Since its fifteen years of existence, the Világszép (World Beauty) Foundation has developed five main services for children living in children's homes: kindergarten care is provided for the youngest children, while weekly activities and summer camps are provided for school-age children. In addition, individual attention is given to them through a mentoring program, and storytelling sessions help develop their personality. Over the past fifteen years, it has been a constant challenge to show the results of the work and express the successes of the program in numbers for supporters or or audiences interested in the program. Although quantifying the value of human relationships is an almost impossible task, an impact measurement project was launched in early 2024. This study presents the steps of this project, which started in 2021 and started again in 2024, such as: initial problems; the process by which the new impact measurement project was set up; the step-by-step introduction of impact measurement and the first results. Although in the next three years the point will be reached where impact measurement becomes common practice in all the areas of activity, the goal is to publish a detailed description of the project process and the detailed operation of the system at the beginning of next year in order to inspire several nonprofit organizations and help them start on the path of developing and introducing an impact measurement system.

Keywords: impact measurement, state care, human relations, the margins of society, children raised in children's homes, development