Impact methodology
The pathway to making positive change happen – beyond Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and “triple-bottom-line” reporting
Impact ecosystem
Whether your organization has a clear impact strategy, roadmap and tracking in place, our suite of tools and processes are there to assess, measure, improve and track your impact, with the objective of making business and impact metrics inseparable.
Read first: We believe that existing impact measurement methodologies and reporting tools are hindering the creation of sustainable positive change in the world. This is due to the limited insight that these frameworks provide into an organization, and that they focus on reporting lines rather than behavioural/purpose change. Therefore, our approach to impact methodology starts with deep insights into each organization, adaptation to its business environment and desired theory of change, and often includes a deep re-thinking of its business model. As a result, and starting with the self-assessment, it’s a lot of work!
Impact Self-Assessment
All organizations entering into a relationship with Spinel or wishing to join Kayapó are asked to perform the impact self-assessment.
- Free
- Results are private to you (made public on kayapo.io, should you join)
- Estimated duration: 3 hours
- Rating out of 100 across 5 dimensions
- Results are sent to you via email with recommendations from our team
Note: No company will be presented to the Kayapó community for financing opportunities unless they achieve the “Sapling” level of the Impactful Organization™️ accreditation (see below).
Impactful Organization™
An accreditation to showcase that your organization has positive impact on the world, follows global standards of impact measurement, and has a clear roadmap to keep improving
The Impactful Organization™️ accreditation is proposed 50% of the public price to Kayapó members and Spinel clients
- Best-in-class organizations are empowered to lead others into further improving their impact practices
- Receive a detailed, public report including: Due Diligence results, final impact score and recommendations
- The accreditation is co-branded Spinel/Zentech, ensuring quality and independence of opinion
To go further, Impact as a Service (“IaaS”) is our in-house, strategic impact service, in which we take your organization from identifying impact opportunities that fit your business model, to establishing a clear impact roadmap and creating an impact measurement framework
3 accreditation levels:
Sapling
You have a clear impact roadmap and are able to measure it at different levels of your organization- Impact assessment score across all dimensions > 70%
- Impact roadmap: Established
- Impact due-diligence: Performed once
- Optional: Impact dashboard & ongoing support*
Sapling
- Fee structure -
- Free self-assessment
- One time fee including:
- Impact due diligence
- 3 impact road-mapping workshops
- Reduced fees from Kayapó:
- 5% fee on partnerships and service providing between members
- 3% fee on fundraising between members
- Future assessments (optional) at -25% of the original cost
Tree
You have a clear, measurable impact and you keep improving and maximizing your roadmap- Sapling and:
- Impact assessment score across all dimensions > 80%
- Impact dashboard: Mandatory
- Optional: Ongoing support*
Tree
- Fee structure -
- Free self-assessment
- One time fee including:
- Impact due diligence
- 3 impact road-mapping workshops
- Yearly fees including:
- Assessments at 50% of the original cost
- Impact dashboard IT support (optional)
- Reduced fees from Spinel:
- 5% discount on all Spinel services
- Reduced fees from Kayapó:
- 4% fee on partnerships and service providing between members
- 1% fee on fundraising between members
- Access to perks from Kayapó members (per-member decision)
Forest
You are a role-model of making this world a better place for all, and you actively promote impact to your stakeholders- Tree and:
- Impact assessment score across all dimensions > 90%
- Impact due-diligence: Bi-annual
- Impact dashboard: Mandatory
- Ongoing support*: Mandatory
Forest
- Fee structure -
- Free self-assessment
- One time fee including:
- Impact due diligence
- 3 impact road-mapping workshops
- Yearly fees including:
- Bi-annual assessment update (25% of original cost)
- Impact dashboard customization
- Impact dashboard IT support (optional)
- Reduced fees from Spinel:
- 10% discount on all Spinel services
- Reduced fees from Kayapó:
- 1% fee on any collaboration between members
- Access to perks from Kayapó members (per-member decision) for free or highly reduced prices
*Ongoing Support: To receive the higher tiers of accreditation, an organization has to show willingness and a roadmap to keep improving its impact (”Tree”) and to engage other companies in the same direction/become an impact leader (”Forest”). To do so, we recommend ongoing support from either Spinel consultants or other impact professionals, to regularly review the state of your impact on the world and to further work on improving it.
Our impact methodology
Spinel has built a holistic approach to impact. We believe that an organization’s positive impact must go beyond Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and the “triple-bottom-line” reporting, and that impact considerations are taken into account at each level of an organization’s business model.
We have built our methodology to reflect the most up-to-date view of what positive impact means today, including approaches from the “regenerative economy“, the “systemic economy” and the “circular economy” are meant to be, for a prosperous future for Earth, wildlife and people.
We have worked with external partners to ensure quality and independence of opinion, and to align to global standards and frameworks of impact measurement, reporting and analysis. And we are looking for additional partners to further improve it!
Built on global standards
Our impact measurement and assessment methodology is built upon (and integrates with) globally recognized standards and frameworks, including the UN’s SDGs and the IRIS+ methodology from the Global Impact Investment Network
From the IRIS+ website: “The IRIS+ system aligns with over 50 standards bodies. IRIS+ materials therefore cover a diversity of industry types and disclosure requirements.” Some examples:
We ask the questions that matter to maximize your positive impact and to make it sustainable
- Study of your organizational theory of change
- A look at each business unit's, service's and/or product's theory of change
- Market analysis and impact studies to validate assumptions, remove bottlenecks and maximize positive change
- Stakeholders analysis to validate needs and barriers to adoption of your solutions
- A new and holistic business model canvas
- Impact considerations at each level of your business model
- Impact beyond metrics: A study into your internal change management as a driver for external positive impact