Tūhono Impact - Strengthening Community Capability in Measuring and Sharing Social Impact
By Guest Writer, Donna Provoost, Director at Powerdigm
Social impact is the change we create in our communities. Social investment can be described as how we resource that change. With the current focus on social investment, many organisations are scrambling to try and shore up funding for their initiatives.
“We wanted to support the community sector combat the uncertainty and confusion regarding the Government’s social investment approach, and be prepared for whatever comes next. We saw the patchy understanding and measurement of social impact as the starting point where we could help grow capability and consistency across the sector.” says Donna Provoost, Director at Powerdigm.
“Thanks to funding from JR McKenzie Trust, Todd Foundation, Bay Trust, and DIA, and collaborative knowledge-sharing across the sector, we were able to pull together a ‘do it yourself’ toolkit, free to use for any organisation.”
Tūhono Impact was led by Powerdigm – the for-purpose research and consultancy arm of Inspiring Communities – to support organisations across Aotearoa New Zealand in building their ability to understand, track, and communicate their social impact in ways that are meaningful to them and their communities.
But many others contributed to shaping this project. Some organisations gave their time and knowledge to shape the early framing while others helped with testing the content and website. These included Social Link, Centre for Social Impact, Community Research Aotearoa Auckland University, Te Whare Rarau o Meri, Youth Refugee Council, HuiE!. Te Ātiawa o Te Waka-a-Māui, and Anglican Care Waiapu, amongst others.
All these contributions helped ensure we delivered a useful tool for our unique Aotearoa context, upholding Te Tiriti and celebrating our cultures.
At the core of Tūhono Impact is He Mara Mahi Tahi—a practical, values-based approach using the metaphor of a shared garden to guide organisations through their impact journey. It walks users through five essential stages of meaningful impact: planting intent, grounding success in community values, tracking progress, learning through reflection, and sharing what’s growing.
The approach and materials were co-developed with community and kaupapa Māori organisations, evaluators, and researchers. By including practical worksheets and Aotearoa examples, the tool moves beyond a theoretical framework, to practical guidance that can help identify areas where more attention is needed. It includes:
Guided templates to help organisations clarify their kaupapa, intended outcomes, and community aspirations.
Tools to co-define success in ways that reflect both funder priorities and community voice.
Whakapapa of Impact Maps that show how change grows over time, including relational, cultural, and systemic dimensions.
Theory of Change Worksheets, Outcome Harvesting Templates and Kaupapa Māori-informed logic models
“Tūhono Impact is a tool and resources to strengthen community capability in measuring and sharing social impact. This is not only useful to build your social investment case for funders, it helps you learn and adapt to ensure you are having the impact you seek.”
Check out the website at tuhonoimpact.nz
