A first attempt at a shared benchmark for people-systems maturity across Nigerian schools, nonprofits, and social enterprises.
Why We Built It
Every sector we work in — education, nonprofit, social enterprise — has its own language for measuring impact, and almost none of it addresses the people-systems question directly: how mature is this organization's actual capacity to translate mission into consistent daily practice? The Impactometer 1.0 was our first attempt at a shared answer.
The Method
Version 1.0 scored organizations across four dimensions drawn directly from VAM: System (structure and process), Training (capability development), Programmes (mentorship and engagement), and Measurement (whether any of it was actually being tracked). Each dimension was scored on a five-point maturity scale, based on structured interviews and document review rather than self-reported surveys.
We piloted the framework across a small cohort of partner organizations — schools, nonprofits, and social enterprises already engaged with Volint's Accompaniment Model — rather than attempting a broad market survey in this first version.
What We Found
The most consistent finding across all three sectors: Measurement was the weakest of the four dimensions almost universally, including in organizations that scored well on System and Training. Most organizations were doing meaningfully more good work than they could actually prove.
Social enterprises scored lowest on System maturity, consistent with founder-dependency patterns. Nonprofits scored comparatively higher on Programmes, reflecting stronger existing mentorship and engagement traditions, but lower on Measurement tied specifically to donor accountability.
Limitations, and What's Next
1.0 was intentionally a pilot: a small cohort, a first-pass scoring rubric, and no year-over-year comparison yet. Version 2.0 refines the scoring methodology and expands the cohort — see that report for what changed and why.