Theory of Impact

One of ION studios core offerings is what we call a "Theory of Impact." Theory of Impact is unique way of visually representing your strategy; a way describing the system your impact happens in:

All of the work you do that delivers impact on your mission, not just your core services
The relationship in and amongst those activities, explaining why they work together to create an outsized social impact
What the needs of the issue and community are
How your services interact to mitigate, solve and serve your mission and vision.
How the pieces of your organization's work generate revenue, and/or attract funding to demonstrate financial viability.

Theory of Firm

Creating a Theory of Firm essentially tells the story of why your organization exists, what it does, how it is structured and how it interacts with the economy. Our favorite example is Disney, which at its very core sits an engine of creative talent, and however you feel about what they do it is hard to deny that they have a huge footprint. If you want to read more we love this article.

Theory of Change

Developing aTheory of Change is a form of backcasting, setting forth your goals, or your vision, and then working backwards to describe the work and preconditions necessary to see that through. If you want to know more, we recommend this article.

Systems Mapping

Impact driven organizations are inherently about driving change in communities so the way we approach Systems Mapping is to focus on the people. We map the critical links between your business and stakeholders form the beneficiaries to the power brokers, so that you can create huge change. Our favorite article on systems theory is here.

Building Blocks

We created our Theory of Impact by combining three existing concepts and then giving it our special spin. We used:

Theory of Firm
Theory of Change
Complex Adaptive Systems Mapping

We then used our work in experience & learning design, community building, and design research to create a process that is oriented towards discovery and capacity building for the team and the community.

Start Now With Impact Kit

While we love working with organizations over several months to develop a full blown Theory of Impact - and have seen organizations transform themselves using the final product - we have also developed a low cost tool to get started on your own. Our ImpactKit workshop-in-a-box, available now on Kickstarter, provides your team with the guidance it needs to start thinking about your system of impact.

Get Your ImpactKit Today