In recent years, there has been growing interest in examining the effectiveness of the charities and other nonprofits that play so important a part in American life. Charting Impact, a project developed by BBB Wise Giving Alliance,  GuideStar USA, and Independent Sector, is a response to this interest. It provides a framework of five questions that organizations of all types, sizes and missions can use to describe what they want to achieve and what they have already accomplished.

1. What is your organization aiming to accomplish? 
2. What are your strategies for making this happen? 
3. What are your organization's capabilities for doing this? 
4. How will your organization know if you are making progress? 
5. What have and haven't you accomplished so far?

Charting Impact was developed, tested, and refined with input from nearly 200 nonprofit and philanthropic leaders across the country.

To the public, Charting Impact reports offer concise, detailed information, in a consistent format, about what individual nonprofits are aiming to accomplish. For charities, working through the Charting Impact framework can encourage them to think strategically about how they will achieve their goals.

For national charities that file requested information with the BBB Wise Giving Alliance, completing Charting Impact can help a charity meet Standard 7 of BBB WGA's Standards for Charity Accountability, which calls for a charity to submit to its governing body, for its approval, a written report that outlines its performance and effectiveness.

For more information on Charting Impact, see our Wise Giving Guide article on the topic.