Embedded Files
For boards and executives
For boards and executives
Show how funding contributes to strategy, accountability and public value.
For strategy and impact teams
For strategy and impact teams
Bring strategy, pathways, data and reporting into one coherent impact system.
For program teams
For program teams
Reduce reporting burden by focusing data collection on what is useful, feasible and aligned.
When impact systems are disconnected...
Research funders are increasingly expected to show the societal value of the research they support.
Demonstrating impact is rarely straightforward. It is often long-term, indirect, shared across many actors, and difficult to capture through standard reporting alone.
Many funders already have strategy documents, impact frameworks, data, metrics and reporting systems. But the impact narrative can still feel unclear.
The problem is often not a lack of data. It is a lack of alignment.
Many funders already have strategy documents, impact frameworks, reporting systems, data, metrics and case studies...
But when strategy, funding design, pathways, data and reporting are developed separately, funders can end up with:
data that does not tell a clear story
reporting that creates burden without insight
metrics that do not align with intended change
impact narratives that rely on isolated examples
difficulty explaining portfolio-level contribution
The result is often more data, more reporting and more effort without a clearer account of how funding contributes to change.
What is the Funding to Impact System™?
The Funding to Impact System™ is a practical system that helps funders connect the core components needed to design for and demonstrate impact.
Purpose: What is this funding program trying to enable?
Strategic alignment: How does it contribute to organisational priorities?
Impact pathway: How is funding expected to lead to change? What should realistically change first?
Data & metrics: What data and metrics are useful, feasible and aligned?
Impact narrative: How can contribution be explained credibly?
Portfolio-level impact: How can insights be brought together across programs?
Ready to find where your impact system first breaks?
Ready to find where your impact system first breaks?
The Funding to Impact Diagnostic Tool™ is a free short self-assessment that helps research funders identify where to focus first.
It does not simply show what is weakest. It identifies the first point in the Funding to Impact System™ that is not strong enough to support what follows.
It takes 3–5 minutes to complete, after which you will receive personalised results with:
your key starting point
what this means
Why it matters
what to do next
What will result show?
Your result will identify the first point in your impact system that may need attention or that you have a strong foundation in place.
Program purpose: Your funding program’s core intent may not yet be clear enough to guide decisions, reporting, measurement or impact communication.
Strategic alignment: Your program may have a clear purpose, but its intended impacts may not yet be clearly connected to your organisation’s broader goals, priorities, vision or mission.
Impact pathway: The relationship between funding design, funded activity and expected change may not yet be clear enough. Your program may not yet have clear, realistic and measurable short-term impacts to guide data collection and reporting.
Data & metrics: You may be collecting data, but it may not be clearly connected to the changes your funding is trying to support.
Impact narrative: You may have several important components in place, but they may not yet be brought together into a clear, credible explanation of contribution.
Portfolio-level impact: Individual programs may be strong, but the overall contribution of the portfolio may still be difficult to explain.
Strong foundation in place: The core components may be in place, and the next opportunity may be to strengthen consistency, use and embedding across programs.
What happens next?
After completing the diagnostic tool, you can book a free 15-minute debrief to discuss your result and identify a practical next step.
This may include:
clarifying your program purpose
strengthening alignment with strategy
developing an impact pathway
identifying measureable short-term impacts
reviewing data and metrics
building a clearer impact narrative
identifying opportunities for portfolio-level reporting
Developed by our founders
The Funding to Impact System™ was developed by Dr Mel Craike and Dr Bo Klepac, founders of Quality for Outcomes.
We have worked across the research funding system as researchers, grant applicants, grant reviewers, advisors, evaluators and impact specialists.
We understand the pressure funders face: boards and governments want clear evidence of value, while teams are often working with fragmented systems, limited resources and competing reporting demands.
Our approach helps funders bring strategy, funding design, data and narrative together so impact can be demonstrated credibly and practically.
How can the Quality for Outcomes team help?
Complete the free Funding to Impact Diagnostic Tool™ to see where to focus first.
Book a free 15 minutes debrief and meet with our team who will help you interpret your result and identify the most useful next step.
If you would like to strengthen your impact systems, reporting structures, and program, portfolio, or organisational-level impact, you reach out for further advidory support.
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