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For boards and executives
For boards and executives
Understand how research funding contributes to organisational priorities, public value and longer-term impact.
For strategy and impact teams
For strategy and impact teams
Connect funding strategy, program design, impact frameworks, evidence and reporting into one coherent system.
For program teams
For program teams
Focus reporting and data collection on information that is useful, feasible and aligned with the changes the program is intended to support.
Why demonstrating funding impact remains difficult
Research funding organisations are increasingly expected to demonstrate the value and impact of the research they support.
This is difficult because research outcomes are often:
long term
influenced by many organisations and external factors
achieved through indirect and non-linear pathways
difficult to attribute to one funding program.
Most funding organisations already have many of the necessary components in place to design for and demonstrate impact, including strategy documents, funding guidelines, grant reporting requirements, impact frameworks, data and evaluation reports.
But these components do not always work together.
The problem is often not a lack of effort, tools or data. It is a lack of alignment.
This can result in:
data that does not tell a clear story
reporting that creates burden without generating useful insight
metrics that are not clearly connected to intended impacts
different teams having different understandings of program purpose
impact narratives that rely on isolated examples
difficulty explaining how funding programs contribute to broader organisational priorities.
The Funding to Impact System™
The Funding to Impact System™ helps research funding organisations connect core components needed to design for and demonstrate impact.
Purpose: What is the funding program intended to enable, for whom and why?
Strategic alignment: How does funding contribute to organisational priorities, mission or strategy?
Impact pathway: How is funding expected to lead to change? What should realistically change first?
Data and metrics: What data is useful, feasible and aligned with the impact pathway?
Impact narrative: How can contribution be explained credibly?
Portfolio-level impact: How can insights be brought together across programs?
When these components are strong and aligned, funding organisations can make better use of existing information, strengthen funding design and provide a clearer account of how funding contributes to change.
Developed by people who understand research funding, impact and evaluation
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 and recipients, grant reviewers, advisors, evaluators and impact specialists.
We understand the pressure funding organisations face: boards, governments, donors and communities want clearer evidence of value, while funding 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.
Find out where your system first starts to weaken
Find out where your system first starts to weaken
Our free Funding to Impact Diagnostic Tool™ helps you identify the first point at which your current funding-to-impact system may need attention.
It is not a score, audit or test. It is a practical starting point for deciding where to focus first.
In 3–5 minutes, you will receive a personalised result showing:
Your likely starting point
An explanation of what the result means
Why the issue matters
Practical next steps.
It can be completed individually, but it is often most valuable when program, strategy and evaluation colleagues complete it together and discuss their responses.
Your responses are private
Quality for Outcomes keeps your diagnostic responses private. We may use de-identified responses to understand general patterns across research funding organisations, such as where organisations commonly get stuck, but we will not identify individual people or organisations in any reporting or communication.
What your result show
Your result will identify the first point in your funding to impact system that may need attention or confirm that you have a strong foundation in place.
Possible starting points include:
Program purpose: The core intent of the funding program may not yet be clear enough to guide design, reporting, measurement or communication.
Strategic alignment: The program may have a clear purpose, but its intended impacts may not yet be clearly connected to organisational priorities.
Impact pathway: The relationship between funding design, funded activity and expected change may not yet be clear enough to guide data collection and reporting.
Data and 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 come together into a clear and 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 step may be strengthening consistency, synthesis or portfolio-level reporting.
Choose the right next step
Once you have completed the Funding to Impact Diagnostic, the right next step depends on the scale of the issue and your organisation’s capacity to address it.
Strengthen one priority area with Funding to Impact Sprint™
The Sprint is designed for one funding program and one clearly defined priority issue. It helps your team make the key decisions, identify practical improvements and establish a focused 90-day roadmap.
Best when one part of the system needs attention and your organisation has the capacity to implement the actions.
Explore the Funding to Impact Sprint
Build the impact system for one program with Funding to Impact Program Build™
The Program Build aligns program purpose, strategy, impact pathway, data and metrics, and impact narrative for one funding program.
It is best when several components are disconnected, key stakeholders do not share a consistent understanding of the program, or your organisation needs a working model that can later be adapted across other programs.
Explore the Funding to Impact Program Build
Build the complete impact system for your funding portfolio with the Funding to Impact Portfolio Build™
The Portfolio Build is designed for organisations that already have program level impact systems in place and want to demonstrate the collective impact of their funding portfolio. It connects funding programs to shared strategic priorities, identifies impact themes, portfolio level data and metrics and reporting so you can explain the overall contribution of the funding portfolio.
Explore the Funding to Impact Portfolio Build.
These options are designed to work for most research funding organisations. If your priorities or context require something different, contact us and we can tailor an approach that best meets your needs.
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